The NBA is turning into a league of loopholes as competition dwindles

The NBA isn’t necessarily broken, but there are certainly some reform that needs to take place – soon

Golden State’s recent signing of DeMarcus Cousins spurred a visceral reaction from the media and fans alike, debating whether or not the competitive balance of the league has become too lopsided.

In defense of the move, some have contended that the NBA is at the height of its popularity when a team is in the midst of a dynasty.

However, the conversation about the signing should be looked at as an extension of a growing and concerning trend in the NBA rather than on its own face.

It has become a sobering reality for some time now that the spirit of competition in the NBA has ironically taken a backseat to teams and players gaining a competitive advantage.

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Tanking is a strategy that has been in effect for over a decade but it was never made more popular until when LeBron James entered the NBA draft in 2003. The loophole that allowed for a competitive advantage is that teams with a worse record were afforded better odds in drafting position. So, the strategy of throwing games to get a better draft pick came to pass.

When LeBron James joined Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat in 2010, and ultimately ushered in the super-team era, it was the first time the league had seen a superstar in his prime purposely join another superstar in his prime. The loophole in this comes from how statistics and NBA records are looked at independently rather than within the context of detail.

So if the NBA is a “team” game, what difference does it make if the cohesiveness of its personnel is confused with the caliber of its collective talent? Recent history has shown that as long as a player is the lead figure of a “super-team”, it suddenly becomes a forgivable offense that said plyer purposely joined/formed one to begin with.

A competitive advantage was once again gained when that line was crossed.

Kevin Durant extended that line by joining a 73-win team in 2016. And DeMarcus Cousins extended it just inches further weeks ago.

Meanwhile, on a smaller scale, teams will rest their superstars on occasion coming off a second game in as many nights due to an alleged “injury” in order to preserve their health. The San Antonio Spurs started this tactic but it was only when LeBron James took the liberty of incorporating it that it started becoming a malignant strategy employed by other superstars.

Then there is NBA All-Star weekend, which has become a shell of what it was, as the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the talent in the league has played second fiddle to player health and branding. The two events which have paid the most transparent expense are the dunk contest and the All-Star game.

To refer to the All-Star game itself as an actual “game” is already being overly kind.

And the famed dunk contest, which once served as an unofficial rite of passage for some of the game’s most visible faces like Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter has been marginalized to a lineup of guys who are about as recognizable as Mike Pence. Mind you, this trend started when LeBron James decided to sit out the dunk contest in his first few seasons.

Seeing the obvious dilution of competition that these loopholes have caused, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has done his best to remedy matters.

To address tanking, the NBA’s board of governors approved a new lottery format last year that will split the lottery odds of the three teams with the worst regular season records to an identical 14 percent. The remainder of the lottery field, meanwhile, will see a slight boost.

To address the superstar-DNP issue, the NBA adjusted its schedule to allow more rest for its players while also agreeing to penalize teams who periodically do not play multiple starters in a game.

The “gimmick” for this past year’s All-star game in order to incentivize more competition was to have the players pick amongst each other. The strategy did seem to work to a degree but the overall lackluster effort of the all-stars still seems a significant work in progress.

Nevertheless, the real work that needs to be done so that competitive advantages will no longer overshadow the quality of competition in the league needs to come from the fans.

The NBA banks a majority of its bottom line from television ratings.

Therefore, it should be incumbent upon fans to no longer entertain watching games that are either lacking or terribly one-sided in talent or competition or both.

In addition, the advent of social media has provided today’s average consumer with a voice like never before. That platform should be used endlessly by fans to share their dismay at the fact that today’s NBA superstar appears more content to unite with his peers as opposed to competing against them.

Contrarily, players like Kyrie Irving and Kawahi Leonard (of late) should be commended for wanting to captain their own teams. (Disclaimer: that’s about the only thing Kawahi Leonard can be commended for.)

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At the end of the day, the longer that fans continue to give a pass to how these loopholes have dramatically shortchanged the level of competition in the league, the more it will dwindle.

The fact that DeMarcus Cousins joined Golden State last week is not as much of an indictment on his perceived character as much as it should be a call to action amongst fans to stand against this trend.

Similar to the draft lottery starting next summer, it is time for a reform.

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