SI features LeBron James and Stephen Curry on NBA Finals’ Issue cover

For their NBA Finals issue, Sports Illustrated has featured the Cavaliers’ LeBron James and the Warriors’ Stephen Curry as their cover story.

“The Threematch. Cleveland vs. Golden State. Bring on the Thrillogy.” That’ll be the cover line for the Sports Illustrated issue on the NBA Finals. It felt like yesterday when LeBron James was gracing the cover as a teenager, but now he’ll be on it in advance of his seventh straight NBA Finals’ appearance.

SI’s Lee Jenkins spoke with a variety of NBA people around the league to gauge how talented the Warriors and Cavaliers are. The first two Finals’ matchups between these teams featured a lot of talent, but nothing compared to what will be on the floor starting Thursday night.

Warriors’ executive Jerry West had this to add.

"At the end of the third quarter [when the Warriors led 106–75], I almost felt bad for San Antonio, but I also felt bad for our fans. Because if you’re a real fan at a playoff game, you want to see a hard-fought battle, back and forth, and at the end somebody wins by a point and you go home worn out… But we’re up by 30-something, and I’m thinking, ‘Hmm, I’d like to leave here if I could.’ It’s the weirdest thing. I’ve never felt that way before."

That’s probably the craziest thing you’ll ever hear from an NBA Executive. He genuinely felt bad for the fans and the other team because the Warriors were destroying the Spurs in a Western Conference Finals’ game. The Spurs were a 61-win team this year, yet they were getting blown out by a massive margin in Game 2.

Teams are even trying to do their best to avoid Golden State and Cleveland. An anonymous GM had this to say about playoffs’ seeding.

"If I’m being totally honest, for most of us right now, the goal is just to get in the bracket where you don’t have to play Golden State or Cleveland until the conference finals… It’s like the NCAA tournament selection show: ‘We avoided Kentucky!’"

Never thought you’d hear a general manager say they are purposefully trying to avoid a certain team in the playoffs. That could even mean that they’ll lose games to just to drop in the seeding to avoid Golden State or Cleveland.

Next: NBA Finals 2017: 5 potential x-factors who could swing the series

There are more things from Lee Jenkins’ cover story on the era of super teams, from Grizzlies’ coach David Fizdale, to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to even former Laker Derek Fisher.

Catch it all on the NBA Finals’ issue of Sports Illustrated, which will hit the news stands on Thursday, June 1.