NBA: Clippers' New Signing Evens Up The League, Former Laker Says

Lonzo Ball believes the NBA championship is up for grabs next season for the first time after the dominance of Golden State Warriors in recent years. The Bay Area team were always considered favorites from the start in the last five seasons but a whirlwind summer of free agency moves and trades has seen the landscape of the NBA alter going into the 2019-20 campaign.

Steve’s Kerr’s team made the NBA Finals for the last five seasons winning three titles along the way. But this summer saw the creation of teams with elite level players teaming up in both the East and the West.

Kevin Durant, a 2-time NBA Finals MVP with the Warriors, left the team to team up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, while Anthony Davis arrived via trade from the New Orleans Pelicans to join LeBron James in Los Angeles with the Lakers. The Western Conference is packed with strong teams this upcoming campaign with Russell Westbrook joining James Harden in Houston.

However, Ball believes the move that altered the league was Kawhi Leonard, the reigning NBA Finals MVP's decision to join the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency with the team also managing to convince Oklahoma City Thunder to trade MVP contender Paul George. The former Laker believes it has evened out the league with now no clear favorite going into the 2019-20 campaign.

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, Kawhi pretty much balanced everything out. There’s a lot of great teams and now it’s like it’s up for grabs now,” Ball said, as quoted on Lonzo Wire USA Today.

Despite admitting that he likes the openness of the league this year, the New Orleans Pelicans point guard revealed that he did not have a problem with the super team that was the Warriors in the last five seasons. He believes LeBron had to do it with Irving and Kevin Love at Cleveland, who went on to beat the Warriors 4-3 in 2016.

“I mean that’s just where the league was going. It got to be a point where if you didn’t team up, you had no chance of beating the Warriors. I mean, LeBron did it — which was great — in Cleveland, but he still had Kyrie and K. Love,” he added.