1. Lebron James - 2013

2. Kareem Abdul Jabbar - 1974

3. Michael Jordan - 1991

4. Hakeem Olajuwon - 1994

5. Tim Duncan - 2003

6. Bill Russell - 1964

7. Kevin Garnett - 2004

8. Stephen Curry - 2016

9. Shaquille O’Neal - 2000

10. Magic Johnson - 1987

This voting was done in the basketball forum RealGM in 2025, what is your opinion about it?

There’s a large group of people who believe that the Pacers run to the NBA Finals in 2025 Game 7 (which they led at half) was in large part a fluke.

However, there was also an even larger group of people who viewed the 2024 Pacers who made the ECF a fluke.

The 2025 Pacers proved that the 2024 team was not a fluke.

Much like the 2014 Spurs proved that the 2013 Spurs would have been a deserving champion over the 2013 Heat, and got to prove it in dominating fashion, I expect the Pacers to make it back to the Finals, and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Teams that made a Game 7 of the NBA FINALS, typically go on to win championships, or have already won a championship or make it back.

Game 7 Losers:
2013 Spurs, won the 2014 Championship.
2016 Warriors, won the 2017 Championship.
2010 Boston Celtics, won the 2008 Championship.
2005 Detroit Pistons, won the 2004 Championship.
1994 Knicks, made 1999 Finals (injury led to loss)
1988 Detroit Pistons, won back to back titles.

For a team to back a conference Finals, make a Game 7 NBA Finals, lose in the most heartbreaking fashion.

My bet is that they go back to the Finals, as the number 1 overall seed, and win in 4 or 5 games — hopefully against the team they would have beaten before.

Expect a Haliburton MVP campaign.

This is not what you want to hear from your leader. For this Sixers team to achieve their ultimate goal of making it out the 2nd round, these guys must be willing to sacrifice.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50199797/lebron-james-76ers-working-our-rhythm-opener-nears

2020s decade started the boom of Top International Nba Superstars. From Joker/Embiid to Luka/SGA to Wemby and others.

A quick google search tells us that around 25% of nba players right now are International Players.

"But most of them are Canadians who are within walking distance"

But even if you exclude the Canadians, there are still like almost 20% Non- Canadian International players in the Nba.

Do you guys think we will reach a point where 50% or half of the players in the Nba are International? Maybe in 2040s or 2050s?

France and other European countries continue to produce nba talents.

And now African countries are producing very tall 7'0+ Centers who have nba potential.

Even Asian countries like China and Japan are producing some nba talents.

And ofc other countries in Americas too like Brazil and Argentina.

This past NLCS (National League Conference Finals for those who don't watch baseball) the Brewers faced the Dodgers. Brewers had 103 regular season wins to the Dodgers 100 wins. Heading into the series, the Dodgers were favoured to win, even though they finished with a worse record than the Brewers.

Has this happened in the NBA where the team with fewer wins was actually the favourite to win that playoff series?

Congrats To Bam On Winning NBA ID Fan Favorites Performance Of The Year! (via @MiamiHEAT) - View now in the NBA App - https://nba.shar.estori.es/go/clip/4113258e-ce0e-53f5-4f94-3a245cb44eed?collectionId=opening-week-fire-moments

1. Sixers winning the title. Mostly because of the implications it would have for both them and the Celtics. Embiid becomes a made man, Lebron adds the cherry on top of his legacy, Brown silences the haters and might alter the perception of analytics. The craziest part would be the consequences for the Celtics, who seemingly would have traded away title contention, can't even imagine what the fan reaction would be, especially if they matched up in the postseason. All around this has to be no. 1 to me no question.

2. Spurs return to the finals and seal the deal, Wemby immediately puts himself on the path to becoming an all-timer, Harper and Castle fill out a dynasty in the making. Spurs immediately become the main power in the league and set up some crazy matchups down the line.

3. The Kings are good -- speaks for itself.

4. The Knicks repeat. Seems like not many have them as the favorite for this season, which is understandable given the roster flux, but a repeat seals them as an all time champion squad, NYC legends, Brunson as an all-timer and best little guy of all time, Jimmy Butler look even worse with KAT doubling up on chips.

5. The rookies are ready to lead - one or more of Dybantsa, Wilson, Boozer or Petersen are just straight ready-made for the league and can start leading their teams to some wins. Would totally shift the landscape of the league and elevate some teams that have been bad for a long time, and have a fascinating effect on the overall competition level of the league. Think you could throwing Cooper Flagg in with this mix too.

6. TWolves make the finals. Even just making the finals and getting past OKC and/or the Spurs would be a wild validation of Ant and LaMelo. You can just imagine some of the shit that would come out of these guys mouths if this comes to fruition lol Any cements his reputation as a giant killer.

7. Pacers return to the finals. Legitimizes them as arguably the third major power in the east, having beaten the Knicks two season ago, and competed with the '24 Celtics. Validates their '25 finals run and reminds people they basically should have won the chip in 25.

8. The Nets are good. Arguably could be no. 1 lol.

9. The Clippers make the playoffs - having them bounced back after getting fucked for the 118th time through reason we didn't even know could exist would be an awesome storyline, and honestly pretty shocking given.

I'm going to follow the league for the first time ever and was wondering should I just stick to following my chosen team for the entire season (Phoenix Suns) or should I throw in a secondary team also and if I'm following more than 1 team should I just watch the games condensed or watch games in full?

I'd like to keep up around the league without having burn out mid-season trying to keep up with everything. Can't wait for the season to start.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U9CbwZg_sHo&pp=ygUXd2lsbCByaWNoYXJkIHN0ZWFsIGR1bms%3D

Source: https://gooodtraade.substack.com/p/tracy-mcgrady-helps-magic-land-franz

Magic make a big splash acquiring future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady in a sign-and-trade with the Raptors

McGrady → Mobley/Francis → Trevor Ariza → Rafer Alston → Vince Carter → Earl Clark → Nikola Vucevic+ (Dwight Howard trade) → 2021 1st Rd pick → Magic select Franz Wagner

The most heartbeaking part of this chain was trading away the pick that would eventually become Tyrese Maxey. 😩

• Anthony Edwards with the hand size of Kawhi Leonard
• Jalen Brunson but 3 inches taller + wingspan
  
• Tyrese Haliburton with the vertical jump of Zach Lavine
• Jaylen Brown with a third eye in the back of his head

I've never seen a week day game start at this time unless it's being played in London or something. And on opening day no less.. what in the world is going on here?

I’m from Trinidad & Tobago and looking to get into the NBA, but I haven’t picked a team yet.

I want a team with:

🏆 A realistic chance of winning championships

🔥 A passionate fanbase and strong team culture

📈 Good management and a bright future

🏀 An exciting team to watch

👕 Cool jerseys and a good history

I don’t want to just bandwagon the current best team. I want a team I can support for the next 10+ years, through the good and bad.

If you had to recommend ONE team, who would it be and why? Also, which teams should I avoid? Be honest!

Do you think it would be smart for the Spurs to offer Castle a max next year? Is his value closer to Amen Thompson who took around 22% of the cap instead of 25%? Of course Castle could take a huge jump this year and make this conversation obsolete, but what do you think?

The "face of the league" is more of who can gain the most following around their image, than just who is the best player on the best team. Part of that image is personality. Part of that image is look. JB's game is fun, he's clutch, he's in new york, but he doesn't have the mannerisms or personality to carry it further.

Jokic got close since his game is fun to watch and he has this goofy big oaf persona around him. But Denver is not the coolest team nor do they have the coolest jerseys, so it falls a little flat.

SGA is very private. We don't really know his personality. His smooth game is appealing to the youth, his jersey colors, his signature headband with cornrows, that is more "cool" but he has a flopping reputation that lowers the "cool" a lot.

Luka. No. Giannis had a chance but not really.

It's honestly just LeBron and Curry that feel right to be called that.

LeBron constantly goes viral with how goofy he is. He plays the media game well. He does commercials, acting, and he obviously is funny. And he's LeBron. Everybody wants to watch him play.

Curry has the mannerisms. People love walking like him, chewing the mouthguard, doing his dances. He sometimes has a dry personality but he can be funny with his antics pre-game. And ofc his game is extremely fun to watch for most fans.

I honestly don't see any player right now who can capture and combine the "fun to watch" and "cool persona" aspects like LeBron and Curry have done. Maybe Wemby? He seems like he has the personality, the image, to be the face of the league. I'm being serious when I say the black and grey of San Antonio might hold him back. The colors are a little dull and don't pop out like the Cleveland Maroon for LeBron and the Golden State Blue for Curry. But idk what yall think.

Probably going to get pushback for this but if I had to pick one duo that would win by the biggest margin in their minutes together and be the most impactful it would be this one.

First Curry and KG would have incredible synergy and fit together. KG was a good passer, high iq basketball player and an elite screener. Curry’s gravity, good passing, and ability to create 4 on 3s would make KG even more effective as a scorer and creator.

Curry at his peak was a historically great offensive force, and stacking multiple players who get most of their value from offense can have diminishing returns. Curry and KG as a synergistic duo has an offensive ceiling that could lead to one of the best relative offenses ever despite KG getting his value from defense primarily.

Combine that with KG being a one man defense at his peak and with just decent support could lead to very elite defensive results. They both just have insane synergy and a combination of elite ceiling raising and floor raising skills.

It’s essentially a supercharged Steph Curry and Green who have posted some of the best net rating numbers ever for a duo. Despite the talent gap, they even had better lineup data than Miami LeBron and Wade(who also had great numbers)!

Obviously net rating together isn’t the sole factor for how good a duo is but it’s something worth noting. It shows that dominant duos in league history don’t just come from stacking talent but also from great synergy and fit.

Preseason is over and the season is starting in a few days. Out of the games you have watched, what is the biggest takeaway whether its good or bad? Anything you are looking forward to when the season begins.

Stats last season:

Scottie: 18/8/6 with 1.4 steals 1.5 blocks on 51/30/82 (57.7 TS%)

Paolo: 22/8/5 on 46/31/78 (56.6 TS%)

Playoff stats last year:

Scottie: 24/6/9 with 1.1 steals and 1.7 blocks on 51/38/80 (60.5 TS%) vs Cavs

Paolo: 26/9/6 on 42/33/68 (52.4 TS%) vs Pistons

Who’s the better player right now?

It’s tough to pick but to be safe on my investment I’d probably go with Garland and Barrett although I hate Garland’s D. These 2 still seem to have some upside going into their prime. Scared of Ja & Zion although a lot of teams would take fliers on these guys at the right cost. Coby, Rui, PJ and Cam Johnson are all similar safe picks also I believe.

1-Zion Williamson
Great O, No D or Jumper, can’t stay healthy. What exactly is he? Center, Point Forward? 2 time all star.

2-Ja Morant
Declining former superstar now a reclamation project. 79 games played total last 3 years. 23.5% from three point range last year. 2 time all star.

3-RJ Barrett
Non- all star player but with steady numbers and decent D but just a fair jumper. Last year 19.3 / 5.3 / 3.3 with shooting splits of 49 / 34 / 72

4-DeAndre Hunter
Jack of all trades - master of none. 26.1 minutes last year with 13.7 per game. Declining D & 3 ball.

5-Darius Garland
2 time all star & great offensive player but can’t stay healthy and is a traffic cone on D

6-Jarrett Culver (out of the NBA now in Japan)

7-Coby White
Solid offensive player with a solid deep ball. Last year 17.4 / 2.4 / 4.0

8-Jaxon Hayes
Solid backup center. Good rim runner and energy player. D is average but a decent shot blocker

9-Rui Hachimura
Solid non all star player with good O and D. Last year 11.5 per game 51.4% shooting & 44.3% from deep

10-Cam Reddish (currently unsigned free agent)

11-Cam Johnson
Solid 3 & D player. Last year 12.2 per game on splits of 48 / 43 / 84

12-PJ Washington
Solid starter or 6th man. 3 and D type player although 3 ball can be shaky. 14.2 pts / game

13-Tyler Herro
1 time all star with an excellent offensive game and 3 ball but an absolute negative on the defensive side