What Does the NBA's future look like?
After watching the first three games of the NBA Finals you can draw the conclusion that at this rate the NBA is headed down a dark path. One that is not entertaining to the casual but also having the die hard fan a little disinterested. I know Kevin Durant said "if you don't like it don't watch" but if people stop watching then the money will be taken off the table at the next CBA.
The entire season was a forgone conclusion with only the anticipation of the Finals matchup of two juggernauts with arguably 7 of the top 20 players in the league but the Cavs never seemed to play up to their potential leaving us with this. And from the looks of it things aren't going to change anytime soon.
Like it or not LeBron James has created a culture of playing with the best in our primes vs playing against the best in our primes. Kevin Durant took it to another level and if you hear guys talk this stems from guys wanting to play with each other since their AAU days. That mean the future generations could take it to a whole new level especially with the salary cap in this current era. Players can literally play out their rookie contracts and then take mid level deals making $10-$15 million and have three or four all-stars under the age of 25 because of the one and done rule and this era of money and what seems like lack of competitive drive. In four to five years we could see Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson, and Jason Tatum all on the same team and no one would bat an eye or think anything of it because this is the era of the NBA we are in.
Even next year we could see Paul George or Jimmie Butler traded to Cleveland for Kevin Love meaning teams would just swap top 20 players. Think about it a quarter of the leagues top 20 players are in this year's Finals and if the Cavs want a legit shot next year they will need to add another top 20 guy. That is the reason that both the Cavs and Warriors pretty much swept threw the playoffs there is no competitive balance and it doesn't seem like its going to get any better anytime soon with most expecting these teams to meet in the Finals for the next few years.
