LeBron James, in one fell swoop, has dramatically changed the course of NBA history for the next generation.

Had he signed with Chicago or the Knicks or remained with the Cavaliers, the NBA almost certainly would have entered a golden age, similar to the 1980s, where there would have been three or four truly great teams led by superstars in their primes competing for all the marbles every spring. It would have been basketball heaven.

Instead, the NBA is entering uncharted territory. In a sport where teams with genuine superstars do disproportionately well, the Miami Heat will now have the very best player in the game who is entering his prime at age 25 as well as one of the top three or four players in the game in Dwyane Wade, in the midst of his prime at age 28. These are both transcendental players. They are all-NBA defenders, exceptional once-in-a-generation scorers and the best passers in the league at their positions. These are dream superstars; they play the game the right way, they make their teammates better, and they play to win. Together they are more likely to be like Lennon and McCartney, pushing each other to ever greater heights, than Erving and McGinnis, each needing the ball to be effective.

(Please note for those claiming that Kobe Bryant is better than LeBron James: With James, the Cavaliers were a 60 win team. Without James, the Cavaliers will be a pathetic lottery team. Without Bryant, the Lakers are still a very good team that makes the playoffs. Put James on that Lakers team in Bryant’s place for the past three years and you are looking at a minimum of two titles. Put Bryant on the Cavs roster in James’s place and you are looking at zero titles. There is only one player in recent memory who is clearly superior to James, and that is Michael Jordan.)

There have been only a few other times in NBA history where a single team has come close to having the best player in the game and a top four player, both in their primes. Such may have been the case for the Bill Russell Boston Celtics from 1956-60, before Bob Cousy aged. That team won three NBA titles in four years, and would have won all four had Russell not gotten injured in the 1958 finals versus the St. Louis Hawks.

The other possible instance was the Lakers from 2000-2004, when Shaq ruled the league and Kobe made his way into top four status. Those Lakers won three titles in a row.

One might point to the Lakers of the early 80s, with Kareem and Magic, but by the time Magic was clearly in the top four, Kareem was no longer in it. Put the 1970s Kareem with the mid-to-late 1980s Magic and you would be a lot closer to what we are seeing in Miami in 2010-11. Yet those Kareem-Magic Lakers won five NBA titles in the 1980s.

One final possibility might be the 1960s Lakers where for many years Jerry West and Elgin Baylor were certainly top five or six players in the league. That team finished second to the Celtics almost every year. But neither West nor Baylor was ever the league MVP. Had one of them actually been the very best player in the league, the Lakers probably would have won a few titles in the 1960s.

So we are in uncharted territory, and the rest of the NBA should be scared to death. It would by like putting Jordan and Olajuwon together in the early 1990s. Or Magic and Bird on the same team in the 1980s.

And that is before we add Chris Bosh to the mix. Bosh is a top 10-15 player in the league, and a perfect complement to James and Wade. He is a long athletic four who can run and rebound. He is a decent defender and a superbly efficient big-time scorer. Go down the list of NBA champions for the past 40 years and look at who the third best player was on each of those teams. There are only a handful of players who are even remotely close to being equal or superior to Bosh. And none of them had the equivalent of James and Wade as the two best players on their team. And Bosh, too, just turned 26 and is entering his prime. He can get better. He is about to become the third offensive option. Good luck defending this team.

Of course, the Heat will need to get a supporting cast, and that may take a year to do. But I doubt it will be especially difficult. Just find smart guys who can defend their position, set picks and pass. (One is reminded of what football coach Chuck Knox once said about the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers defense, that counted some six or seven Hall of Famers among its starters: “The job of the other starters was simply not to get in the way of the Hall of Famers.”) There will be some quality vets willing to play for beans to be part of this team for a year or two. And starting next year the Heat will have the MLE to play with every off-season and draft choices to use or to trade.

If James, Wade and Bosh remain healthy—a big if—it is hard to see how this team does not win numerous consecutive NBA titles. As fans we can delight in watching a real dream team before our eyes, one for the ages, while we lament the lack of killer team competition that makes the NBA such a wonderful fan experience. If another NBA team comes along that can give these Miami Heat a run for the money, the resulting playoff series will almost certainly be the best basketball ever played. That is probably what all NBA fans are hoping for now, even Heat fans.