By Marc Stein, The New York Times
The NBA stuffed a lot into the last 10 years.
It was a decade bookended by the first forays into free agency for and Kawhi Leonard, both of whom shook the league with the choices they made and the manner in which they made them. It was a decade in which the made the NBA Finals their June home for five consecutive seasons, consistent excellence unseen since Bill Russell’s in the 1960s. It was the decade in which Kobe Bryant shot himself into retirement with an incomprehensible 60-point farewell game — and it was the NBA’s Twitter decade, too. Social media platforms, chiefly Twitter and Instagram, became the league’s 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year playground, resulting in increased relevance for the sport (and no shortage of side issues).
With 2019 dwindling down to its last days, letap anoint 10 standouts from the 2010s.
Team of the Decade: Golden State Warriors
We will never be able to line up the peak Warriors against the Michael Jordan-led of the 1990s in a fantasy series to determine which powerhouse was truly superior.
What we do know for sure, though, is that the Warriors’ run played out under the glare of a much more demanding spotlight. And I do award bonus points for that. The level of scrutiny is such in the modern game that it exacted an emotional toll on the Warriors that the Bulls, to some degree, happily avoided.
lasted only three seasons as a Warrior after the polarizing decision to end his Oklahoma City union with Russell Westbrook and join his fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the Bay Area. Consider this a reminder nonetheless that yours truly has maintained since October that the Warriors will be back among the league’s elite by next season.
King of the Decade: LeBron James
Over and over and over, LeBron James did it his way, emerging as the face of what is now reflexively referred to as “player empowerment.”
He formed a Super Team in Miami, alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, via a widely scorned made-for-television event known as The Decision.
He announced his return to the in 2014 in a Sports Illustrated essay — on the 11th day of free agency.
And then, having lifted one of the most infamous curses in sports by leading an unforgettable comeback from a three-games-to-one deficit in the 2016 finals against Golden State to bring Cleveland its first major championship in 52 years, LeBron agreed to try to haul the out of the deepest funk in Lakers history. That change of address was made public in a sudden 36-word news release on the first night of free agency in 2018.
James may have won only three titles in his eight trips to the finals in the 2010s, but make no mistake. The NBA has been his kingdom — and still might be.
Revolutionary of the Decade: Stephen Curry
Choosing between LeBron and Steph for Player of the Decade is so excruciating that I felt the need to create separate categories for them.
Itap the least we could do to accommodate the most feared and influential shooter in the history of the sport.
Curry changed the calculus of basketball with his ability to make 30-footers (and beyond) both routine and acceptable. Elevating him further, Curry was also the face of the franchise and foremost entertainer for the decade’s most enduring team.
Lefty of the Decade: James Harden
We love our southpaws at Stein Line HQ. Regular readers surely remember my recent ode to James Harden, which enumerated all the ways he is proving to be a worthy heir to Wilt Chamberlain.
Harden’s heavy usage and constant trips to the foul line are widely branded turnoffs, as is his spotty playoff resume, but the story of the decade can’t be told without him. Itap especially true now that Harden and Westbrook have been reunited in Houston, desperate for the championship validation that has eluded both.
The 40-something of the Decade: Dirk Nowitzki
Atlanta’s Vince Carter, still going at age 42, has an undeniably worthy case here. But Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, on top of playing until he was almost 41, finally walked away in April after a record 21 consecutive seasons with one team and as one of just seven players in league history to record at least 30,000 points.
Don’t forget that the decade began with Nowitzki leading the Mavericks to a championship in 2011 that rewrote his legacy. Winning that ring, with no other All-Stars on the Mavericks’ 2010-11 roster, enabled Nowitzki to retire as both a revolutionary for changing the way his position is played (a la Curry) and a consensus top-20 selection all-time thanks to his title breakthrough.
Underachievers of the Decade: James L. Dolan’s Knicks
The New York Knicks are 319-484 since Jan. 1, 2010. They have won one series in three measly trips to the playoffs in that span. They are on course to miss the playoffs entirely for the seventh successive season.
A brief dose of Linsanity in 2012, followed by Curry’s breakout 54 points at Madison Square Garden a year later, were the most widely celebrated moments in what is supposed to be the league’s most storied building.
You know what to do, Jim Dolan.
Resilience of the Decade: 2014 San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio squandered the 2013 NBA Finals in heartbreaking fashion, narrowly losing the final two games in Miami after nearly finishing off the LeBron/Wade/Bosh Heat in Game 6. The Spurs, though, rebounded from the crushing effects of a storied Ray Allen 3-pointer to dismantle Miami in five games in the 2014 finals, establishing Kawhi Leonard as the decade’s dynasty disrupter.
Kawhi won finals MVP honors that year at age 23, despite playing alongside a trio of old reliables (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) on what really should be known as one of the decade’s Super Teams. Then he did it again last season by leading the past injury-depleted Golden State to the first championship in franchise history — and the first won by a team based outside of U.S. borders.
Efficiency of the Decade: Klay Thompson
Thompson’s 11 3-pointers in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference finals, saving the Warriors in Oklahoma City when they were on the brink of elimination, represent the most important 11 in No. 11’s career.
Yet the mere 11 dribbles of the basketball that Thompson needed en route to ringing up 60 points in 29 minutes against Indiana on Dec. 5, 2016, were arguably more impressive.
In a decade so influenced by analytics, in which the average number of 3-point attempts per game rose from 18.0 in the 2010-11 season to its current 33.7 per game, no one ever did more with less than Thompson.
Transaction of the Decade: The Aborted Trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers
Last summer alone provided too many doozies to list. I will also personally never forget parking myself in front of a computer for nearly 24 hours straight to track every tweet, emoji and crazy twist of DeAndre Jordan’s commitment to sign with Dallas in July 2015, followed by Jordan’s subsequent (and surreal) de-commitment, so he could return to the Clippers.
But no signing or trade (or vetoed trade) generates a reaction quite like David Stern’s refusal, as the acting owner of the league-owned New Orleans Hornets, to allow New Orleans general manager Dell Demps to go ahead with a three-way deal in December 2011 that would have landed the disgruntled Paul with the Lakers.
It was one of the most controversial decisions of Stern’s 30-year run as NBA commissioner and one that Stern, asked about repeatedly since stepping down in 2014, has never apologized for.
Invasion of the Decade: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic
Two of the five best players in the league this season are from Europe: Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee’s otherworldly force known as The Greek Freak) and Luka Doncic (Dallas’ 20-year-old Slovenian sensation). Letap see where they and Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s loquacious center from Cameroon, can take the NBA in the face of countless challenges for Commissioner Adam Silver in the decade to come.
Among the issues at the top of Silver’s list are dealing with ever-declining interest in the regular season in this playoffs-mean-everything world, as well as the growing influence of the gambling industry in all professional sports and the incongruous nature of the NBA’s seemingly hotter-than-ever popularity on its social media channels while TV ratings decline.
