The NBA is the one professional sports league that thrives off of its players' star power the most. With five players on each team, there's usually only one or two players that the fans are paying to see on the court. Football has eleven different players one each side of the ball, while baseball gives all nine players on a team an opportunity to make a moment shine (while basketball moments are in the hands of a player's aggressiveness). And right now, the NBA has more stars to feed off of than ever.
Just start naming them: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, Tony Parker, and others that I'm probably leaving out. Then you have the up and comers who are about to just lengthen the stars list, like Blake Griffin, John Wall, and Eric Gordon. The scary part is that it seems like every year lately in the NBA, the list slowly becomes larger.
How do you not only have people forget about these guys, but also take away from some of their prime years as well? Just have a lockout. If a season is lost, you will miss 82 games worth of Kobe's turnaround fader (which doesn't have much time left anyway), Dirk's improbable unbalanced fadeaway, LeBron's thunderous slams, Dwight Howard's S.W.A.T. team rejections, and Derrick Rose's lightning quickness. Actually, you might be able to watch all of those traits still shine; but in a different league.
Deron Williams is going to play in Turkey, and you have to think many European clubs are willing to throw millions upon millions of dollars at some other NBA stars to just come over for a season.
But what are stars without their storylines? The NBA has a villian again, and it resides in South Beach. Ever since the infamous Decision by King James, basketball fans have hated the Heat. They cheered at their early season struggles, but started worrying their potential had finally been struck by the end of the year. So when they fell to Dirk and his miraculous Mavs, the basketball world bathed in Miami's tears. And that will only continue to happen, as the Heat are the headlining story of every NBA season. LeBron's quest for a ring continues, and while nobody may want him to get one, they are still extremely aware he could very well get one any year.
There are still other teams though; 29 of them. The reigning MVP, Derrick Rose, has the Chicago Bulls back to yearly playoff (and eventually) championship expectations. Boston's Three Party wants to try and make one last run at a title. Kobe and Company ended last year sourly, and now must follow Mike Brown back to success. Oklahoma City is poised to take over the West with its star duo of Durant and Westbrook (even though Westbrook probably wants it to just be him). Memphis was everyone's playoff darling, but can they sustain it? Can San Antonio squeeze anything out of Timmy D and the boys? Will Kyrie Irving ignite Cleveland and bring the Cavs back? And are the Mavs ready to defend the crown?
The bottom line is that NBA is actually interesting. Ratings during the playoffs were through the roof, and last year's Finals was one of the best in recent memory. If it continued this rate every year, and rode its star power while producing more, the league could push baseball even further back in sports popularity (but not catching the NFL). But how is any momentum gained with a lockout?
It's bound to be much nastier and longer than the NFL lockout. Any meeting between the players and owners has produced nothing, giving no hope. The chances of a lost season are raising every day, with some fully expecting it. Even a shortened season would be a giant loss. When it seemed so bright, as its stars continued to shine and blossom, the future of the NBA with this lockout has transformed into a star crossed tragedy.
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