Earlier in the week, former Los Angeles Lakers superstar floor general Magic Johnson gave his two cents as to why the NBA has seen a dip in ratings. He credited the drop to the notion that there are no longer rivalries in the league and players are too friendly with one another.
.@MagicJohnson breaks down why we no longer have rivalries in the NBA today
"They don't hate each other. I hated Larry [Bird] and every Celtic. I really don't like you [Paul Pierce] but you my little brother. Now I love you because you're out of that green & white." 😂 pic.twitter.com/yJyum6dxGH
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) December 19, 2024
However, one person who disagrees with Johnson’s sentiment is Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson. He was asked to weigh in on what the Lakers legend had to say about the current state of the NBA and responded with the following.
With the NBA’s current state as a hot topic, #Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson eloquently shared his opinion on the game’s evolution: “I think we confuse style of play with skill.”
He also had thoughts on Magic Johnson’s comments about the closeness of competitors off the floor. pic.twitter.com/4ESjkcp7NB
— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) December 21, 2024
“I’ve heard that,” Atkinson said of Johnson’s comments. “I was talkin’ to Brad Daugherty the other day about that. I don’t know — what I see, there’s a line. And when these guys cross the line, they enter onto the court, they’re competing like crazy. The competition level is super high. So I don’t — this old school thing off the court I can’t talk to him either, I don’t kind of get that.”
It’s safe to claim that Atkinson is more in touch with the modern NBA than Johnson is. Atkinson has been an assistant or head coach at the NBA level ever since he started out his tenure with the New York Knicks in the 2008-09 campaign.
Johnson, on the other hand, hasn’t coached in the league since the 1990s, when he was the head coach of the Lakers for a brief period in the 1993-94 season. He also served as Los Angeles’ president of basketball operations in the 2010s, but he didn’t spend much time in that role either, and the Lakers were not a successful team during that span.
But perhaps Atkinson is speaking from a biased viewpoint when talking about the competition level in the league right now because he’s heading the best team in basketball this season. So far in Atkinson’s first season leading the Cavaliers from the sidelines, Cleveland has won all but four of its 28 games played.
The team holds a two-and-a-half game lead over the Boston Celtics for the top record in the Eastern Conference and is ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder by a game and a half for the best record in the NBA.
The Cavaliers can further extend the gap in the standings between them and the rest of the pack with a win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night. Philadelphia owns one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference at 9-16 but has been playing better of late. The 76ers are on a two-game winning streak and have won six of their past 10 games.
