On the latest episode of KG Certified’s The Ticket & The Truth podcast, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had a conversation about the 2024 playoff picture. During the discussion, the Boston Celtics legends were baffled at the Western Conference standings, talking about the possibility of both LeBron James and Stephen Curry potentially missing out of the postseason.
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Paul Pierce kickstarted the conversation by simply stating that this year’s playoffs will more likely than not miss at least one of the two teams – the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. A postseason without LeBron James and Stephen Curry on the schedule would certainly be a bizarre scenario for many fans. But that could very well be the situation after the remaining 12-13 games or so are done.
However, Kevin Garnett had faith in one of the two teams making it past the play-in, by winning consecutive games and entering the playoffs.
Pierce: “Can you imagine a playoff this year with no LeBron and no Steph?”
Garnett: “That’s not gonna go, bro.”
Pierce: “One of them not going to be there.”
After highlighting that the postseason would not be as entertaining in the absence of two of the biggest superstars in the league, the 2008 NBA champs started joking about how the league needed better script writers. They played on the running joke that the NBA is rigged and implied that the league’s professional “script writers” could figure out a way to get both – the Lakers & the Warriors – into the postseason with merely a dozen or so games remaining in the campaign.
All jokes apart, the NBA wouldn’t be too thrilled about the fact that several star-studded teams might not qualify for the postseason this year. While the Lakers and the Warriors are almost certainly going to remain at the #9 and the #10 seed respectively, the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns could also end up facing each other in the play-in.
If this were to happen, the play-in tournament would witness some of the biggest names in the sport – LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Luka Doncic, and Kyrie Irving – contending for a playoff spot. This kind of a situation will become more common in the coming days as more new talent enter a league with several aging superstars.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry met in the 2021 play-in tournament
Back in 2021, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors encountered each other in the play-in tournament. During the clash between the #7 and the #8 team of the conference, the then reigning champions went on to emerge victorious, backed by a 22-point triple-double by LeBron James.
With their play-in tournament win, the LA side was matched up against the Phoenix Suns where Devin Booker and Chris Paul eliminated the AD & LBJ-led side in the first round. Whereas, Stephen Curry, who failed to make it to the 2021 playoffs, warned the league about the Golden State Warriors’ comeback.
“You don’t wanna see us next year,” Curry said in the postgame interview after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Eventually, the Warriors proceeded to win the title the following year. With the California rivals projected to meet in the play-in tournament once again, basketball enthusiasts can expect an action-packed thriller as both teams will fight hard to keep their season alive.
