Is Chet vs Wemby the next great rivalry for the NBA?

[prolific passer]

It has aspects of both Russell/Wilt and Bird/Magic.

Both are rookies since Chet was hurt his entire rookie season much like Bird staying school after the Celtics drafted him and it has that black/white thing that some made a big deal of during the Bird/Magic rivalry.

It has aspects of the Wilt/Russell rivalry as both play the same position and are in the same conference but Wemby is the bigger and considered the better of the 2 but Chet probably has the better team around him.

What are your thoughts?

[rk2023]

I think the next great rivalry will be Cam Boozer vs. Cooper Flagg

[prolific passer]

I think the next great rivalry will be Cam Boozer vs. Cooper Flagg

Interesting

[Colbinii]

I think the next great rivalry will be Cam Boozer vs. Cooper Flagg

Really? Boozer seems very underwhelming as a prospect compared to Cooper Flagg.

[rk2023]

I think the next great rivalry will be Cam Boozer vs. Cooper Flagg

Really? Boozer seems very underwhelming as a prospect compared to Cooper Flagg.

I think he's right there alongside Flagg as a prospect if not higher (AJ Dybantsa alongside them too, though he is more of the 'traditional' wing rather than a Swiss-army knife forward sort of archetype).

[parsnips33]

Whoever it is, I think the league could really use a good rivalry

[Cavsfansince84]

Next? I think the only great rivalries we've had since Bird/Magic are Bulls/Pistons, NY/Miami(sort of), Lakers/Spurs and Cavs/Warriors but that got sort of ruined half way in by KD. Wemby/Chet will likely just be a rs rivalry until both teams are a. legit contenders and b. meeting in the playoffs semi regularly. So could it be a great rivalry? Sure but the chances of it truly becoming one are so small. It's just hype and nothing more at this point because we want it to happen. Much like Melo/LeBron was 20 years ago.

[Texas Chuck]

Whoever it is, I think the league could really use a good rivalry

Lebron/Golden State wasn't that long ago, was it?

But let's get Embiid traded to Boston and let Boston/Denver play in a couple finals. That would be cool.

[SilentA]

The "next"? I doubt it unless OKC + Spurs build and keep strong rosters over the next decade and become Western Conference contenders. And we still have to get through a couple more generations of stars. But there's still a reasonable possibility.

With regards to generation-defining rivalries and eras, it's hard to draw an exact line of when a generation ends and the next one begins. Sometimes you get "transitional" years (lol 1999), they merge, or the parity results in no rivalry emerging (see 70s). But ultimately it comes down to years where multiple stars are born and compete close to their prime on contenders in the postseason.

The "fading" generation are born 1990 and older: Curry (Klay/Draymond as the cutoff) and Lebron, with KD/CP3/Harden/Russ as part of that "era" at this point.
The "current" MVP candidate generation are 1994-1996 range: Jokic, Giannis, Embiid... and an outside mention to Booker who I think will be in that conversation if the Suns can pull it off this postseason and seems to stand out compared to Beal and KD.
The "approaching their prime" generation are the 1998-2000 franchise players and their respective teams: Tatum, Luka, Zion, Ja, Trae, who are all supposed to be hitting their primes in a couple of years, though some don't look very promising. Ant Edwards is interesting too in 2001 but at this point it's splitting hairs on DOB.

Dame and SGA are unique because they're attached to stars one generation behind them on their teams.

Basically, the point is we can't rule out the possibility of rivalries emerging in (or between) the current MVP generation/upcoming prime generation before we get to Chet/Wemby competing on contender level teams in the postseason. It depends on postseason runs over the next few years and how player movement goes.

[penbeast0]

It would be nice but so many players have come into the NBA with those kind of expectations and after 75 or so years, maybe 10 have fulfilled them and only twice simultaneously to form that kind of rivalry. It also was much easier to build that up with a smaller (for 60s MUCH smaller) league so, yeah, it would be great but extremely unlikely.

[ThunderBolt]

I think Chet is going to be massively underrated and criticized simply because he's not Wemby. Let's say Wemby truly becomes ATG material. The way OKC gets through the Spurs in the west isn't by Chet being better or as good as Wemby. It's by OKC having Shai, Jalen, Giddey, Chet and any other player that makes the totality of the OKC roster better than their opponent.

[ThunderBolt]

Whoever it is, I think the league could really use a good rivalry

Lebron/Golden State wasn't that long ago, was it?

But let's get Embiid traded to Boston and let Boston/Denver play in a couple finals. That would be cool.

I'd love to watch Embiid/Jokic in the finals but Denver is going to need some help if he goes to Boston.

[One_and_Done]

Chet isn't even going to be the best player on his own team.