The NBA's ethos has long been driven by the star power of its top-end players.
The so-called one-names like Magic and Bird, whose rivalry was so fierce that to this day it's almost impossible to mention one without the other. And Jordan, Shaq and Kobe. Today the faces of the NBA are LeBron and Steph.
LeBron is 39 years old, Steph will soon turn 36. The Lakers and the Warriors are currently fighting for the last play-in spot in the Western Conference.
It begs the question: Who is next?
There isn't a dearth of talent. Reigning MVP Joel Embiid will not repeat because he won't play enough to qualify, but has nonetheless been sensational this season. Two-time MVP, Nicola Jokic, is a genuine outlier given his size combined with extraordinary fundamental skills. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Is arguably the best player in the NBA, and a case can be made for Luka Doncic, too.Giannis Antetokounmpo has an NBA title and MVP under his belt.
Yet, all the above players are from countries other than the United States. LeBron hasn't been MVP since 2013, nor Steph since '16. The last U.S. born MVP was James Harden in 2018.
Embiid (Cameroon), Doncic (Slovenia), Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) and Antetokounmpo (Greece) are the NBA's leading scorers. Jokic is presenting his typical triple-double magic.
The leading USA scorer is Donovan Mitchell. Obviously, Mitchell, and several other U.S. born players in their mid-to-late 20s, are gifted. Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young, Devin Booker and Jalen Brunson come to mind, and there are others. Nobody is suggesting the USA won't win the Olympic gold medal this summer in Paris. Depth alone will ensure it.
But the top-tier of players are not from the United States.
And it appears Victor Wembanyama (France) is next on the docket.
It's a complex issue, with no definitive answer for why. And it's not necessarily bad for the NBA when its impact internationally is arguably the most extensive of the four major North American professional team sports.
But it does seem like an indictment on college basketball. Bird, Magic, Jordan and Shaq unquestionably benefited from playing multiple years under intense pressure in college, but in a very different era. So did Steph, a 165-pound 3-star in high school, later. LeBron and Kobe went straight to the NBA. Kobe had a developmental curve, but LeBron is such a unicorn he starred right away and is still defying any age-related logic.
Embiid and Gilgeous-Alexander did play high school ball stateside and a year in college at elite programs (Kansas and Kentucky) but only because their talent was spotted in their native countries.
There isn't much logic to one-and-done. The G League's inclusion of young players and the Overtime Elite League have not had much impact, at least not yet.
The transfer portal and NIL have only added confusion.
The bottom line is the goose that dropped the golden egg for the NBA has been snuffed out.
College basketball was an ideal player development system for the league. It is a mere shadow of what it used to be, and perhaps the biggest reason the best in the NBA are international stars.
