It's been changing for some time now! Most of the top players in the world are not from the US. My point is however, that they still play for the NBA. Eventually it will all change but it's far in the future.
If US economy were to be rock solid in the next 20 years, I would have more faith but it ain't so. The collective bargaining agreement is already changing, and teams cannot afford 3 superstars, and in the future they may not even afford 2 legit superstars. All it takes is just a super rich conglomerate establishing a league somewhere and steal players. Using events like new Covid 19 or Lock Out season to lure players. Even if they steal players like McCollum instead of AD, KDs, you are basically missing those secondary options. A joke but it could become serious.
It's not so much about elitism. It's about the meaning of championship. Saying that you are the best in the world is one thing. Calling yourself a champion without playing a single game against anybody else in the world is presumptuous. Let's have a hypothetical world tournament of the top clubs in the world. The NBA champ would be the heavy favorite, rightly so. But would that be a guarantee that the NBA champ would win the championship in that tournament? No. What if their best player got injured? We all know that winning a title involves more than just talent. And we might not even agree that the NBA champ of that particular year would be the consensus best team in the NBA. What if they won because other better teams lost their key players? What about bad officiating? Didn't we say that about the Warriors being "lucky"? Were they really the world champion then?
Even without some of their championship rings, the Warriors are widely seen as a powerhouse, they won 71 games or whatever. No world champs but definitely NBA championship worthy in most of those years. They were the best team even when Toronto won it with Kawhi. Asterisk titles or not, their power level was pretty high.
Again, the NBA doesn't refer to its champion as "world champs". So it's entirely a moot argument. However, the NBA is a 1 of 1 league in the world. It's not like soccer where you have multiple leagues with many talented players. I think you're underestimating the talent gap between the NBA and other leagues in the world. Short of the NBA team's plane crashing they're winning against any other team from other leagues if they're giving a modicum of effort. Again, I get what you're saying in this hypothetical. It's just not realistic that the NBA champ would lose in a series against some team from another league. The basketball world revolves around the NBA, for now.
Basically because Europe and the World never tried to establish a super league, Euro league is the closest but without the billions of money. Basketball in Europe is by far not as lucrative as Soccer. But people can change that perception. I mean Finland was not a basketball nation before, now they are at least making headlines. You need more of those upcoming nations.
A team full of nba players and a nba champion caliber coach couldn't even win FIBA. Like I said being from the nba makes u the favorite but doesn't make u the champ by default
The NBA is the most global and singularly best league in any sport. I have no problem calling NBA teams "World Champions." This isn't soccer where there are multiple competitive leagues. The NBA is where all the best in the world play. The term "World Champion" suits the NBA more accurately than anywhere else.
Can't declare a team world champ if they havent been through the fire and test of an international competition. Watching our us team full of nba players getting bounce by German just goes to show that titles are earned not simply bestowed bc u are perceived the best.
losing to Germany where basketball is like a 4th or 5th option in popularity in that country lol. World Cup of basketball is legit and better than the basketball Olympics.
The world champ is given to the actual winner of the FIBA tournament or the Olympics bc they played against other teams around the world and came out on top. That's the literal definition of world champ, beating up the teams around the world to become top dog. The idea that we should simply crown the best nba team the title world champ simply bc they are the best in the best league of the world is just stupid American elitist mindset. We had a chance to prove we are the best and instead got bounce by the Germans. Watch folks on here make up excuses like we didn't send our best, etc. Best league with the best players and with a team full of nba players and best we can get is third, pathetic. How about showing up to real international competitions before pounding your chest and declaring nba champions "world champs". That lyes dude just got way more well known with the "world champs of what? The united states?" Phrase And we only have our performance to blame.
What the US had over the years was not sports to me, it was monopoly on winning but rightfully so as there was not much real competition. Competition to win gold is what sports is about.
I didn’t say we are the best, our LEAGUE is the best. Germany’s best players? Play in the NBA. The best European players in the world? Play in the NBA. The best players in the world right now are Europeans, not Americans, but they all play in the NBA some of you aren’t differentiating American basketball (the team) and American basketball (the league).
Can't proclaim yourself world champ if u haven't proven it and winning an international competition and like u noted the nba is an American basketball league not the world.
I personally do not have a problem with the term but in these days when everything is correct, whether politically correct or otherwise. One should modify that to something every continent can live with. It is not much of a hassle. We spend time talking about it but reality is it is not that much of a deal. I bet there is not even a copyright on that.
Another poster with the American elitist mindset that since nba is the best league in the world we should just bestow the the world champ title ignoring the fact that the nba is just a domestic league. The nba champions haven't proven themselves in any international competition and earned the title world champ like everybody else. Can't reason with folks that's closed minded and ignore the literal definition of a world champion
A US team full of nba players couldn't even place top 3 in an international competition. Let that sink in before getting triggered when the world and sensible Americans like myself point out correctly that being the nba champ doesn't equate to world champion. Hopefully our players will have more pride and participate in the next international competition after this embarassment. We have all these "US stars and superstars" yet no one bother to volunteer to represent. Only positive out of this is brooks looking good for the upcoming season
