We don’t have a LeBron level star right now. I think you need to incorporate play and status…LeBron is still here, but he’s not good enough anymore. The biggest stars are all on small market teams, don’t resonate with fans, or just aren’t as good.

I hate to say it, but the league would be more popular if Jokic was on Boston and Embiid was on the Knicks while Luka was on the Lakers and then Giannis was the superstar on a small market team trying to overcome the stacked favorites. Or some similar version.

It doesn’t change things for me, but casual fans aren’t gonna care as much about SGA vs Tatum in an OKC/Boston finals. They need a villain and an underdog.