The current iteration of the NBA looks much different from what the league looked like in the past. Change is inevitable over time, and that is very true in the NBA, as there have been quite a few changes to the style of play on the court and how teams build their roster off the court.
One other area where change has been notable is rivalries. Players and teams rarely have specific rivalries anymore, and Devin Booker believes that he may know why the NBA doesn’t feature them anymore.
Booker makes an interesting point when it comes to NBA rivalries
Back in the day, top teams and players were almost always beefing with each other, and it was another element that would draw fans to watch games. But nowadays, there aren’t many rivalries to speak of, and when they do exist, they are far less interesting than they once were.
Booker has been in the NBA for eight years now, so he understands the landscape of the league. In his eyes, rivalries don’t really exist anymore because many of these players have known each other since before they were in the NBA, resulting in them being friends rather than enemies.
“I’d say there’s no real rivalries because of grassroots basketball,” Devin Booker said on The Old Man and The Three. “A lot of these guys we’ve known for a really long time and I think people just realize that it’s not that deep half the time. People always say, ‘Oh, they’re not about to fight out on the court, they’re not about to do that.’ Yeah, that’s a half-a-million dollar fight. Nobody should do that.”
Can the NBA do anything to bring rivalries back?
There are some instances where rivalries resurface in the league, but they are seen as rare in today’s friendly environment. Take the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, for example. They have a big rivalry, but it’s largely due to the fact that they’ve met up in the playoffs in four of the past five seasons.
Unless there are unique circumstances, these rivalries are practically extinct. But D-Book does a good job of noting how many of these players are friends nowadays. That wasn’t the case back in the old days, as players often hated everyone who wasn’t on their own team.
A lot of the top basketball prospects in the world become familiar with each other before they make it to the NBA, which is a big reason why this is the case. And even when you make it to the league, there’s a camaraderie among the players that didn’t used to exist.
There are long-standing animosities between teams that still exist, but they don’t pack the same punch as they used to, and it’s ultimately because of the players. Booker’s reasoning makes sense, and it’s a shame that many of the good rivalries in the league are a thing of the past.
