How come none of the young stars have grabbed the torch from the older guys?

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I assume you are talking about US players.
None of them is good enough and there are too many international guys better than them, keeping such torch out of reach.
The only great American player today would have been Embiid, but injuries derailed his career, likely.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Back when Kobe was a youngin he was going right at MJ and straight up trying to steal the torch from him. It seems like only young star who seems like he actually wants to be a star in today's league is Ant, and he's not really bringing it on the court this year. All of the others are too passive and deferential to the older guard. It's why the league has to keep marketing the older dudes and hasn't figured out which young guy to market. Wemby might be our only hope to do it at some point.

Kobe wasn't a starter the 2 seasons he played at the same time than MJ before his first retirement and just got a lot of media hype from day one since he was deemed as super marketable as a teen star. So no idea what you are actually referring to here, besides that single All Star game he was voted in for in his 2nd season as a 6th man.

second, but I agree it's easy to lose count

[SweaterBae]

Why does this even have to be a thing? MJ didn't take the mantle from anyone. Just let it be basketball.

[dhsilv2]

Man SGA went to UK...he's canadian where even americans can't tell the difference. If they can't market that dude...it's willful ignorance.

[UcanUwill]

SGA leads the league in PPG.

Jokic is a multi time MVP

Doncic/Brunson/Tatum all lead good teams

What else do you want? For Maxey to say Curry is a bitch

You don't need to call anyone names to be the face of the league. IE Stephen Curry.

Issue is all those guys you mentioned have bland AF personalities / Foreigners. And yes, being American matters when it comes to marketability within the US. Like I've said before, if the only reason you're in the country is because an NBA team drafted you, casuals won't care about you. Take Jokic for example, he can't leave the country fast enough when the season ends. People notice things like that.

Well yes, it is not his home, he leaves when season is over. I dont know why thats important? I never understood "boring personalities" hate, to me there arent many things more unlikable than kids like Ant or Lamelo, some kind of cocky d-bag kid, why do Americans like that? Jokic is what I like, he is best basketball player on earth, and outside the court he is just a quite man chilling in his homeland with his highschool love and his animals. How can you not love that?

[Lalouie]

new age of tlc players
it's a lovefest

[Bloodbather]

It has entirely to do with how the NBA and the NBA media promotes the game. They don't market the new crop of stars effectively. Jokic and Giannis each had an all-time great championship run, but they weren't covered that way.

Jokic, Giannis, and Doncic took the torch long ago. SGA has joined them since. Wemby is closing in. But they're all non-American. Embiid is (sort of) American I guess, but he's falling off because of his injuries.

[zimpy27]

Only "young" guy with a championship is Jokic, he's not really young either, he's 30.

Only actual young guy that has taken the game by storm is Wemby, he could take over very soon. Next season.

[hugolizard]

It’s the NBA and the media who are still promoting guys like LeBron, KD, and Steph when they are really no longer MVP type players. The best players are all foreign players and the media just refuses to let the old guys go until the next American super star show up.

[UcanUwill]

Only "young" guy with a championship is Jokic, he's not really young either, he's 30.

Only actual young guy that has taken the game by storm is Wemby, he could take over very soon. Next season.

Tatum and Brown has one. Luka made all nba first team like 5 tines already and made a finals. He is not taking nba by storm? Most all time greats didn't win their first until they were in later 20s, so I don't know what people expect.

[NoStatsGuy]

This again.

If the media/ESPN/marketing would stop slobbing over the same trio of Durant/LeBron/Curry and promote some of its younger stars this wouldn't be a problem.

Jokic dropped a historic triple double, yet you go on ESPN right now and there are five different articles/videos referencing LeBron. It's their fault. They created this crap.

no, not really to be honest. ESPN is entertainment business (BUSINESS).

posting videos, articles and other pieces on the lakers or lebron are just better business. its our fault because this is a free market and we click an article about lebron much more often than an article about jokic - demand determines supply

ESPN doesnt care about the integrity of the sport or "news reporting". they care about Dollars and generally the lakers, knicks, celtics, warriors (currently) bring in the money. thats the only reason. there is no secret illuminati agenda that shoves lebron down our throats. the people want it like that.

[zimpy27]

Only "young" guy with a championship is Jokic, he's not really young either, he's 30.

Only actual young guy that has taken the game by storm is Wemby, he could take over very soon. Next season.

Tatum and Brown has one. Luka made all nba first team like 5 tines already and made a finals. He is not taking nba by storm? Most all time greats didn't win their first until they were in later 20s, so I don't know what people expect.

In their 3rd seasons:
Durant was 2nd in MVP
LeBron was 2nd in MVP
Wade was Finals MVP

Jokic and Curry were late bloomers but were MVP in their 6th and 7th season. Both guys have done things we never thought we'd see.


Luka closest rank was 3rd in MVP voting in his 6th season, he's in his 7th season and he ain't getting anywhere this season. If Luka came out blazing and was healthy then he would have been a starter over Durant.

Tatum and Brown have kind of messed with each other's accolades. Tatum with a finals MVP and big Olympics showing probably would have been launched more.

I guess Tatum, Jokic, SGA don't have much charisma either, it's a factor for media pumping. They are nice guys and good role models but they haven't drawn attention to themselves.

[Optms]

SGA leads the league in PPG.

Jokic is a multi time MVP

Doncic/Brunson/Tatum all lead good teams

What else do you want? For Maxey to say Curry is a bitch

You don't need to call anyone names to be the face of the league. IE Stephen Curry.

Issue is all those guys you mentioned have bland AF personalities / Foreigners. And yes, being American matters when it comes to marketability within the US. Like I've said before, if the only reason you're in the country is because an NBA team drafted you, casuals won't care about you. Take Jokic for example, he can't leave the country fast enough when the season ends. People notice things like that.

Well yes, it is not his home, he leaves when season is over. I dont know why thats important? I never understood "boring personalities" hate, to me there arent many things more unlikable than kids like Ant or Lamelo, some kind of cocky d-bag kid, why do Americans like that? Jokic is what I like, he is best basketball player on earth, and outside the court he is just a quite man chilling in his homeland with his highschool love and his animals. How can you not love that?

Young kids don't like that. They want abrasive, flashy, edgey, new, stylish, outgoing, and someone they can relate to. Jokic isn't what the youth will ever relate to.

LaMelo and Ant are unlikeable to us because we're old farts now so we want warm milk nowadays and we want it served to us at the same time everyday. But not one of us on here ever said anything like 'I got into basketball because of Tim Duncan'.

[UcanUwill]

You don't need to call anyone names to be the face of the league. IE Stephen Curry.

Issue is all those guys you mentioned have bland AF personalities / Foreigners. And yes, being American matters when it comes to marketability within the US. Like I've said before, if the only reason you're in the country is because an NBA team drafted you, casuals won't care about you. Take Jokic for example, he can't leave the country fast enough when the season ends. People notice things like that.

Well yes, it is not his home, he leaves when season is over. I dont know why thats important? I never understood "boring personalities" hate, to me there arent many things more unlikable than kids like Ant or Lamelo, some kind of cocky d-bag kid, why do Americans like that? Jokic is what I like, he is best basketball player on earth, and outside the court he is just a quite man chilling in his homeland with his highschool love and his animals. How can you not love that?

Young kids don't like that. They want abrasive, flashy, edgey, new, stylish, outgoing, and someone they can relate to. Jokic isn't what the youth will ever relate to.

LaMelo and Ant are unlikeable to us because we're old farts now so we want warm milk nowadays and we want it served to us at the same time everyday. But not one of us on here ever said anything like 'I got into basketball because of Tim Duncan'.

I was big introvert as a kid, so I never cared for that stuff even when young, not all kids like outgoing and flashy personalities. I liked guys who play hard, play for their national team and are people who I would feel comfortable around, aka guy like Duncan, and not Jordan or Ant.

I dont know, maybe I am rarity in a sense that kids like me arent rare, but usually atent into sports, but I was a kid who is into computers and fantasy, but also into sports, just as fan, not participator, so I know those kids must exist. Maybe I am wrong and most kids are into these d-bag personalities, but all I see is old men like Bill Simmons and his friends, who keep talking how you cant market Jokic and that we need Ant to ge good. IDK, maybe they are right, but I never felt tgat way even as a kid.

I wasnt even into Sabonis that much, because he was a guy who would punch other players on the court, pick up on interviewers and marry Miss Lithuania. I was more into players like Ilgauskas, who would just go home to his wife and watch Manchester United in solitude.

[hauntedcomputer]

Take Jokic for example, he can't leave the country fast enough when the season ends. People notice things like that.

Casuals don't even know things like that, or think about them. That "foreigner" thing is entirely overblown. How do you explain Ohtani being basically the only real face of major league baseball?

This is down to ESPN's crotch-sniffing of their long-term gossip investment and the NBA's utter failure to move beyond Lebron/Curry/Durant. They still use those guys in all their league promotion and try to cram their games down our throats. I'd ten times rather watch SA versus Orlando. Or even DET versus TOR.

[shi-woo]

No clue how you can watch a guy like Giannis or Jokic play basketball and think they aren’t trying to grab it ALL. Those dudes are hungry, and they’re title winners; and at this point they’re straight up better than the old guys.

This.

People, especially the media, just don't care about this new era of stars. People are still just basking in the glory of the superteam era of LeBron v Steph. People really can't let it go, yall aren't even waiting the mandatory 10 years to sound like Boomers telling me how much better guys like Bird and Magic are to everyone else.

The old era had the torch snatched from their claws half a decade ago, where have you been? A fake Micky mouse finals and crazy run from Steph and Wiggins in 22 might have confused people but the new era started in 2019.

Kawii, Jokic, and Giannis are this gens LeBron, Steph, and KD, they just don't get nearly as much respect as the later group, even though they won their rings with more class, and by all accounts did well against the former group. All of these guys are around 30, all have rings, and all have a plethora of individual awards.

4 titles between them, 4 MVP's, and 3 DPOY's. Those are the guys carrying the torch right now, and it's been clear for a while now. Kawhii's career defining injuries, and Murrays injuries are the only thing that hasn't made it 100% obvious to even casual fans.

After that its the guys in their mid 20's Luka, Shai, and Tatum. I think those guys have done considerably well considering by this point in their careers "the Old Guard" had completely quit and started to form superteams This group by years end will most likely have an MVP and 2 rings.

Then after that group is low 20's of Ant, Wemby, Paolo, and that group has also been way ahead of schedule, and looking the part. We'll see if one of the big names from this years draft can be added to the list, but so far, all 3 of these guys have defied expectations.

So idk what OP is talking about, the players, accolades, and storylines are all there, the media just prefers to continue with the LeBron ponyshow for some reason

[JN61]

SGA? None of the old guard can be even close to impact he has on nightly basis.

[JN61]

Because the older guys are still performing at a high enough level and are in situations where they're relevant. It's just as simple as that

Curry won a title as recently as 2 years ago
Durant got his owner trading everything to take advantage of his window
Lebron has a washed +/- but he has AD on his team plus I believe he's still good if he tried, he's just not trying in regular season


Why should we care about the likes of SGA who is on a pretender and Ant who is on a Play-in team when the old guard are still going strong.

Lebron at this point of his career is like a make a wish kid who gets given ball every time on offense to mess things up and then stand away from the rest of the team on defense so he wouldn't mess up that end as badly (and can pad rebounding numbers). Trading Lebron for younger talent would make Lakers significantly better on both ends of the floor.

[NoStatsGuy]

SGA? None of the old guard can be even close to impact he has on nightly basis.

what a hilariously bad take.

SGA is good, dont get me wrong. MVP type player for sure im not debating that.

but what is that argument? obviously an up and comming superstar starting his prime is better than a 40 year old lebron or Curry thats left without a team. what are you even trying to say?

6 years in the league lebron already was 4 time all star, 2 time mvp and dragged the worst rosters consistently deep into the playoffs with a finals appereance. SGA is not the 2nd comming of MJ, yall need to chill out.

and before you come at me with artificially created regular season efficiency stats, that noone really cares about. im a results kind of person and SGA has not yet braught in any results, absolutely nothing. he has impact on winning when they actually win some. before that, eeehh you can love his numbers and advanced stats, but he needs some hardware or at least get close to it before i consider him taking any torches.

im probably taking my guy over SGA at this point. which sounds ridiculous, if you just look at the numbers. brunson has proven he can lead a team to a deep run and he gets stuff done, im still waiting for SGA to prove that.

[JN61]

SGA? None of the old guard can be even close to impact he has on nightly basis.

what a hilariously bad take.

SGA is good, dont get me wrong. MVP type player for sure im not debating that.

but what is that argument? obviously an up and comming superstar starting his prime is better than a 40 year old lebron or Curry thats left without a team. what are you even trying to say?

6 years in the league lebron already was 4 time all star, 2 time mvp and dragged the worst rosters consistently deep into the playoffs with a finals appereance. SGA is not the 2nd comming of MJ, yall need to chill out. he got kicked out the first round in the 2 times he got in.

and before you come at me with artificially created regular season efficiency stats, that noone really cares about. im a results kind of person and SGA has not yet braught in any results, absolutely nothing. he has impact on winning when they actually win some. before that, eeehh you can love his numbers and advanced stats, but he needs some hardware or at least get close to it before i consider him taking any torches.

im probably taking my guy over SGA at this point. which sounds ridiculous, if you just look at the numbers. brunson has proven he can lead a team to a deep run and he gets stuff done, im still waiting for SGA to prove that.

Both Warriors and Lakers would be better off trading those has been stars making up bulk of their salary and being massive black holes on their defensive end.