The inevitable move to a global basketball league

The NBA is not what it once was. From the rivalry of Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird in Lakers vs. Celtics, from the globalizing explosion of Michael Jordan with his Chicago Bulls, from the epicenter of American dominance in front of the world with the Dream Team, we have moved on to a basketball that is no longer owned by anyone.

The best league in the world is no longer national but global. David Stern, my dear friends, was right.

ESPN’s latest player rankings ruled that four of the league’s top five players are international. Namely Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid and just closing out the celebrity quintet, Stephen Curry.

Not only has the style of play changed from traditional positions to multifunctional players. From low post with triangle offense to the pure dynamics of rhythm, with shots from the logo, relentless vertigo and speed of execution over planning and strategy. With the advance of social networks, with videos that spread like a contagious virus through all platforms, basketball ceased to belong to the United States and became the property of the world.

“We didn’t want to take pictures of the players. We wanted to face them and if possible beat them,” said Manu Ginóbili, inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 10, at a press conference held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncansville, Connecticut.

Talent is everywhere, and the brand’s extreme outreach policy, which deepened in the mid-1990s, brought this issue to the forefront. The NBA has suffered a cultural invasion that has caused a mutation in its own entrails.

“Manu was the engine of an extraordinary team that caused a profound teaching to our basketball. We learned from them and they learned from us,” said Jerry Colangelo at the close of the Class of 2022 conferences.

Yes, ten years after Barcelona 1992, a team composed of NBA players lost for the first time at the hands of Argentina. The shock was profound and shattered much more than the dream built by Chuck Daly. Not only were they human, but the rest of the world was learning. They could compete, the physicists were different, the game year by year became more and more balanced.

While there were Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), Patrick Ewing (Jamaica), and Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands), among other international nationalized talents, it was Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Yao Ming (China), Steve Nash (Canada), Pau Gasol (Spain) and Ginóbili, some of those who made up the “Glue Generation” between the net American basketball that once was and what we see today.

“We believe that basketball is an international language. It’s a sport that was invented in America, but it has traveled the world. It’s been an Olympian since 1936 and we’ve worked in many different countries,” Stern once said.

Preseason games have been played in London, in Paris, in Mexico. In Tokyo as well. The expansion of franchises to Canada, with Toronto Raptors being champions in 2019, is just the beginning of a path that looks inevitable: to shatter once and for all the geographical boundaries of a country and, why not, a continent. Is it crazy to think about the birth of a WBA (World Basketball Association) instead of an NBA (National Basketball Association)? I don’t think it’s not too far off.

The actions of Basketball without borders have greatly expanded the opportunities and experiences. The EuroBasket that ended last September 18, which had Sergio Scariolo’s Spain as the undisputed winner of the tournament against an intimidating France in the definition, showed that many of the best players of the League are in the national teams of the old continent. It is curious, but it is hard to find today in the NBA, for example, a super elite American center – 90% of the star giants are foreigners – in the same league where Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal, to name but a handful of notable players, have broken records.

The phenomenon, far from being limited, is about to deepen. The draft classes are full of elite foreigners in first-round picks, and what was once exceptional is now the rule. There is no NBA analyst who does not know that, barring some unforeseen unforeseen event, Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, 6-foot-2 and with gazelle-like movements, will be the number one pick in the Class of 2023.

Years ago, not only would it not have been considered: we would not even have seen it. Much more, it would not even have been worked on to become what it is today. The physical, emotional, athletic and psychological education of the upcoming sports figures is just a click away. You don’t even have to be in the same place to learn: what used to be secret has now been democratized as a result of an open source culture that benefits the collective and the sport itself, regardless of language, gender or race.

The world is constantly changing, but what was once ventured as a possibility is now an undeniable reality. Distances have shortened, communication has unified, and what once belonged to the few now belongs to everyone.

Does anyone think that the United States will be the only candidate to win the 2023 World Cup in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia? And the 2024 Paris Olympics?

Two decades ago, Argentina shook the world with a triumph in Indianapolis that caused a commotion. Today, however, everything is different. What could have been a surprise before, is now a concrete possibility. The best league in the world is no longer national, but global.

James Naismith invented it, David Stern massified it and Adam Silver enjoyed it. The internationalization of basketball is already a fact.

The future, then, is already among us.