One of the most obvious things in the NBA right now is how much talent there is. Almost every team in the NBA has someone who could very well be an all-star or be known as a very good player. The scoring has been absolutely crazy.

In the 2003-2004 season, the NBA had a total of 368 30+ point performances, and in the 2019-2020 season there were 775. Some of the best players have never averaged over 20+ points per game for a whole season, but now there are so many players who are nowhere even near all-star level talent that are averaging well over 20 points per game. The league is so full of talent that this year fans could say there are at least five clear all-star snubs, but at the same time, fans can’t say who those five could replace on the all-star rosters. 

At the rate the offense is growing, the defensive side of the ball continues to fall behind. There are only a few players in the league that can truly lock up. After Stephen Curry took the league by storm in 2015 and 2016 with his insane shooting and scoring, players started to expand their game. Isolation plays have become more and more common. Just a few seasons ago, a player who could absolutely lock up had an automatic spot on an NBA team. Now if that’s all a player can do, he can just go ahead and say goodbye to his dreams because if he can’t shoot, he doesn’t have a spot in the league. Some old heads have continued to blame this scoring outburst on how “soft” players are today. Averaging anything close to 30 points per game 10 years ago was almost an automatic MVP nod, but now it’s almost overlooked if  players average 30 points. Again if someone was averaging over 35% usage rate they would be slammed and called a ball hog but now, the player is  just a great scorer. 

Even with this crazy change in scoring, should fans be surprised? No, basketball is an ever-growing game. The game of basketball will continue to change and evolve, and the NBA has a great influence on where the game goes.