No on NBA Expansion

My problem with adding two more teams to the NBA is pretty simple - the NBA is a superstar league and there are a finite amount of true superstars out there. There are maybe 20 or so guys who can truly lead a team to be a contender. Now, of course, teams could see that they don’t have one of those stars and try to build a team like the Rip/Chauncey Pistons but very few GMs seem capable of that. Instead, you get teams like the Utah Jazz who are paying Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. about 100 million dollars.

On top of that, I think expansion plus the salary aprons leaving more and more stars like Giannis - an all-time great stuck with a lousy supporting cast. Now some of that is on Giannis, who reportedly pushed for the franchise-altering Dame Lillard trade, but Khris Middleton getting paid and then having his body pretty much fall apart played a huge role as well.

As much as the NBA complains about tanking, the fact is that a quarter of the league is just terrible. And I just don’t see adding two new teams making things more competitive. I think it will just mean that there will be two more Have Not teams in the NBA.