The Fall of the NBA

The Fall of the NBA
With the Summer Olympics right around the corner and the USA Men’s National Basketball Team looking to win yet another gold medal in a sport that the U.S. has just dominated for the past twenty plus years; the NBA has something interesting stories that have nothing to do with the Men’s National team. Yes, some of the most popular players in the league like Lebron James, Steph Curry, and Russell Westbrook are not dawning the Red, White, and Blue in Brazil the NBA has a more internal problem that could haunt them for many years to come. Back in early July, Kevin Durant was ready to make his free agent decision, with the whole league along with the fans awaiting patiently for his announcement. Then on Sunday July 3rd the NBA erupted on Twitter and other social media with Durants’ decision to join the Golden State Warriors and make a Super Team, something the league has been against for many years. For example, the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers was voided by the league office because they thought the trade was going to make the Lakers unfair to the rest of the league. And that is what I was thinking when I heard the news of the Durant signing. I thought it was a great move for Durant for the media attention, but not as a fit, and I was also doubtful that the NBA would even let this happen. Which would set a president for future free agents signing with the top tear talent. Which after some time I figured the league had to let this signing happen due to the fact of the public opinion and the possibility of legal action. So, with all of that said I still think this was a terrible move by Kevin Durant and it will follow him for the rest of his career.
When you think of Durant, you think of a guy that is generally liked and respected throughout the league and its fan base. However, with Durant signing with the Warriors that public opinion seems to have changed in the minds of the fans. Durant now has become the enemy of the fans, “selling out” and signing with the team that beat Durants’ Thunder team this past June. This signing takes the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” saying to a whole new level. This is the team that was at the brink of elimination on the road with Oklahoma City dominating the floor up and down. The Thunder seemed pissed that they lost the series, knowing they were probably the best team in the Conference if not the whole NBA. This is not how things went down in the old days, Bird didn’t sign with Jordan and the Bulls after being repeatedly pounded by Chicago, Isaiah Thomas didn’t sign with the Lakers after losing to Magic in the Finals, and Lebron didn’t sign with Boston after being eliminated year after year by the C’s. Joining the team that beats you isn’t really liked in the realm of sports, and I have to agree. If Durant was a true competitor, he would have stayed with Oklahoma City for at least one more season and dared Steph Curry and his Warriors to meet them in the Western Conference Finals again. Durant would not want to go anywhere near Oakland California in spite and pure hatred or disgust of the Warriors. If Durant had any “Dawg” in him he wouldn’t even want to watch the tape of the games, or team up with fellow Warriors Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. I know that the times have changed in the NBA and players don’t have that same sort of feel for teams. Lebron sure does, look at the way he pretty much said “F*** You” to the whole world winning a championship when nobody believed that Cleveland could. He had the hatred of Golden State after most likely feeling robbed after the 2016 NBA Finals.
To get to my point, the NBA will forever feel the repercussions of what Durant has done, due to the fact that the Warriors—who may I remind broke the NBA record for most wins in a season last year, now have one of the top five players in the league, who also has an MVP. What this signing will due to the league is almost completely take the basketball aspect out the game. making teams sole purpose get the most Super Star talent and signing them to one team. Making all teams greedy and not stopping due to cap limitations. With that said, I still am a big supporter of the NBA expanding the Salary Cap ninety plus million dollars because it allows teams like Minnesota, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Brooklyn, and others to have a chance at signing the big name players that they once could only shoot for if they tanked and stashed money away. The down side to that is giving teams like Golden State the opportunity to do what they did when signing Durant in making the rich richer in a sense.

I hope for the games sake that the league office sets some ground rules on what teams can and cannot do with this money, and I hope that money doesn’t take over such an exciting game to play and watch. I don’t know how the league will micro-manage this situation, but for now this is a problem that needs Adam Silver’s attention. As many of you may know I thought back in June that the underdogs always winning was going to ruin the game at least for the recent future, I know no longer think that way. I believe money will ultimately be the down fall of this great sport and business and need to figure out how to limit teams spending on free agents before the NBA is being sold for pennies on the dollar. So, Kevin Durant may have changed the game, but I don’t think he meant to change it like this…       
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