Throughout the season, we're checking in on which big NBA topics are real or not.
In this edition: Who has the best death lineup in the league now?
Buy or sell: The Warriors' death lineup is still the best five-man unit in the league
Kyle Kuzma recently suggested that when LeBron James returns from injury, the Los Angeles Lakers could field a scary death lineup. A death lineup is one with enough shooters and offensive skill to create mismatches at one end of the court and enough defensive versatility and strength that opponents can't create or exploit mismatches at the other end. They are typically thought of as small-ball lineups, though I'd argue that isn't a necessity.
The concept of the death lineup came from the Golden State Warriors, who fielded a squad of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons that absolutely shredded opponents. In 2015-16, that five-man crew led the NBA with a net rating of plus-38.6 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA advanced stats. This was a whopping 14.2 points higher than the next-best units that played at least 100 minutes together.
The balance and chemistry among the core players was almost perfect, with Curry and Thompson as the primary shooter/scoring threats, Curry and Green as the primary ball handlers and floor generals, and Green, Iguodala and Thompson as the primary defensive stalwarts. Add in a fifth player who could contribute just a bit as a shooter/scorer, defender and rebounder in Barnes and the unit was almost unbeatable ... then it swapped Barnes for Kevin Durant.
In theory, this should have made the unit invincible. In practice, the unit of Curry, Thompson, Durant, Iguodala and Green was still dominant, with a plus-23.3 net rating in 2016-17, sixth among five-man units with at least 100 minutes played.
While the death lineup didn't sport quite as gaudy numbers that season, it was arguably a more effective unit overall because of the versatility and isolation potency that Durant brought to the offense. The Curry/Thompson/Green/Iguodala core plays a balanced, beautiful game in which the ball whips around until it finds the open man, but there were certain special cases in which the opposing defense could play physically and aggressively enough to disrupt that perfection. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers found that defensive level for brief stretches during the 2015-16 playoffs, long enough for the Thunder to take a 3-1 lead in the series and for the Cavaliers to come back from 3-1 down to defeat the Warriors in the Finals.
With Durant added to the unit, the ball tended to stick a bit more in his hands. While this might have slowed some of the avalanche blowouts just a tinge, it came with the benefit of making the offense more robust to disrupt defenses. Having Durant's iso ability in conjunction with Curry's and Thompson's stretch raised the floor for this group. This played out in the 2017 and 2018 postseasons, when the Warriors were able to easily handle the Cavs in the Finals.
But right now it is a legitimate question if the Warriors' death lineup is even still dominant. Iguodala will turn 35 later this month, and he has been showing his age more during the past couple of seasons (slowing down, more frequent injury). The new death lineup was downright ordinary during the 2017-18 regular season, with a plus-3.5 net rating. Halfway through this season, that lineup ranks 39th among groups with at least 50 minutes played (plus-13.3).
Another key change: How great of an advantage does Green still provide as a small 5? He now has to battle a new generation of giants in Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic. His 3-point shooting has tanked. He still rates as an elite defensive player -- No. 2 in ESPN's defensive real plus-minus (RPM) -- but last season the Houston Rockets exposed some of his weaknesses.
They used the on-ball pick-and-roll game, featuring center Clint Capela as the screener for either James Harden or Chris Paul, and they put the Warriors back on their heels. Green was too small to prevent Capela from dominating the paint, and the Rockets put enough big, athletic shooters on the court that the death lineup couldn't generate positive mismatches at either end. With Iguodala injured, the Rockets were able to overpower the Dubs for five games and arguably came one CP3 hamstring injury from ending the Warriors' dynasty prematurely.
So Golden State's death lineup might need to evolve again. Enter DeMarcus Cousins.
Like Durant, Cousins has a history of iso scoring that isn't a natural fit with the beautiful game of the original death lineup. But his size, versatility and ability to control the paint give this death lineup a new floor and higher ceiling against big, talented units that once could have exploited Golden State's size.
I postulate that the new-look Warriors will ask Cousins to do more dirty work and utilize fewer offensive possessions this season than he has at any point in his career. If they are able to mesh, the Warriors' new death lineup -- with Boogie taking Iguodala's place -- would feature five players who can score from anywhere on the court with strong offensive and defensive versatility, as well as the size to create favorable mismatches without their opponents having real weaknesses to exploit.
Still, we need to see Cousins consistently thrive on the court to believe that setup is possible. In Cousins' debut Friday, Golden State's new starting lineup logged a little more than seven minutes together, finishing plus-10. It's too early to say how effective Boogie will be with this group. In the meantime, challengers have emerged. Some groups with their own versatile, mismatch-creating lineups: Giannis Antetokounmpo plus shooters in Milwaukee; the Raptors' defensive nightmare; a healthy Houston squad; a peak version of the Celtics.
So I tentatively sell that the current iteration of the Warriors' death lineup is clearly the best in the league. Instead, I'll lightly take the field. There are enough unknowns with Iguodala's age and Cousins' unproven ability to fit in that the door is open to challengers. On paper, the Warriors' lineup has the highest ceiling, but the game isn't played on paper.