by Ryan Mercier
What a treat. It may sound forced to be excited about an NBA Finals without LeBron James or Kevin Durant or Steph Curry or Kawhi Leonard but it’s honestly a wonderful thing. In a league typically drowning in predictability, the NBA championship will be between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns.
Wait, really? The what? The who? That’s right, the Bucks vs. the Suns.
For years, everybody knew the title was going to be between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Every year. Previewing the season was a formality. Anyone suggesting other teams had a shot was simply trying to fill air time. It was inevitable. If everyone knows that 28 other teams in the NBA have no shot at a championship, why should they care?
Basketball is a beautiful game but it’s not for everybody. It’s true that casual fans or people not at all interested in the NBA would care a lot more if LeBron or the Warriors were involved. Star power drives the league. Instead, this is now a Finals for the deeply invested fans. Milwaukee vs. Phoenix is the matchup for the stat nerds, the basketball podcast-obsessed, for those who buy NBA Topshot.
Throw out the ultimate outlier in Tom Brady and this is what the NFL provides yearly, unpredictable matchups in the championship. One year the Rams with Jared Goff flourish on offense for a full season, in another Nick Foles can have an out-of-body experience and lead the Eagles to their first title, and Matt Ryan and Cam Newton can have MVP seasons leading to the Super Bowl.
Chris Paul is one of the best players in history with wildly bad moments and moments of wild bad luck in the playoffs. Devin Booker has put up numbers for years but never played a postseason game til this season. Khris Middleton is an All-Star, technically. Most see him as an unreliable scoring threat who could pop or disappear in any game. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has been far too rigid in past postseasons. He could have been fired this season if Durant’s foot was behind the 3-point line in Game 7 vs. Nets.
In a couple of weeks or less, half of those names will be NBA champions.
Injuries played an enormous factor in the postseason and this type of parity is not likely to stay. The NBA would be an entirely different league if say, next year the Finals matchup is the Dallas Mavericks vs. the Charlotte Hornets. Luka Doncic would be playing the role of this year’s Giannis while the young Hornets add a veteran star on CP3’s level which changes their franchise forever.
It’s not likely, but to all the NBA nerds out there, wouldn’t that be fun?
Struggling Actor Sports 