What's at stake for these primary NBA Finals characters

No player is graded on a more difficult and ever-changing curve than LeBron, who in his 14th season is playing arguably the best basketball of his career, in a season where the Cavs struggled to be a .500 team in the second half of the season and LeBron found himself nowhere close to the Most Valuable Player discussion. None of that matters now though. In his seventh consecutive NBA Finals, LeBron is looking to repeat as champs with the Cavs, and win the fourth title of his career.

If LeBron vanquishes this Warriors team, one that’s gone 12-0 in these playoffs and looked invincible, a year after authoring a historic 3-1 comeback in the Finals, we might have to really start having those best player of all-time discussions. He just passed Michael Jordan on the all-time playoff points scoring list, and beating this Warriors team in back-to-back years would rank up there with any of Jordan’s -- or anyone else’s -- career accomplishments.

A Finals loss? And now we have a different narrative spin for LeBron. He would be a career 3-5 in the Finals, and would be hard pressed to chase down Jordan’s six rings, which he has admitted is his goal. In a way, nothing will really change with regards to LeBron’s career resume if he loses in these Finals. Strange to say given the stakes of this matchup, but what will certainly change depending on the outcome is how we calibrate our view of LeBron among the greatest of all-time.

Kevin Durant

Durant is in the Phil Mickelson phase of his NBA career. Like the golfer, he is well accomplished, considered one of the best in the league, but has spent years chasing down a major win which he finally got and helped open up doors to his career. Even though Durant has publicly said that a championship wouldn’t complete his life, let’s all agree that a title would definitely help end a lot of silly conversations about where Durant ranks among active players.

He’s the best pure scorer in the league, and has put up incredibly efficient numbers in his first season in Golden State’s offense. There was a fun regular season subplot between himself and Russell Westbrook, and we wondered how he and Curry would fit in. All of those questions can be pushed aside now. If Durant helps lead the Warriors to a title, he will have everything on his career resume, and never have to answer another question about whether he regrets leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder or what not having a championship means to him.

Durant might want to paint these Finals as just another chance to win a championship, but there’s plenty more at stake for his career than that, whether he wants to confront it or not.

Stephen Curry

It’s strange for the two-time reigning Most Valuable Player to be seeking redemption in these Finals, but that’s exactly what Curry will be doing in this series, after struggling through injuries in last year’s playoffs and the Finals, getting ejected in Game 6 in Cleveland, and shooting 6-for-19 in Game 7 (and going 4-for-14 from beyond the arc).

In the process of becoming the league’s superpower, even before landing Durant in the offseason, the Warriors went from the darlings of the league to supervillains, and Curry went from the face of the league, and considered the best player in the world to giving that spot back to LeBron, and sharing the spotlight with Durant in Golden State.

So, strangely, it’s as if people have forgotten about Curry’s individual excellence, and now these Finals are a chance for Steph to say y’all must’ve forgot.

Draymond Green

Speaking of redemption, this is the series for Draymond Green, whose Game 5 suspension last year helped ignite the Cavs’ 3-1 comeback, and led some -- including those in the Warriors locker room to ask: did Draymond cost us a championship last season? Draymond, like the Warriors, has coasted through these playoffs without much controversy, and now he has a chance to make up for last year’s shortcoming and deliver a second title in three years to Golden State.

Kyrie Irving

Strange how a Game 7 Finals shot can change your entire career’s narrative, but that’s what happened to Kyrie Irving -- a.k.a. the world’s most famous flat earth truther ­-- when he won Game 7 in the final minute last season. No one cares particularly about Irving’s make-up as a complete point guard, and truthfully, you need to be a potent scorer to play alongside LeBron, and Irving possesses some of the best handles in the league is and arguably the best finisher at the rim. Another signature Finals performance from Irving, and we will definitely be moving up him the list when we rank point guards this offseason.

Kevin Love

Of the Big Three, Kevin Love’s spot in Cleveland has always felt the most precarious, even after the Cavs won the title last year. There’s always rumors that Carmelo Anthony could end up a Cavalier, and if you set aside Love’s iconic defensive stop of Curry at the end of Game 7, you’ll remember that Love was almost unplayable throughout the series against Golden State’s small lineups, and there was question as to whether last year’s Finals would be the last days of Love in a Cavs uniform. Those questions might just come back around again in this series, and if so, Love will have to respond or deal with another round of trade rumors again.

Klay Thompson

While Draymond has been putting up triple-doubles in the playoffs, and Curry and Durant have led the Warriors’ offense, Thompson has been the forgotten man, averaging just 14.4 points per game in the playoffs and shooting 38.3 percent from the field, numbers that are down significantly from the 22.3 points and 46.8 percent shooting he put up during the regular season. Despite the playoff slump, Thompson is still the most likely player on the floor on either team to explode for a 37-point quarter, because, well, he’s done that before. These Finals will be a perfect opportunity for Thompson to leave his mark on the 2017 playoffs.

Tyronn Lue

For Lue, a championship would give him one of the most incredible starts to a coaching career in the history of the league, after taking over mid-season from David Blatt last season, winning the championship, and competing for a second title this season. Beating these Warriors could give Lue a pretty decorated coaching resume less than two full seasons in.

Mike Brown 

Brown is way too nice and classy of a guy to make this series about him, but the Warriors interim coach had two coaching stints with the Cavs that didn’t end very well, and now finds himself going up against LeBron, who he coached to his first Finals appearance a decade ago. It would be a pretty incredible story if Brown won a title as an interim coach while taking down the Cavs in the process.

David West

David West did not invent ring-chasing, nor is ring-chasing a bad concept. West left money on the table two summers ago and signed with the Spurs in hopes of winning a title, and then watched as San Antonio got knocked out in the second round by Oklahoma City. So, last summer, he signed with the Warriors, and now he’s in the Finals with a chance to get that elusive ring. I personally root for chaos so it would be fun to see a 48-year-old West on his 18th team in as many seasons chasing rings still, but I would be okay if he completed his chase in these Finals too.

J.R. Smith + JaVale McGee

I mean, we either get two-time NBA champion J.R. Smith or NBA champion JaVale McGee. Those are the real stakes of these NBA Finals.