Ask any old-school basketball fan about today’s game and I’m sure they’ll give you a ton of reasons why they think today’s game is nowhere near as competitive as it used to be. The evolution of the game of basketball has happened right before our eyes not just in the NBA, but also in leagues worldwide.
One of the issues surrounding today’s game is the creation of superteams. In 2016, league MVP Kevin Durant signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors, the runner-up for the previous season’s championship tournament. The Warriors were coming off their second consecutive trip to the NBA finals when they lost to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a grueling seven-game series. Cleveland came back from down 3-1 to win, which had never happened in the history of the league. The Warriors knew they needed to make a move for their future if they wanted to keep competing.
Durant’s move to the Warriors shook up the NBA, and the Warriors would go on to dominate the Cavaliers for the next two years. This began a trend of high-level players requesting out of their current situation and joining other star players in an effort to win.
A few years after Durant signed with the Warriors, it was revealed power forward Draymond Green called Durant after the 2016 finals loss to the Cavaliers crying on the phone asking him to join the Warriors.
This call is believed to have been one of the deciding factors for Durant in choosing his next team.
The reason that this was a big deal is because of the tampering rules placed by the NBA. The tampering rule states that any organization member – coach, player, executive, or owner – cannot speak to a player on rival teams to lure him to join their team. This includes publicly showing interest in acquiring the player or approaching his agent about a possible trade. The Warriors were never penalized for tampering, and the NBA didn’t even conduct an investigation.
In the last year alone, teams are still being fined and docked draft picks for suspicion of tampering. Recently the New York Knicks were found guilty of this in the signing of Jalen Brunson, whose dad was an assistant coach for the team even before he signed.
The NBA has done its best to try to stop the creation of super teams but is the tampering rule really working?
The 2023-24 season is on the brink of beginning and the rosters across the league have never been more stacked to start a season. With teams like the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics, each boasting three all-star players in their starting five, it’s hard to argue that the tampering rule has done its job. It’s safe to say that the super team era is well underway.
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