Strength in numbers was supposed to be a cutesy catchphrase denoting the team-oriented approach of the Golden State Warriors.
It's become a colossal understatement upon the arrival of superstar Kevin Durant. As far as the other 29 NBA teams go, it's also something of a misnomer.
The league is now tilting toward the Warriors like a seesaw with Shaquille O'Neal seated on one end and an infant on the other.
The Eastern Conference has largely remained the same, with the Cleveland Cavaliers being pursued by a handful of challengers: the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.
The West is Golden State and 14 teams that can lock in their Caribbean vacations for next June.
Blame the imbalance on a collective bargaining agreement that was supposed to put the Oklahoma City Thunders of the league on par with the big-market spenders but instead has created another super team with all its ugly trappings.
Who really has a chance against a Warriors starting lineup featuring three players who combined to average 80.4 points per game last season?
The number everyone will obsess about next season is 73. That was the Warriors' record-setting victory tally, which it will be expected to top after Durant, the summer's most coveted free agent, joined sharpshooters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Golden State's practices could be more entertaining than its games. Andre Iguodala may be able to occasionally stop Durant, unlike most of the Warriors' rivals.
There always will be Warriors worriers, of course. Injuries happen, and there also will be the question of whose team is it, no matter how deferential Durant might have been during an introductory news conference when it's easy to say all the right things.
While everyone waits for the start of a season whose conclusion seems inevitable, here's a look at the free agency winners and losers not named the Warriors:
