I don’t disagree that the game is softer overall today, but let’s give props where props are due – medical science. A torn ACL used to be a death sentence, and now it’s an extended vacation followed by rehab. KD tore his achilles at 31 and still looks like a top 10 player. Joel Embiid probably would’ve just been another Greg Oden if it weren’t for modern medicine. Also specifically for LeBron and Curry, dudes have been maximizing their workouts and diets and live basketball for their whole careers, versus MJ sometimes smoking cigars, drinking, and gambling the night before playoff games. There’s a lotta factors at play as to why a few guys can last that long versus others who look washed already in their early to mid-30s (*cough Paul George cough cough).

Remember after the Harden trade when it was reported that Ballmer and Harris were directly involved with the negotiations? If trading for a 34-year-old post-prime Harden was a big enough move to warrant such hands-on involvement from ownership, there is simply no way that a prime Luka trade could have been pushed by the GM alone.

I’m not a big conspiracy theorist myself, but in this case, the official narrative of the trade doesn’t hold up to scrutiny and makes less sense than the so-called “conspiracy theory.”

Don’t get me wrong, Nico is a pompous jackass, not a sympathetic figure, but he’s ultimately the scapegoat taking all the blame/criticism for the trade so Silver and Dumont don’t have to take any of it. The PR strategy here is so obvious and yet it’s worked depressingly well, even on hardcore NBA fans who should know better.