With Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets have a core three that can out-gun anyone in the NBA. Add Joe Harris, Blake Griffin, and LaMarcus Aldridge to the mix, and it’s easy to see why many people have grown a resentment towards the new-look Nets and the way they’ve stacked the deck so overwhelmingly in their favor.
In a recent chat with the media, in which he picked the Sixers to win it all, NBA legend Julius Erving equated it to “buying a Championship,” citing it’s a practice teams like the Yankees and Lakers are notorious for.
“It’s reminiscent of how the Yankees used to do it all the time,” said Erving, per Dan Roche of NBC Sports Philly. “They load up – they call it ‘buying a championship.’ The Lakers are known for doing that too. They’re getting all these pieces. … They don’t know at the end of the season what it’s going to look like or what it’s going to feel like. But they’re going to be formidable. You’ve got a team with six former All-Stars, and three [All-NBA] guys who have been there and succeeded in the playoffs.”
Indeed, it seems like teams have taken roster-building to the extreme nowadays. Rather than sign a star (or two) and build around them with capable role players, teams are in a race to sign as many stars as they can, no matter the consequences.
Teams with the money, and who are willing to spend it, are usually the ones to compete for the title in the end (barring rare exceptions). While Erving himself didn’t necessarily blast the Nets or Lakers for partaking in such a practice, fans on the internet haven’t been as kind, often blaming those teams for disrupting parity and the competitive nature of the league.
No matter your opinion on the subject, there is an undeniable element of truth to the fact that, in a way, the Nets really are buying their way to the top.
