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Feb 25, 2023

Which NBA rivalries could shape basketball’s next five years?

The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras. But matchups like Zion v Ja and Celtics v Bucks are bursting with promiseThe NBA’s ever-changing nature means that rivalries are fickle. When Philadelphia traded picks with Boston to take Markelle Fultz with the No 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, and the Celtics selected Jayson Tatum third, the teams’ proximity and prior history had all the makings of a classic. But while Tatum is a perennial All-Star, Fultz soon developed the shooting yips and was quickly shipped to the Magic.The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras, such as Magic Johnson’s...

Apr 06, 2017

The growing acceptance of tanking is good for the NBA | Hunter Felt

The end of the NBA season is approaching, which means it’s time for fans of teams out of the playoff hunt to start rooting for lossesSomething disastrous happened to the LA Lakers on Sunday: they actually won a game. Before beating the Memphis Grizzlies 108-103, things had been going fairly well for the Lakers: they were on a four-game losing streak, and were playing badly enough that they could have conceivably lost their remaining games of the season. With the win, however, the Lakers’ chances of getting a top three pick in this year’s NBA draft lottery took a huge hit, dropping below 50%. That’s a huge deal, because if their pick ends up being No4 or lower, it will...