On Sunday, April 14, the NBA completed its 77th season, and it was nothing short of entertaining. There were some reoccurring themes, some big surprises, some old dogs doing old tricks, some new dogs doing old tricks, some new faces in new places, and a rookie sensation who played like he was from another planet.
San Antonio Spurs’ rookie Victor Wembanyama was the most hyped player coming into this season. He was selected No.1 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, and CBS Sports described him as the best NBA prospect in the last 20 years. They even compared his hype to one of the greatest players of all time, LeBron James. James admitted that Wembanyama was not a unicorn, but he described the 7’4″ rookie Frenchman as extraterrestrial, as he could effortlessly do everything on the court.
“We’re labeling like this unicorn thing—everybody’s been a unicorn over the last few years,” said James. “But he’s more like an alien—no one has seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is on the floor.”
So, how did the “Alien” perform in his first NBA season? It’s safe to say he was out of this world. Wembanyama finished the season with an average of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and an NBA-best 3.6 blocked shots per game. He also became the first rookie and just the fourth player overall to finish a season with at least 1,500 points, 250 assists, and 250 blocked shots. The others who achieved this feat were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (five times), Hakeem Olajuwon (twice), and former Spurs great David Robinson (twice). It was last achieved in 1993-94 when Olajuwon and Robinson both had such a season.
The biggest surprise of the 77th NBA season came in the Eastern Conference. Unlike the hype surrounding Wemby, I’d bet nobody saw this team coming. You can say they pop up out of nowhere like magic. That’s right, the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference is the Orlando Magic. The Magic finished with a record of 47-35, a 13-game improvement from last year. After not even making the play in the tournament last year, the Magic are in the playoffs now for the first time in four years, when they clinched a playoff berth in 2020.
What did they do differently from last season? They didn’t add any significant new players; they just got better. The Magic’s head coach, Jamahl Mosley, instilled extreme confidence in his young team. The team’s performance has been remarkable, thanks to the leadership of last year’s rookie of the year, Paolo Banchero. At just 21 years and 154 days old, Banchero set a new NBA record by being the youngest player to ever lead his team in scoring, rebounding, and assists with 22.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game.
Next, the No. 5-seeded Magic will face the No. 4-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a best-of-seven postseason series.
This part of the story is for all the dogs, old – LeBron James (39), Kevin Durant (35) and Stephen Curry (36), and new – Anthony Edwards (22), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (25) and Luka Dončić (25).
James, who scored the most points in NBA history, is still scoring and is doing it at a high level. James finished his 21st in the NBA season averaging 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds a game. He shot 54.0% from the field and a career-high 41.0% from 3-point range, which is better than Curry’s 40.8 %. This has made him the first NBA player to ever average 25 points and eight assists a game while shooting at least 50% overall and 40% from downtown for an entire season. James has led his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, to the play-in game against the New Orleans Pelicans, and the winner of the two will face the Denver Nuggets.
LeBron’s 3-point percentage is slightly higher than Curry’s, but Curry holds the NBA record for the most 3-pointers in a career with over 3,000, precisely 3,747. Although the Warriors’ dynasty seems to be approaching its end, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Curry. Curry finished the year averaging 26.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists. The Warriors are the 10th seed and will face the No. 9 seeded Sacramento Kings in a must-win game to advance to play the loser of the New Orleans Pelicans-Los Angeles Lakers contest, and will need to win that Friday game to set up a best-of-seven series against the Western Conference’s top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
When it comes to Kevin Durant, he is still a walking bucket. The 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5 assists in his 17th season. Last month, he surpassed Shaquille O’Neal to become the No. 8 all-time leading scorer in the NBA. Durant led his team to being the sixth seed in the Western Conference and avoiding the play-in tournament. They will play against the No. 3 seed, Minnesota Timberwolves.
While the old dogs were great, the new dogs are carving out their own legacies without being intimidated by their predecessors.
Anthony Edwards is a new dog, but people are comparing the 22-year-old to one of the greatest old dogs to do it, Micheal Jordan. Yes, people are saying that the high-flying uber-athletic Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard reminds them of MJ. NBA great Kevin Garnett said Edwards reminds him of the ’89 MJ, respected journalist Chris Broussard also made the comparison and MJ himself said he sees similarities in his game. Edwards finished the year averaging 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the smooth-scoring guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, is making a case for being not one of the best young players, but one of the best players in the NBA. Right now, his team finished No.1 in the Western Conference and he was the driving force. Shai finished the year averaging 30 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists. This year, Alexander has the most 30-point games in Thunder franchise history and has the most games with 30+ points this season with 51 games.
Luka Dončić is only in his sixth season, and he’s already showing signs of the best players ever. Doncic averaged 33.9 points per game, which makes him the first Mav to win the scoring title. He also averaged 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. This season, Luka Doncic made NBA history by recording six consecutive 30-point triple-doubles and scoring 73 points in a single game, tying Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson for the fourth-highest single-game score. In his career, he is the only player in NBA history to record a 50-point triple-double under 25 years old. He has the most career 3-pointers under 25 years old (1,114 made) and the most games with five or more 3-pointers for a player under 25 years old.
Luka Doncic could be on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league. However, currently, the title of the best player in the NBA belongs to Nikola Jokić. This statement might sound repetitive, but this is at least the third time this has been said. According to projections, Jokić, also known as the Joker, has a good chance of winning his third MVP award this year. If he does, he will join an elite group of players who have won three or more MVP awards, such as Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Now that the regular season has ended, the journey towards title town has begun. Several teams have made significant moves to improve their chances of winning a championship. The most noteworthy one is when the Clippers acquired James Harden from the 76ers. Harden now joins two other future Hall-of-Famers, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook, as well as perennial All-Star Paul George.
Staying in the West, the Phoenix Suns have added more firepower to their offense by acquiring Bradley Beal. Beal now joins the dynamic scoring duo of Durant and Devin Booker.
Headed East, the Boston Celtics have added to their already stacked team. Along with two of the best young players in the league, Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown, the Celtics added NBA Champion Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
The last team to make significant changes to its roster is the Milwaukee Bucks. They added the sharp shooting All-Star point guard Damian Lillard to go with their franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo in hopes of another championship run.
