DIMES: Weighing the historic impact of the 2025 NBA championship
Warriors beat writer Danny Emerman shares his thoughts on the NBA.
Right or wrong, Dirk Nowitzki’s championship in 2011 changed the way everyone looks at his career.
Boston winning in 2008 cemented the legacies of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen while ushering in the Big Three era.
The Warriors’ 2022 title run gave Steph Curry a ring with no asterisks whatsoever — as if there were ever any legitimate ones on any of the first three to begin with. What are they gonna say now?
From a legacy perspective, not all championships are created equal. Including this year’s.
Lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy would mean more to some players, teams and coaches, at least in the eyes of NBA historians.
A second Nuggets title for Nikola Jokic — again with no All-Star teammates — would fast-track some uncomfortable conversations about his all-time standing as a player. The list of players with three MVP awards and at least two rings? Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
A fifth Warriors ring would likewise elevate Curry into GOAT conversations. It’d stamp Jimmy Butler as one of the definitive playoff performers ever— the Reggie Jackson of the NBA — and give Steve Kerr a 10th ring.
Boston could become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Kevin Durant Warriors. The first eight years of Jayson Tatum’s career would include two championships, five All-NBA selections (four first-teams), the most points scored in a Game 7, and someone who has led his team in points, assists and rebounds in at least one title run.
An unlikely championship for the Clippers would completely change the narrative for James Harden, this generation’s perennial playoff goat. He’s one of the greatest individual offensive weapons ever, and a ring would market-correct how people view his career. Meanwhile, Doc Rivers would shed some of the baggage his three 3-1 blown leads have earned him.
But the team with the most to gain is the team that hasn’t won it yet. In fact, it’s a core that hasn’t yet advanced past the second round.
If Oklahoma City breaks through to win the championship this season, the Thunder will have a claim as one of the greatest teams of all time. That’s not hyperbole.
The Thunder have the second-best regular season net rating of all time, behind only Jordan’s 1995-96 Bulls. MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having one of the best guard seasons ever; only Jordan (four times) and Curry in his unanimous MVP season have posted higher PERs in a given year from the backcourt.
They’re on their way to upwards of 65 wins, and if they can add 16 playoff victories to their total, history will shine quite a special light on the Thunder.
Lakers-Pacers blockbuster
Next time you’re feeling down, pop in an edible and fire up Wednesday night’s Pacers-Lakers game.
(Saturday Night Live Stefon voice) It had everything: an 18-0 run, eight lead changes, the pursuit of an absurd record, a LeBron James game-winner, questionable late-game coaching, poster dunks and role player heat checks.
A note from that game: Since the All-Star break, Tyrese Haliburton has 166 assists and 15 turnovers.
1-and-1s
The NBA product is infinitely better than college basketball — have you seen all the bricked layups this March? — but there is one thing the league could steal from the NCAA. One-and-ones.
Every shooting foul in the NBA besides those on 3-point shots should result in a one-and-one. In the bonus? One-and-one. Bumped in transition? One-and-one.
Speed the game along, put more pressure on late-game foul shots. De-incentivize foul grifting. Tweaking the rules just for the sake of change can get commissioner Adam Silver in trouble, but this feels like a no-brainer.
Feel old yet?
Last Saturday, I turned 26, which reminded me of a funny dynamic.
When I covered the Giants, I was often the youngest person in the clubhouse. Not so in the NBA, where draft picks enter the league as teenagers.
This season, 560 players have played in the NBA. LeBron James, at 40, is the oldest. Thirty-one players can’t legally drink in the States. Roughly half the league (253 players are 24 or younger) was born after 9/11.
The youngest player in the league, Raptors rookie Ulrich Chomche, was born on Dec. 30, 2005. When James debuted in 2004, he shared the court with Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). If he sticks around a few more years, he’ll play against Generation Alpha.