LeBron Effect Can Help Lakers Challenge Warriors' Dominance, Rick Fox Says

The Golden State Warriors are the favorites to win their fourth NBA title in five years and their third straight in 2019, but former Boston Celtics small forward Rick Fox believes it will be difficult as it is tough to maintain the consistency despite being the best team in the league.

Steve Kerr’s side remain unchanged and after their dominance of the league in recent seasons, there are very few that will bet against them again making the finals. It will be their fifth straight appearance — their only loss came in 2016 at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been their opponents in all the years they made the finals.

The Warriors have retained their entire squad that beat the Cavaliers 4-0 in the NBA Finals in 2018 and have added yet another All-Star in DeMarcus Cousins to their lineup. Fox admits they will be the dominant force, but insists that the Bay Area team are not unbeatable.

The three-time NBA champion believes there will be a team that will step up and take the challenge to the Warriors, but admits it is unlikely to be the Los Angeles Lakers despite possessing the greatest player of the current generation in LeBron James.

“You tap into the fact that every season is a new season, which brings a lot of moving pieces,” Fox told Fox Sports Radio when asked how to stop the Warriors’ dominance, as quoted by the Express.

“They do, right now, as defending champions look as strong as can be. But they are now going to be heading into a fifth year if they make it to the Finals. I know how taxing that is, I know how difficult that is. The roster is deep so it gives Steve Kerr the flexibility of really passing out the minutes responsibly. The skill and talent levels there are off the chart," he said.

“They pose a difficult road to get by them but it’s not insurmountable, it really isn’t,” he explained. “Some team will rise to a level where they represent that challenge.”

However, despite stating that the Lakers do not have the squad, Fox, a former Laker himself believes if anyone can drag them out of their slump it is James. NBA’s second most successful franchise have failed to make the playoffs for five consecutive years since 2014 and will be hoping to change that this upcoming season.

James, a three-time NBA champion himself, has shown that he can almost singlehandedly drag a team to the latter stages of the playoffs during his time with the Cavaliers. Fox believes James has the knack of figuring out the “pieces” he needs to make a team work and the Lakers do possess some of the best young players in the league.

“Not right now,” Fox said when asked if Lakers are the team to end the Warriors’ dominance. “But 82 games is a long way.”

“I wouldn’t bet against LeBron James putting them in a position. The reason I say that is we saw what LeBron did to that Cavaliers team when they blew up that roster in the middle of the season. Like a chess master, he figured out the pieces he had to work with and got those guys working together,” the three-time NBA champion added. “Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough with him but even in falling short I still saw signs of him figuring out what he needs.”

“LeBron is one of those guys. He can drag a group of men, who are willing to actually follow, to a championship level,” he added.