With the rise of SGA, Luka, and Ant in the playoffs, a new era has arrived for NBA

As the end of the first round of the NBA Playoffs quickly approaches, it's quite evident that a new era has arrived for the Association.

We are witnessing a new era of the NBA shine right before our eyes. The days of superstars such as LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant going deep in the playoffs year after year are seemingly over with a new generation of guys such as Nikola Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luka Doncic eager and ready to take over. 

Anthony Edwards put on an absolute show against the Phoenix Suns in a 4-0 sweep. In each game, he looked like the best player on the court and was even talking trash to his idol, Kevin Durant, in the process. Despite the sweep, there is no bad blood between the two stars. Edwards has already said he is excited to play with Durant on Team USA this summer at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and talked trash about beating him in the playoffs. 

This is easily the best team Jayson Tatum has been a part of in his NBA career thus far, despite making plenty of deep playoff runs year after year. This above any year is a “championship or bust” season. 

Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets went on an 11-game win streak vs LeBron James and the Lakers including the playoffs before losing Game 4. It has been our domination from Jokic with seemingly no answers for the Lakers to his offensive game. 

Luka Doncic has been knocking on the door of being the league’s MVP for the past couple of years now. He always puts up crazy numbers but there is still another level for him to reach in the playoffs. He has one conference finals appearance so far and keeps getting better every year. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just led the Thunder to the number 1 seed in the West with the second-youngest team in the league. This past season he made a really good case to win the MVP this year and has real potential to make a deep run in the playoffs.

With the era of the NBA nearing a close, with James, Durant, and Curry, not having the same team success we are used to, each of these young guys has the potential to steal the throne. Any of these superstars can truly take over the league and make it their own. In a deep league with more talent than we have ever seen, there is also more opportunity to take over as the face of the league.