The future of the NBA

by Ethan Carraway

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Every year, a draft of up and coming basketball stars and busts are drafted by teams in the National Basketball Association. Depending on representation of skill in the previous season, teams will be given higher draft picks to try and balance out the playing field.

 One of the most important decisions for a team is picking the right player for their team. Some years, we have really good draft classes with players who become household names, and some years have a group of players who get waived after ten days. 

My real focus is on the era of basketball players from the 2000s to the 2010s that are being phased out by the next generation. I interviewed Xavier Baptiste about his opinion on the skill of the new generation of players and he said that “the skill ceiling will get higher and higher for the next couple decades before the human limit stops it, but have you seen these kids? There are 8th graders dunking that play middle school basketball.”

It is important to put our focus into the progression of skill in the NBA for the next few years because a spike in performance is bound to happen soon. Players such as five-star recruits Cooper Flagg and Airious Bailey are expected to do well this upcoming draft.