It’s cause there’s no narrative driving the story
Like CBS used to do
Andrew Wiggins’ late father in that intro
I don't know if those narratives can exist anymore.
We know far too much behind closed doors, where there's no mystique around players/teams (in real time) where we can build any sense of anticipation. A lot of that too is down to the fact fact we're adults now and stories are for children, especially if posters are older than the players today.
How can you get them to buy into a story when they don't look up to these players anymore, both figuratively and literally (adult-to-adult)?
I've seen a lot of posters talk about how players are too friendly now and that they don't hate each other, when that couldn't be further from reality.
Cats like Gobert and Dray hate each other arguably more than 99.9999999% of any player rivalry back in the day. In fact, ever since the pandemic, it's been Gobert vs. The NBA (which has spawned many a player to target him). The Knicks/Pacers rivalry was renewed, even having Haliburton and Brunson square off in the WWE (which would've been a huge storyline back in the 90s during the Attitude era). We had Bron vs. Brooks. We had KAT vs Jimmy. We had Dray vs Poole. We had Giannis vs Jaylen. We had Luka vs. Booker.
Yet folks don't seem to pay these any mind, which tells you that they don't want to buy into these rivalries in the first place. It doesn't interest them.
What pushes this further into the background is, there's endless channels of entertainment now, and NBA storylines just can't compete. It was different back in the day when sports was essentially the only entertainment. Now the NBA has to compete with social media, video games, influencers and now in recent years - political discourse. The oversaturation of entertainment has desensitized us where we can no longer be captivated (much less care) by something as trivial as basketball storylines.
The moment a game ends, our focus shifts to the infinite amount of stories going on around the world, that we have all at a press of a button and scroll of a thumb.
Back in the day, you turn the TV off and the game is still ingrained in your thoughts. There was nothing to pull you away other than your imagination.
And then you have the other fold to this -
Ring culture.
Nobody gives a fukk about team rivalries, or players hating one another or anything else that is considered a subplot. It's all about the end game and not the journey. Let's just put this hypothetical out there - say the Lakers and Kings had a rivalry amongst themselves, where they had back-and-forth battles over recent years and the players hated one another, with a passion, and the NBA even marketed it as that.
Do we think Lakers fans would care about that? Or would they only care about trying to win another championship? Focusing on their own fictives like when is Bron going to leave, when is JJ Reddikk going to prove himself as a coach, when is AD going to turn the franchise around, when is Dlo going to be traded etc. All things that allow them to fast-forward to when they're winning again. Focusing on a team rivalry doesn't do that.
You can't get folks to buy storylines, personalities or playing styles, if they're already made it known they have no incentive or desire to anymore.
wants the players kayfabing
