How Will Today's NBA Teams be Remembered?

Some looks back, a few glances forward

A few days ago, the phenomenal NFL writer

Tyler Dunne

released a podcast centered on the question “How will Super Bowl LVIII be remembered?”

Because I am a pilferer of ideas, I am going to apply this question to the NBA at large. How will today’s NBA teams be remembered in 2034?

This question fascinates me because no two teams occupy the exact same space in their respective existences— some are at the exciting yet daunting genesis of a rebuild, some hope their rebuild is over, and are thus gunning for champagne showers in June. Some teams merely exist — hi Chicago. (Sorry.)

Golden State, for example, is on the tail-end of a dynasty, so less guesswork is required regarding how they’ll be remembered—thanks Steve, Steph, Klay, Draymond for making my work easy here.

Young teams like Oklahoma City, though, are just starting to form a singular identity. Maybe they’ll look similar in ten years to how they do today, but that seems unlikely with how stunningly quick the NBA landscape changes in 2024. Who knows? Not me. I don’t know shit! And I will never claim to.

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How Will these Denver Nuggets be remembered?

Until last year, a lot of folks agreed— the now-reigning champs appeared to be headed towards a legacy of consistently being very good led by a generational offensive talent in Nikola Jokic, but never quite having the horses to win the whole thing. Now it sounds silly that the Nugs were ever perceived that way because, well… they just won the whole thing. They had the horses. And they have the horses.

In 2034, I think the main cogs of Nuggets team will be heading their separate ways. Jamal Murray is 26 years old, Jokic and Aaron Gordon are 28, and Michael Porter Jr is somehow only 25. But before that, my crystal ball shows this team sticking it out through numerous more runs— and at least one of those runs ending with another Larry O’Brien trophy and subsequent parade through downtown Denver.

Not quite a dynasty, but a whole lot more than a one-off. That’s how I think we’ll view this Nuggets team in a decade.

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How will these Oklahoma City Thunder be remembered?

Unlike other teams on the list, OKC is just starting to make the memories we will remember it by. Because of how early we are into this era of Thunder hoops, predicting how they’ll be viewed in 2034 is a tough task— maybe the core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren will still be donning Thunder uniforms then. For the record, I hope they all are; I already love watching these guys play.

Here’s a bit of a curveball: At some point these Thunder start playing the villain. I’m not sure when it will happen or why it will happen— maybe just because they’re going to be hilariously good for a looooong time— but I have a gut feeling this team will embrace being the NBA’s charismatic heels.

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How Will these Golden State Warriors be remembered?

Annoying as hell. Next.

Okay fine I’ll write more about the Warriors. And I’ll start by saying the Warriors will not be remembered as the “very average” team (as Steph Curry aptly phrased it) they’ve been in 2023-24.

Rather, we’ll remember this:

this:

and a whole host of other moments from the past decade that turned us all into the Alonzo Mourning GIF.

Flawed? Yes. Weird? Yes. Volatile? At times. A dynasty nonetheless. And they will be remembered as such.

I am curious how liked the Warriors will be in retrospect though. Because I think from 2014-2016, the Dubs had the public’s affection. Then they. Just. Kept. Winning. And villains they quickly became. But a few years removed, will the NBA world reflect on this historic run positively? I wouldn’t be shocked.

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How will these Los Angeles Clippers be remembered?

Phew.

This one exhausted me just thinking about it.

The Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, (now) James Harden and Russell Westbrook era in LA will certainly be remembered in 2034, but we’re dangerously close to those nostalgic conversations starting with “If only…” instead of “Remember when LA (insert something good) with Kawhi, PG, and Harden?”

2023-24 has to be the year for a lot of teams, but it might have to be the year for the Clips. Not so much because any of its stars will be eager to skate town this summer (though Harden is always a toss-up) but more because… this is year five of the experiment. At some point, LA has to cut its losses if the playoff exits keep adding up—whether those exits are injury-related or not.

I’ll be blunt; I don’t think this Clippers team is going to win a title. If they’re going to, it’ll be this year, but suddenly the West is goddamn good at the top and I have a hard time picturing this team battling its way through the entire West and then (probably) Boston.

Unlike many, I want this Clippers team to succeed (except for owner Steve Balmer—his failure is an objective positive for society.) But in ten years, we’ll remember this stretch as a fun but ultimately cursed iteration of Clipper basketball.

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How will these Los Angeles Lakers be remembered?

The more time that passes between the 2020 NBA Finals and current day, the less real that Lakers championship feels. Don’t worry, I’m not calling it a Mickey Mouse ring— everyone played on the same court, whether it was a court in Disneyland thst was roped off from the rest of the world or not (it was.)

But that championship should be viewed differently than other championships— not worse, but certainly differently. I’m confident LA will not win another championship with the currently constructed roster— this team has a few more good seasons in it, and LA will always be close to acquiring the next superstar because it’s the Lakers, but the LeBron, AD pairing has peaked.

Hence, in 2034, I think we’ll remember this team by debating if the LeBron/AD tandem was a success after all.

What do you think? One weird championship, one conference finals, not a whole lot else. Is that a successful run?

I suppose it all depends on how you view the 2020 title. A weird ring is still a ring, right?

Right?

technically, yes. Shiny.

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How will these Philadelphia 76ers be remembered?

Deep breaths.

Let’s start with the obvious; these Sixers will be remembered for being weird as hell. Nothing about the post-Process-era Sixers makes sense, which I covered more in-depth here. But aside from being remembered for burner accounts and players forgetting how to shoot and other players deciding not to play and mid-season car crashes… the story of these Sixers has mostly just been heartbreaking. It’s been Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the Rocky steps.

But… another deep breath… I don’t think that’s how they’ll be remembered, because—and maybe this is the fan in me who wants real life sports stories to unfold like movies— I still think the Sixers will do it. Not win a title “it” but at least make a conference finals “it” and at this point, that alone will feel like vindication for Joel Embiid and Sixers fans. Maybe it won’t look that way from the outside, but trust me: Broad St. will burn for a second round series victory.

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How will these Phoenix Suns be remembered?

I can picture it all: a decade from now, we’ll look back and wonder— with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal— how this Suns team never accomplished much as a unit.

Maybe it’s unfair to assume that this team never wins anything meaningful— it does employ three players who can create offense better than 99% of the league, and it’s only in year one with that trio.

But I also think we sort of just answered our question as we asked it; this team isn’t built to succeed in the playoffs, it’s built to look like the most high-powered team on paper and blow teams away with offensive creation on a nightly basis.

Phoenix is a good team. But in 2034, when we get nostalgic, we have to remember that a balanced roster will always trump pure scoring punch; these Suns will be remembered as a stunningly talented team that wasn’t built to win deep in the postseason.

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How will these Milwaukee Bucks be remembered?

I’m going to consider the Bucks “these” Bucks as long as Giannis is on the team, even though it feels like Milwaukee has already lived a dozen different lives during Giannis’ tenure in Cream City. Are those Bucks—the NBA champion, potential powerhouse Bucks— really these Bucks? The Bucks that made a midseason coaching change and do things like lose to Memphis kind of often?

Technically, yes… so I’m a little stuck here.

After the 2021 season, I’d have said the Bucks will be remembered as a shining beacon of team-building. They still did build a team to perfection, and won a championship because of it.

But three years later, the Bucks might be turning into a cautionary tale of team over-building. They went too far. They made the big move when a few small moves may have done the trick. Now they’re losing to skeleton rosters and Doc Rivers is blaming his players for everything like ten days into his tenure as coach.

The Bucks won the ring in 2021 and Giannis has his moment, scoring 50 points in a closeout game. That combo will carry the perception of this franchise for a long time. I also think Giannis gets another ring in Milwaukee, and his run there is remembered as iconic… but another roster transformation might be required before that happens.

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How will these New York Knicks be remembered?

Knicks fans remember lineups like this fondly:

So I have no hangups in believing they’ll have positive memories of the current team which appears (on paper at least) to have a shot at making the NBA Finals.

OG Anunoby got hurt seemingly minutes after New York traded for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks because this is still the Knicks after all, so we haven’t seen this squad at full strength yet.

But no matter how the actual team fares throughout the next few seasons, Jalen Brunson’s ascension to superstar status—and his embrace of New York and its fans throughout— will be remembered with reverence a decade from now. That much I know for certain.

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How will these Boston Celtics be remembered?

Well, you’d think the 2008 Celtics won, like, five straight titles based on how people in Boston talk about them, so who knows.

I (half) kid!

I can’t picture this iteration of the Boston Celtics not winning a title. They’re so goddamn good. But I also have a hard time picturing this iteration of the Celtics staying together for a bunch of years to come. Kristaps Porzingis is going to make some big money when he’s a free agent in 2026, Al Horford is 44 years old, and Jrue Holiday— while still incredibly productive and helpful— is likely approaching the twilight of his playing days. Not through the fault of anyone in the organization, but I see this roster disintegrating rather quickly in the next few years.

We’ll remember this era of Celtics basketball as an era of regular season dominance which culminated in one title then fizzled out as important pieces of that title run started to age out of production or chase cash elsewhere. Will it all be worth it for a single ring? Ask the 2008 Celtics— they seem to think so.

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Note: I only covered 10 teams in this one because I went a little long on each, but if y’all enjoyed this piece I’ll do the rest of the teams! Drop a like, leave a comment, let me know if ya want part two (and perhaps three.) Love you.

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What I’m Listening To: Vegyn

Something about this video and song combo is so affirming. We can do it, y’all—whatever it may be.

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One More Thing (warning: mentions of domestic violence)

Miles Bridges has essentially been cleared of all wrongdoing by the state of North Carolina, which “dropped three criminal counts – including a domestic violence protective order violation, misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property,” according to ESPN. Apparently, there’s a “lack of sufficient evidence” for each, even though there are, ya know, photos of the damage Bridges inflicted on his partner.

I never expected Adam Silver to make an ethical decision here— he’s a coward who addresses domestic violence cases solely to quell public backlash— but I’m disheartened by his actions throughout this case anyway. I hope he and everyone else who allowed Bridges to take a yearlong vacation then return with nothing but a tap on the wrist live with at least a tinge of shame for the rest of their days. They won’t, of course. They’re spineless, timid politicians who can’t fathom making any decision that’s not directly helping fatten their pockets. But they should. They really should.

From the start, the league’s handling of Bridges’ violence toward the mother of his child was sickening, but so, so unsurprising. Mitch Kupchak, Michael Jordan, and the rest of the Hornets (and NBA) front office worked their hardest to make sure the severity of this case was downplayed at every turn, every few months providing updates like “we have no updates” and “we’re monitoring the situation.”

The objective was always clear; ignore, ignore, ignore until it goes away. Congrats guys, it’s officially gone away. It always just goes away, right?

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