The End of an Era: Classic and Shocking Basketball System Upheavals

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Have we ever seen anything like this before? Or is Victor Webenyama an alien? And perhaps there's been no rule change with a greater impact on the game this season than the alien himself, Victor Webenyama. At a staggering height of 7 foot 4 and an unfathomable wingspan of 8 feet, Webenyama has completely changed the way NBA teams play. Before the season even started, teams changed up their practices just for Wembee. For instance, earlier this month, the Dallas Mavericks attached paths to the trainer's arms to simulate what it would be like shooting against Wembee. It's not just his shot blocking that defenses need to worry about. He's a weapon on both ends of the court. This past week, Wembee put together one of the greatest rookie performances in NBA history. Against the Suns, he scored 38 points to go along with 10 rebounds in just 34 minutes. At only 19 years old, he's proven to have shaken up the NBA world. And quite frankly, teams have yet to find an answer. However, up next, we've got to talk about public trade requests. Put simply, the NBA is sick and tired of players getting their way. Kyrie Irving forces his way out of Brooklyn and boom, he gets traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Kevin Durant forces his way out of Brooklyn and boom, he gets traded to the Phoenix Suns. I think Brooklyn fans get the point. The league's power is slowly shifting more toward the players. And players such as James Harden have gotten to the point where they've publicly requested trades. Yet the NBA isn't a fan of Harden's antics, so they went ahead and fined him $100,000 for his public outburst. But this isn't the only thing the NBA is changing. This off season, Adam Silver and the executives around the league got together and did some digging, to which they came to a consensus. NBA players suck at acting. Yes, I'm looking at you still, James Harden. And yet, flopping has been a major concern for years. For decades, players have successfully drawn thousands of calls just by appealing to the referees. So NBA teams decided enough was enough. It's time to finally put an end to these Oscar-like performances and eliminate flopping for good. Therefore, if LeBron turns into LeBaby this season, the NBA has an answer. It will result in a nonsportsman-like technical foul. This is good for two reasons. Number one, the opposing team will be awarded a technical free throw for their troubles. And number two, the offending player will now be at risk of ejection because of their poor acting skills. Hopefully this change eliminates a lot of flopping this season. However, let's be real. Flopping is just a part of basketball, whether we like it or not. But for every good change, there's a change that falls flat. And this year, the NBA decided it has seen enough of all-star captains. It's going back to the old ways. That's right, for the first time since 2017, the NBA will revert back to a traditional East vs. West all-star game. This is sad for a few reasons. First of all, this means there will be no LaCoach. After 6 straight seasons of being named all-star captain, Team Lebron will no longer be a thing. This also means that players will no longer be allowed to pick their friends or hold grudges.
Kevin Durant not picking James Harden. But on the positive, this change will reignite the classic East vs. West rivalry. Another thing to note, the game will revert back to 4 12-minute quarters instead of having a target score. But up next, we gotta address the elephant in the room because it's the fan's worst nightmare to purchase a ticket and show up to the game only to find out their favorite player isn't even playing. So that's where the NBA stepped in. In order to qualify for regular season awards like all NBA and all defense, a player must play at least 65 games. In other words, John Moran will not be winning any awards this season. Similarly, if a team has multiple star players healthy, only one of them is allowed to sit out. And lastly, if a team is playing a nationally televised game or in-season tournament game, all healthy star players are obligated to play. So, say goodbye to the soft NBA and reacquaint yourself with the old school style of basketball. Or at least that's what Charles Barkley would pay me to say. Although hate to break it to the Chuckster, load management is still a work in progress. And even that's an understatement. However, maybe this next rule change will help. Cuz now, playing 65 games is bare minimum for any MVP candidate. Which believe it or not, isn't much of a change at all. In the NBA 75 plus year history, only 3 MVPs have failed to meet this requirement. Giannis played 63 games in 2020 LeBron played 62 games in 2012 And in 1999, Karl Malone only managed to play a measly 49 games. That said, all these MVPs also have another thing in common. They all played in shortened seasons. And if these seasons were extended to 82 games, all 3 of these MVPs would have likely reached 65 games played. Heck, even reigning MVP Joel Embiid managed to play 65 games last season. And he did it with a game to spare. But while the NBA is getting stricter with major awards, all NBA teams are trending in the opposite direction. Year by year, the NBA has become more and more of a positionless sport, so it's only fitting that all NBA and all defensive teams are now positionless. Consequently, that means that the highest vote getters in each conference will be selected for all NBA and all defense teams. And this new rule is especially clutch for Joel Embiid and Nikolaj Jokic. Many fans would agree that Jokic and Embiid aren't just the 2 best centers on the planet. They might be the 2 best players, period. Last year, Embiid finished 1st in MVP voting, whereas Jokic finished 2nd. However, when it came to all NBA selection, only Embiid got 1st team all NBA. But rest assured, Jokic won't be robbed next season, and if he is, there's always horse racing waiting in the off season. But out of all the rule changes, perhaps none bigger than this year's in-season tournament. Instead of a long and grueling 82-game season, the beginning of the season will be interrupted by a fresh and innovative tournament featuring all 30 NBA teams. Starting Friday, November 3rd, up until Saturday, December 9th, every team will duke it out to win the first ever NBA Cup. The tournament contains 6 groups consisting of 5 teams each. From there, every team will play each team in their pool once, with the top 8 teams advancing to the knockout stage. In other words, like watching the World Cup all over again, only the stakes are a lot lower. Plus, the NBA players get acclimated to playoff style basketball a lot earlier, which for subpar teams like the Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons, it's almost unprecedented. No offense, LaMelo. Nonetheless, this tournament has massive potential. The players on the winning team will be awarded $500,000 each, which isn't much for someone like LeBron James, but for someone like Gary Payton II, it's a substantial pay raise. Currently, the league's median salary hovers around $4 million, which for the average NBA player amounts to more than a 12% pay increase. Better yet, the end season tournament is accounted for in the NBA's 82-game schedule, meaning that every game in the tournament will count toward each team's regular season standings. The only exception is for the championship game, which will only count toward the tournament and not the regular season. And if you aren't hooked yet, let me tell you why I'll be watching the NBA Cup. Custom courts. That's right, each team will feature a new, never-before-seen court-themed around the NBA Cup. And I'm not gonna lie, they look kinda dope. All in all, this tournament will give fans a much better sense of which teams are championship-bound, and more importantly, which teams are pretenders. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the NBA's next big experiment. But spoiler, it's not going away anytime soon. And similarly, multi-million dollar salaries aren't going away anytime soon, especially after Jalen Brown's record-breaking $288 million contract this season. However, one thing I do know is that NBA player salaries are getting out of hand. Just 10 years ago, Lebron James was making $19 million per year. Nowadays, that number has increased to over $45 million. That's more than two times what he was making 10 years ago. But what's even crazier is that in 2013, only two players earned more than $20 million, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowinski. This season, 77 players will surpass that amount. As a result, the NBA implemented a new rule that prevents the salary cap from increasing more than 10% in any given year. Yet players aren't the only ones affected by this year's new rule change. So are coaches. A few years ago, coaches' challenges didn't even exist. However, now they are an integral part of the game. That said, there's a major problem with coaches' challenges. You only get one of them. For instance, imagine a scenario where a referee makes a blatant bad call. Before, the coach could challenge the ruling on the court and get the call reversed, which is fine and all. But let's say later in the game, the referee makes another blatant mistake. Well, this time around, the coach isn't allowed to challenge the call because they already used their challenge. Seems pretty dumb, right? The NBA thinks so, too, because this season, if a coach is successful with their first challenge, they will be awarded a second challenge. The only catch, the second challenge will automatically trigger a timeout. Now it's hard to argue with the last rule change, just like one can say the same about this next rule. See, back in 2017, the NBA introduced the Super Max contract, allowing players to sign significantly more lucrative deals than the standard Max contracts. However, in order to reach this criteria, the player must have either been named to an all-NBA team or won a major award in two of the three past seasons. Hit this criteria like Yannis and players are swimming in money. However, miss this criteria and players could lose out on tens of millions of dollars. Let me explain. See, under the old CBA, teams were at risk of losing players to unrestricted free agency because extensions couldn't be signed at more than 20% of the players' previous salary. This meant that players could either hit the Super Max criteria and make a ton more money or be restricted by the old CBA and receive a 20% pay increase, as opposed to a larger pay increase. But thankfully, that's no longer a problem. Under the Jalen Brown rule, the 20% salary increase is getting bumped up to 40%. That means teams will be able to retain players a lot easier without having to sign them an unrestricted free agency. But now it's time for the question you've all been waiting for. Will the NBA ever be the same again? And truthfully, that remains a mystery. Yet one thing is certain. The NBA is constantly evolving. So if these new rules teach us anything, it's that the NBA today will look much different from the NBA 10 years from now. Who knows, they may even add a 4-point line in the near future. But in the meantime, check out the video on the screen, because the only thing crazier than the NBA adding a 4-point line is right in front of you. So seize the moment, and I'll see you ballers there.