This is true but this started before then. But this started way before them. Many won't agree but the NBA was setting up Kyrie years ago to be that face of the league years ago. With the sexy game and the Uncle Drew commercials (don't forget the movie) along with the having the best kicks out of the newer generation he was supposed to be THAT dude. But once he went flat earth theory it's been all downhill from there.
Let's be honest about what the NBA's biggest problem is now. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant failed to step into roles the league was preparing them for
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GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
A lot of people (like me) don’t watch full games/matches as often as in the past. I mostly catch extended highlights.
NBA is like the lipstickalley or shade room of sport’s discourse with how media and fans act; sassiness where stan bases serve as male swifties and beehives for certain players/narratives, and any league-wide struggles get more magnified/overly dramatic.
The NFL is too, truth be told. They just don’t have to worry about the sassiness specific to ratings. But it’s also why NBA and NFL are often compared while all other sports leagues in the same boat as the NBA are too boring/less viral in comparison to be dramatic about.
TheMailMan
All Star
Kemp posting on bookwormbytches.com
Awesome Wells
The Ghost of Jack Tripper
The issue with the league is that it tries to manufacture roles, and create superstars, instead of just letting them become that on their own.
Before they even throw a jersey on for their first game, the league is telling us which legend so-and-so is gonna be like, and how they'll stack up against HOFer's and all kinds of wild sh*t. They don’t let dudes even get in the door to cook before they start up with that. So they make it damn near impossible for these dudes to live up to the expectations the league is putting on them.
They don’t let them earn it anymore. They have a role waiting for you and need you to step into that right away, or they stop f*cking with you. Even if you start slow, and start to take off later, they won't ever show you the same love because the excitement is gone. They'll be focused on some new players to run that same marketing cycle on. There's no more organic building for stars anymore. The NBA has become a machine that focuses on the hype and dollars more than it does on developing for the future and waiting to see. They need that light shining now. They're not gonna wait for these dudes to become anything.
Before they even throw a jersey on for their first game, the league is telling us which legend so-and-so is gonna be like, and how they'll stack up against HOFer's and all kinds of wild sh*t. They don’t let dudes even get in the door to cook before they start up with that. So they make it damn near impossible for these dudes to live up to the expectations the league is putting on them.
They don’t let them earn it anymore. They have a role waiting for you and need you to step into that right away, or they stop f*cking with you. Even if you start slow, and start to take off later, they won't ever show you the same love because the excitement is gone. They'll be focused on some new players to run that same marketing cycle on. There's no more organic building for stars anymore. The NBA has become a machine that focuses on the hype and dollars more than it does on developing for the future and waiting to see. They need that light shining now. They're not gonna wait for these dudes to become anything.
Also, context is needed… us geriatric folks who were viewers 20+ years ago… Kobe Iverson Vince TMac KG, etc., were big time superstars yet the NBA was still “down bad” with:
- “image problems” including a need for a dress code because players dressed like “thugs”
- shyt ratings if it wasn’t the Lakers vs whoever (ppl dreading San Antonio making the finals),
- Discourse that players lacked fundamentals (specifically they couldn’t shoot)
- Discourse that players don’t play hard and make too much money (not “pure” like college hoops)
- The malice in the palace
- The gold club racketeering trial
- Refs fixing games
Let's be reality: James Harden is still out here dropping 24 point quarters and 40+ point games. If you take into account production x star power he's still the biggest American star and we should give him another MVP to save the league. It's the only way. 
Imagine if the world was as simple as “how to to fix the nba” peoples suggestions 
The cable viewers is down 50% because one player from the New Orleans pelicans is injured/lazy. If he we get him a gym card millions of people will start watching Detroit vs Lakers
The cable viewers is down 50% because one player from the New Orleans pelicans is injured/lazy. If he we get him a gym card millions of people will start watching Detroit vs Lakers
Awesome Wells
The Ghost of Jack Tripper
Let's be reality: James Harden is still out here dropping 24 point quarters and 40+ point games. If you take into account production x star power he's still the biggest American star and we should give him another MVP to save the league. It's the only way.
True.
But he's older now. So the league ain't gonna focus on him. They're trying to boost the new talent and create new hype. If you're a vet and balling crazy, they ain't even gonna bother to hype your season because that takes away from them trying to constantly tell us who we should be checking for in the future that's just becoming a new superstar. They're ruthless with that.
Ozymandeas
Veteran
Add Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin to that list too.
KnickstapeCity
BigDikktapeCity :shaq:
Let's be reality: James Harden is still out here dropping 24 point quarters and 40+ point games. If you take into account production x star power he's still the biggest American star and we should give him another MVP to save the league. It's the only way.
And shooting like 38% from the field while doing itIt makes complete sense.
It's called patriotism.
NFL is a reflection of this country.
If it ever become an international game where foreign players represented those teams, America would find something else to do on Sundays. Just as if the NFL could have the worst product imaginable, yet it still wouldn't lose those fanbases if they still felt those teams and the game represented who they are.
KnickstapeCity
BigDikktapeCity :shaq:
My nikka Big Dikk Gil. Happy holidays, nikka!
Zion being a JBO degenerate with poor work ethic
Ja being captain young nikka
Wemby hype died down because the "alien" factor got nullified by him playing away from the basket.
All the really good white boys are foreigners
Herro is balling but he's too black coded so they don't claim him either.
You can barely watch the games.
They ruined the good thing they had with the offseason transactions with the supermaxes and the cba rules.
Even the marque matchups are prone to being 30 pt blowouts
All star is shyt from start to finish now. They don't even turn it up in the final 8 minutes of game anymore.
Dunk contest is fried.
The jerseys sucks
The court designs suck
The Finals don't have any aura because they got rid of all the good branding they had
NBA cup has no aura.
The scheduling is trash.
Adam Silver tenure been on slow decline since the bubble honestly.
Ja being captain young nikka
Wemby hype died down because the "alien" factor got nullified by him playing away from the basket.
All the really good white boys are foreigners
Herro is balling but he's too black coded so they don't claim him either.
You can barely watch the games.
They ruined the good thing they had with the offseason transactions with the supermaxes and the cba rules.
Even the marque matchups are prone to being 30 pt blowouts
All star is shyt from start to finish now. They don't even turn it up in the final 8 minutes of game anymore.
Dunk contest is fried.
The jerseys sucks
The court designs suck
The Finals don't have any aura because they got rid of all the good branding they had
NBA cup has no aura.
The scheduling is trash.
Adam Silver tenure been on slow decline since the bubble honestly.
It's the reason why the NFL's product doesn't get remotely criticized like the NBA does (despite the fact both games have changed in equal relative amounts). It would be un-American to do so. It's the reason why the biggest critique about the NFL in recent times wasn't about the actual game, itself, but because of the players kneeling for the anthem. You even had fans threatening that they'd stop following the game - it was an overwhelming sentiment amongst White America.
Why? Because the fans thought it was un-American.
Marinate on that.
Why? Because the fans thought it was un-American.
Marinate on that.