Would the NBA have been as successful and wildly popular in the 80s....

[ChrisKreager]

if the Lakers weren't making all those NBA Finals?

Damn near every year it was the same old crap- same old Magic, same old Kareem, same old Worthy.

The NBA probably doesn't get the same Finals revenue if we had, say, Spurs/Sixers in '83 or Nuggets/Celtics in '85 or Mavericks/Pistons in '88.

But it seemed like everyone was OK with the same old tiresome Lakers in June.

Magic Johnson really fueled a lot of the 80s basketball boom, but would the boom have been the same if, say, Milwaukee hadn't been shifted West at the start of the decade.

The NBA was living high and hard off LA in that era and I sometimes wonder how things might have been if they didn't always win or the Bucks maybe knocked them off a few years.

[Imtheman]

80s were all about the Showtime Lakers, so no.

[ChrisKreager]

80s were all about the Showtime Lakers, so no.

There were other West teams that deserved a piece of the pie.

I was sick to death of them. I hated Showtime, I hated seeing the stupid Forum every damn June.

The Lakers were BAD for basketball, because outside of Houston, every other West team basically felt like 'Why bother getting our hopes up because of the big, bad Lakers?'

I think the NBA would not have been as popular as it became without the Lakers.

It basically felt like the West didn't exist outside of the stupid Forum with Magic and his stupid ball-hogging passes to players that just dunked at a fast speed. Everyone just shoved it down our throats and non-Laker fans had to put up with hearing how great this was.

Bleep Showtime. I wanted to see other teams get a piece of the Finals pie.

[bdreason]

It's widely accepted that the Magic vs. Bird rivalry saved the sport to some extent. Would the league be as popular today without the Magic vs. Bird rivalry? Hard to predict... but history suggests not.

[bobeticus]

If MJ and the Dream Team didn't exist... NBA should be in Ice Age Era... :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

[FKAri]

If MJ and the Dream Team didn't exist... NBA should be in Ice Age Era... :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

Hockey level popularity

[Showtime80']

"Magic and his stupid ball hogging passes to teammates for fast paced dunks" LOL!!! That was basketball at its finest and most entertaining form and at least there were all time teams in the East that could hang with them which made the decade what it was as well as very good West teams that just didn't have the firepower to dethrone them!

Compare that to the 90's when it was basically MJ scoring 30+ and killing the rest of the league or now where you have TRUE BALL HOGS at the PG position thinking about getting their own points instead of getting everyone involved like a Magic would thus turning the present day offenses into predictable, slow three point shooting bore fests!

No decade came or has come clos to the 80's! Sad you didn't appreciated while it was happening

[MiseryCityTexas]

There were other West teams that deserved a piece of the pie.

I was sick to death of them. I hated Showtime, I hated seeing the stupid Forum every damn June.

The Lakers were BAD for basketball, because outside of Houston, every other West team basically felt like 'Why bother getting our hopes up because of the big, bad Lakers?'

I think the NBA would not have been as popular as it became without the Lakers.

It basically felt like the West didn't exist outside of the stupid Forum with Magic and his stupid ball-hogging passes to players that just dunked at a fast speed. Everyone just shoved it down our throats and non-Laker fans had to put up with hearing how great this was.

Bleep Showtime. I wanted to see other teams get a piece of the Finals pie.

That 80s Sonics team was mad underrated. Young Nate McMillan, Tom Chambers, Xavier Mcdaniel, and prime Dale Ellis. Dale Ellis was like the Ray Allen of the 80s, and Tom Chambers was like the Dirk of the 80s.