Carter Imboden – staff writer
With the NBA season just underway, it’s a great time to analyze a trend that has taken place in the last few years: NBA superteams. Some people love them, others hate them, but what could this trend hold for the future of the NBA or professional sports altogether?
According to NBA.com, to be considered a superteam, a team must have at least two established superstars with the potential to become hall of famers, and usually, these teams have an above-average supporting cast and a strong bench.
Since the NBA was created in 1955, there have been several particularly strong teams, but superteams are a trend that generally started in the early 2000s. Some of the most notable superteams are the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics, with hall of famers Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and a prime Rajon Rondo; the 2017-2019 Golden State Warriors, with a possible hall of fame starting five; and the 2010-2014 Miami Heat, with recent hall of famer Chris Bosh, and the two-headed monster of Dwayne Wade and Lebron James, both all-time greats to the sport.
All of the teams listed above won at least one championship during their dominant reign, and that’s a prime example of why superteams could be an issue. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, has said that he does not support superteams, but no rules have been added to stop them. Silver has done a great job letting the players have a say in how the league is governed, but perhaps too much freedom has been given.
This is also becoming an issue in other sports as well. For example, the NFL saw Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Antonio Brown, all future hall of famers, join Mike Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also in soccer, Lionel Messi left FC Barcelona to join Neymar and Kylian Mbappe at Paris Saint Germain.
Nothing is better than watching two hall of famers complement each other’s game while on the field, court, etc., but it can also defeat the purpose of competition in sports. Will superteams continue to remain popular in sports, or will they simply fade away? Only time will tell.