Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is ranked as the 9th most popular sport in the world. It is ranked as the second most popular sport in America. The NBA is, by a wide margin, the most popular league for basketball in the world. Due to its popularity, the amount and caliber of players keeps increasing. Theoretically, this means that we should be in for increasingly better seasons every year. This season puts that theory into practice, and very well I might add. However, with an increase in the skills of players, there is a large downside that comes with that. Nevertheless, it is still one of the most exciting and promising NBA seasons ever.

As the NBA evolves, we see more of an emphasis on scoring as opposed to playing defense. At first, James Harden was someone who gained the notorious reputation of being excellent offensively, but giving only partial effort on the defensive end. Regardless, Harden was still a star player. On top of this, the NBA has gotten a lot stricter over what is considered legal vs. illegal on the defensive end.

The NBA is a lot stricter on the physicality that players can use, causing many players to play with partial effort. These factors paved the way for many more players to play hard offensively, but give half an effort defensively. But, due to this, we see higher and higher scoring seasons. In many eyes, this can make this NBA season exciting. However, many fans also miss the days of more prominent defenses.

In one week of the NBA, there have been 4 games where 1 player on a given team scored 60 points or greater. The following players produced the statlines provided

• Joel Embiid- 70 points/ 18 rebounds/ 5 assists
• Karl Anthony Towns- 62 points/ 8 rebounds/ 2 assists
• Luka Doncic- 73 points/ 10 rebounds/ 7 assists
• Devin Booker- 62 points/ 5 rebounds/ 4 assists

But, the list goes much deeper than that if you include the numbers from last season. In the last 13 months, there have been a total of 9 games where a player scored 60 points or more. To the average person, that might not sound that farfetched. However, if you compare this to the time period of 1985-2004, there were only 10 games, in that entire time, where one player scored 60 points or greater in a given game. This era was also one of the most competitive eras, containing players such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Shaquille O’neal, and others. This era was seen as a golden era by many fans. It contained the Chicago Bulls dynasty and many hall of fame players played during this era. So, the question is begged, why are players now, in a year, doing what previously took 20 seasons to do?

While this season is not an all-time high in TV viewership, there is a significant uptick in terms of where the league has been at in the past. It is recovering from a very dry spot during the 2020-2021  season where the league lost around 20% of its average viewership. This shows that people are starting to care about the league and the game again. However, players and teams are also receiving an all-time high level of recognition on social media. Clips are going more viral than ever, big games are getting lots of media attention, players are making significantly greater sums of money, and players are becoming prominent social media figures. Because of all of this, it is safe to say that the NBA is in one of its most exciting eras yet.

On top of this high scoring season, the NBA is introduced to one of the most talented prospects the league has ever seen. Victor Wembanyama has become one of the most fan favorite players because of his incredible talent and genetics for the game of basketball. Victor Wembanyama is standing at 7”4 inches with an 8-foot wingspan. It seems like time and time again, players are brought from overseas with incredible talent and genetics to dominate the sport. But this idea has failed many times as well.

However, something about Wembanyama seems different. In his true rookie season, per game, Wembanyama averages 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. He also averages over 3 blocks per game. While these may not seem like incredible numbers, it is very important to note that he is doing this while shooting an average of 46% from the field. He is also doing this in only 28 minutes per game. And, watching him play, his defense is a true highlight of his game. He has such a strong interior presence that it makes it very hard for players to score on him. He has potential to be one of the greatest players of our generation. 

Between the incredibly high scoring season and young players proving themselves as the future of the NBA, the NBA may be in for one of the most exciting seasons in years.