According to Jeff Van Gundy, the 2018 and 2019 NBA Finals have already been decided.
Doubling and tripling down on his take last season that the 2017 playoffs were not going to be close, Van Gundy, a former NBA coach turned ESPN analyst, doesn’t see any reason to believe the 2017-18 or the 2018-19 season will be any different, and argued on Sirius XM radio that even if the Cleveland Cavaliers add another star, the Warriors are still far and away the better team.
“I think (the Cavaliers) end up playing the long game,” Van Gundy said. “With the way the Warriors are, unless you’re trading that pick for — give me a name — Paul George, you’re still not better than the Warriors.
“The Warriors are gonna win forever… this season is over,” Van Gundy continued eliciting laughter from hosts Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine. “We’re gonna play it out, and the Warriors are gonna win. And then the next year it’s gonna be the same thing.”
Van Gundy believes that as long as the Warriors have their core of stars in place, there is no chance for anybody to seriously challenge them. The first of the Warriors’ stars to become an unrestricted free agent will be Klay Thompson in 2019. Until then, expect Golden State’s dominance to continue.
“The Bulls actually had challengers during their run of greatness — series going to the end, they had to summon everything they had,” he said. “The Warriors — this is over. 2018 is a wrap. Let’s start talking about 2019… Who’s beating them four out of seven times? Just wake me up when something changes with their roster, because it’s over.”
Listen to the clip below.
▶️ “The @warriors are going to win forever” – Jeff Van Gundy on The Starting Lineup with @FisolaNYDN & @Scalabrine pic.twitter.com/y4Y2KAFhQE
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 5, 2017
