The NBA looks like an actual league for the first time in ages.

Kawhi Leonard had all the NBA insiders running around in circles trying to find out where he was going to sign. It appeared most of them were convinced he was going to be an L.A. Laker, citing all sorts of secret sources that were in the loop.

When it came out Kawhi had chosen the L.A. Clippers, it was as if he blew up all the NBA talking heads like a sledgehammer to a watermelon. If you saw that coming, you either took a stab in the dark and got lucky or you actually have a reliable NBA source. Very few were the latter.

Now Lebron James doesn’t rule L.A. like he thought he would. There is another superstar in town on another team who won’t make it easy for the Lakers in the Western Conference.

A little farther up north in San Francisco, the dynastic Golden State Warriors appear to have reached the end of their rope, at least for the 2019-20 season. Stephen Curry is a dynamite player, but Klay Thompson coming off his injury probably won’t be well enough to be the other Splash Brother. If anything, I think the Warriors will end up taking this next season to regroup and recover.

The recently departed superstar from Golden State, Kevin Durant, will be making Brooklyn his home with Kyrie Irving. I think it will be another year before this team is fully realized due to Durant’s injury, but I appreciate how Durant is choosing where he goes next not based on something other than an easy championship. He got his hardware (taking what some might say the easy route), so let’s see if getting it again with a team like the Nets is a possibility. Former Georgia player Nicolas Claxton is also going to Brooklyn, so I’m excited a Dawg could be on a potential championship roster.

The Pelicans have Zion Williamson. Milwaukee has Giannis. Both teams with their superstars. Look at all the talent that’s spread out! It still may not be enough to get me to watch regular season NBA games, but I’ll definitely be paying more attention to the league once it ramps up this fall. I just want to see parity. Will we finally have it?