“NEW YEAR, NEW TEAM, SAME GOAL,” is written on the shirts that Lakers fans were gifted when they entered the Staples Center for the team’s 2016-17 season opener, and first regular season game without Kobe Bryant, on Wednesday, October 26.

On Tuesday, the NBA season officially opened with the New York Knicks playing the Cleveland Cavaliers following Cleveland’s Ring Ceremony. However, the most anticipated game of the first night was the match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. The Warriors, who have been the most talked about team during the off season with the addition of Kevin Durant and the loss of practically their entire bench, faced the Spurs, who are now missing future Hall-of-Famer, Tim Duncan, due to his retirement. While the Spurs still have Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, plus their latest acquisition, Pau Gasol, the team is considerably younger. Unlike the Spurs, the Lakers are practically a brand new team; the players are young and they have a brand new coach, meaning a brand new system. Despite all of these changes, neither of these teams disappointed those who were waiting to see how they would perform.

The Spurs have always been a strong team with very good players so remaining on top is not a surprise. There is no denying that Gregg Popovich is an amazing coach. He is great at getting the best out of every player on the team, young and old. LaMarcus Aldridge, who is playing in his second season as a Spur, and Pau Gasol and David Lee, who are both in their first season, are going to be key players for the Spurs this season because, as the big men of the team, they are going to be the “new Tim Duncans.” Gasol and Lee are used to being on teams with talent; Gasol played for the Lakers with Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher, where he won two NBA Finals. David Lee used to play for the Warriors, where he won the championship two years ago. Aldridge, who formerly played for the Portland Trail Blazers, was never really surrounded by any big name players other than Damian Lillard. On the Blazers, Aldridge played an important role as the big man and one of their best players but it was not until his last three seasons on the team that he was selected to play in the All-Star Game. Whether they were surrounded by talent or not, all eyes are on these three players to be able to prove that the team will still be good even without Duncan. They need to be able to rebound, block shots and score in the paint.

Luckily, in addition to these guys, the Spurs also have Kawhi Leonard, who was last season’s Defensive Player of the Year and was runner up to Stephen Curry in MVP balloting. With both great coaching and players, it would make sense for the Spurs to continue to be contenders but I don’t believe anyone expected them to come out as strong as they did in their opener against the new look Warriors.

While it is hard to judge a team’s entire season based on their first game, the Spurs’ future is definitely looking bright. Last year, the Spurs were tough competition for the Warriors, as they were one of the nine teams the Warriors lost to the entire regular season. On Tuesday, the Spurs beat the Warriors by 29 points. The Warriors have been described as having the best shooters in the league with players like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. The 29-point loss for the Warriors was just devastating to Dub fans like myself. That is the same number of points that the Cavaliers beat the Knicks by and the Knicks have not been in the playoffs in years! So do the Warriors need more time to figure out how to gel with all of these All-Stars on one team, or do the Spurs really not need Tim Duncan anymore?

The Lakers, on the other hand, are a completely different story. Even with Kobe Bryant, they have not been competitive in years. After Phil Jackson retired from coaching, the team had seen several coaches come and go. Their new coach, Luke Walton, who is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton, was previously the assistant coach of the Warriors. Now Luke Walton is in his first head coaching position. The Lakers roster consists of many young players such as D’Angelo Russell, who was the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Brandon Ingram, who was the second overall pick in this year’s draft and Julius Randle, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2014 draft. While one would think Kobe being gone would destroy the Lakers, I believe it actually allows them to be a much better team. Phil Jackson was Kobe’s coach for a majority of his career and by the time Jackson left, following the 2010-11 season, Kobe was already towards the end of his career, which makes it difficult for any new coach coming in to install a new system. It is very difficult to introduce brand new techniques, no matter what the team dynamic was. Kobe played 20 seasons in the league and had Jackson as a coach for 11 of them, so it is hard to adapt to someone new as a veteran player. Now that the Kobe is retired, and the team is young, it is easier for a new coach to come in a teach his system because these players are still adapting to playing professional basketball. In the past, when the Lakers got a new coach and the team was not successful, the coach was immediately fired. Mike Brown was released after only 5 games in his second season as head coach. The Lakers defeated the Rockets in Walton’s first game 120-114. The real question here, is how would the Lakers be if Walton were the coach while Kobe was still on the team?

Again, it is hard to say how a team will be based on one game. The Lakers and the Spurs seem to be off to a good start, so we will have to wait and see what the future holds. While it is difficult to do, maybe we just embrace that Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan were great players who will be in the Hall of Fame in five years. The time has come for them to pass the torch to the next generation of players.