Luke’s Locker Room
The cream of the crop of NBA talent will gather together this weekend in New Orleans for All-Star Weekend, bringing to mind great moments of past All-Star Weekends.
Vince Carter’s “It’s Over” dunk.
Dwight Howard’s Superman.
Michael Jordan’s dunk from the free throw line.
The duel between Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins for the 1986 Slam Dunk contest.
These are some of the most memorable moments of the NBA’s history, but one look at this year’s NBA All-Star rosters shows how exciting the next decade of professional basketball is going to be.
The average age of players for both the East and West is 27.
It very well could have been lower, but two old big men in Marc Gasol and Paul Millsap are playing the best basketball of their careers at 32 years old.
LeBron James makes his annual appearance at the age of 32, while Kyle Lowry makes his third appearance at 30.
With just four players on this year’s All-Star roster at age 30 or over, NBA fans can see the impact that such young players are having on the game today.
One of my favorite players to watch is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
At 6-foot-11 inches and 216 pounds, the “Greek Freak” is one of the most exciting players in the game, playing for one of the most lackluster teams in the Milwaukee Bucks.
He has the height of a center, but the ball-handling ability of a point-guard and recently dunked from the free-throw line.
And please don’t ask me how long it took me to type his name.
Another one of my favorite players — and perhaps the most underrated in the game — is Spurs Mr.-Do-It-All Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard is fun to watch because he is so fundamentally sound on offense while always guarding the opponent’s best player.
The Spurs triage of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili came to an end with Duncan’s retirement last season, and Leonard has stepped up to fill the void left by Duncan’s absence, averaging a career-high 25.8 points per game.
I think he should be this season’s MVP.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant will be at each other’s throats for the next few years after Durant bolted from Oklahoma City to join the stacked Golden State Warriors, and it will be an overblown news story on the 11 p.m. edition of “SportsCenter” for years to come.
(Side note: I can’t wait for Westbrook to be the next angry NBA commentator for TNT. He is perfectly suited for that role.)
LeBron is going to be LeBron.
He’ll be around for another six or seven years and might win a couple more titles, while always being mentioned in conversation of who’s the greatest of all time.
LeBron’s teammate Kyrie Irving has some of the best handles in the game, and he’s only 24.
Depending on how he develops and how long he gets to play with LeBron, he’s going to be a placeholder on highlight reels for quite some time.
Other players, including the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins, the Jazz’s Gordon Hayward, the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis and the Hornets’ Kemba Walker are all great, underrated players who play on teams in small markets, depriving them of the attention they deserve.
If these guys continue to play well, watch to see if they decide to switch teams via free agency in the upcoming years.
There are snubs for the NBA All-Star game every year — some of this year’s are crazy — but they show how much fun the NBA is going to be to watch over the next decade.
Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is just in his second year playing professionally, and at the age of 21, he is going to dominate the league for the next 10 or 15 years.
Towns’ teammate Andrew Wiggins is in a similar situation.
While drawing many comparisons to future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant, Wiggins turns 22 next month, and he too has a great future ahead of him.
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has had a great year and is developing into a quality big man that the Sixers have needed for so long.
He’s just 22.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard didn’t make the All-Star team despite averaging more than 26 points a game.
He is only 26 years old.
Knicks big man and three-point shooter Kristaps Porzingis will own the city of New York for the next decade, taking over for Carmelo Anthony when his time comes to retire as a Knick or get traded by angry man Phil Jackson.
While the NBA said goodbye to legends such as Duncan and Kobe Bryant in 2016, fans need not fear.
With college players getting better every year, and the current crop of players being one of the most talented the NBA has seen, do not worry.
The next generation of Hall-of-Famers is among us, and the future of the NBA is in good hands.