With all the stories coming out on a daily basis covering NBA injuries, potential trades and drama, you’d find it hard to believe that the NBA season still hasn’t even begun. It’s felt that way for nearly the entire summer, to be honest, as the NBA continues to prove why it’s the best sports league in the country. The NBA succeeds in offseason and off-the-field storylines more than any other sport because it has beautifully embraced being petty more than any other league.
In the MLB and the NFL, fans and teams get outraged over a bat flip or a touchdown dance for some inexplicable reason. In the NBA, Draymond Green refuses to shake Tristan Thompson’s hand after the NBA Finals, saying what appeared on television to be “I don’t f*** with you,” before later telling a reporter at the Warriors championship parade that he and Tristan “ain’t cut the same.” It was the ultimate call-out, and it only got more outrageous a month later, when Thompson reportedly attacked Draymond at a party hosted by LeBron, forcing LeBron and Kevin Durant, among other players, to pull them apart.
Just last week, there was another explosion of pettiness following Jimmy Butler's announcement that he was requesting a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves. First, Andrew Wiggins' brother tweeted out “Hallelujah,” supposedly in response to the news that Butler was going to be traded.
The feud exploded beautifully into a back-and-forth between Wiggins and, for some reason, Stephen Jackson that featured Jackson comparing Wiggins to the Tin Man, who had no heart, via Instagram, Wiggins doing a classic black-background-white-text Instagram story clap back and Jackson launching another Instagram video rant at Wiggins in which Jackson said he is “cut under the old law.”
Moments like these are what make the NBA so fun to follow because sometimes you forget that there are games to play, and you don’t even mind. They are also a reason why the values of NBA franchises have tripled in the past five years and why the NBA is currently considered the league with the most growth prospect of any of the major U.S. sports.
Even before the controversy surrounding peaceful political activism by NFL players, which has colored the mood of that league for the past two seasons, the NFL and the MLB have taken it upon themselves to come down stricter on player celebrations. The NFL hated end-zone dancing (before a rule change last year relaxed the policy slightly) because apparently it is bad to be happy after scoring a touchdown, and the MLB hates bat flips because baseball is an old and sacred game, and that means no fun is allowed.
Sports are supposed to be fun not just to watch but to play, too, and the NBA is succeeding because it gives its players that chance.
Weidner's Words: Pettiness in the NBA
