When the Denver Nuggets have been eradicated in Recreation 7 towards the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, it marked the unofficial altering of the guard within the NBA.
The Boston Celtics misplaced Jayson Tatum for the season — and all of subsequent season — paving the way in which for the New York Knicks to make the Japanese Convention finals. The Indiana Pacers bought sizzling on the proper time once more, simply discarding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 5 video games apiece.
The Minnesota Timberwolves took care of enterprise towards LeBron James and Stephen Curry on their path to the Western Convention finals.
Heading into the 2025 NBA playoffs, it definitely felt just like the “face of the league” label was up for grabs. Now, certainly one of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards or Tyrese Haliburton can have a real crack at profitable their first NBA title.
It felt like the celebrities have been aligned for the Lakers to make the NBA Finals. The Luka Dončić commerce got here out of nowhere within the eleventh hour of the season, but it surely allowed Los Angeles to pair two top-five gamers within the league on the identical roster. It didn’t work.
Equally, the Golden State Warriors sacrificed their future to attempt to proceed profitable significant basketball video games within the Curry period once they added Jimmy Butler to the combo from the Miami Warmth. Additionally didn’t work.
The overachieving regular-season heroes just like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons additionally proved to be regular-season retailers — merely not gifted sufficient to advance in extremely aggressive seven-game collection.
However that is wholesome for the league. At some point, LeBron isn’t going to be taking part in anymore. Curry seemingly isn’t too far behind him. We’ve seen what has occurred to Kevin Durant’s superteam makes an attempt lately.
The NBA will quickly be confronted with the identical downside it had when Michael Jordan was formally completed. It wants a brand new face of the league. It wants a brand new Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Allen Iverson and Shaquille O’Neal.
Certainly, we are able to already forecast a few of these stars within the making. An NBA championship within the again pocket of Gilgeous-Alexander, Brunson, Edwards or Haliburton would definitely assist their case to take the torch when James, Curry and Durant are all gone.
Even additional down the road, you could possibly see lifelike paths for unicorn gamers like Victor Wembanyama and Defensive Participant of the 12 months Evan Mobley to dominate this league.
Whereas these NBA playoffs have had their fair proportion of blowouts, there’s a altering of the guard occurring proper earlier than our eyes. It’s a younger man’s league. These 4 remaining groups show it.
