When does a player have their own era?

[j3lademaster]

We have the Jordan era, we have the Lebron era and I have heard people mention a Kobe era as well. Shaq had a 3 year stretch where he was the best player in the world, which you can argue and extend that out into a 5 year stretch, but we never hear about a Shaq era. Magic shared his era with Bird and both are top 10 all time, so not having your own era doesn’t disqualify you from top 10, but what constitutes this? And how does Kobe have his own era and not Shaq or Duncan(in terms of dominance not social icon of the sport)? How close are we to a ‘Jokic’ era?

[FultzNationRISE]

We have the Jordan era, we have the Lebron era and I have heard people mention a Kobe era as well. Shaq had a 3 year stretch where he was the best player in the world, which you can argue and extend that out into a 5 year stretch, but we never hear about a Shaq era. Magic shared his era with Bird and both are top 10 all time, so not having your own era doesn’t disqualify you from top 10, but what constitutes this? And how does Kobe have his own era and not Shaq or Duncan(in terms of dominance not social icon of the sport)? How close are we to a ‘Jokic’ era?

You just answered your own question.

People think of eras based on the social/recognizability aspect.

Iverson had an era, that inspired a lot of corn rows and crossovers in the NBA and on playgrounds around the country.

Basketball eras are defined in the collective conscious by the popularity and visibility of players, not necessarily their dominance of the sport.

[beasted]

There was a seven seconds or less era based on the Nash-Antoni Suns. The criteria isn't high.

[Jasper]

Giannis era stater 2021 -

[FKAri]

Giannis era stater 2021 -

So in 3 years of the Giannis era, Jokic has 2 MVPs and a ring? BIG trash! We DONE with the Giannis era!

[iamgine]

I think to be awarded an era, a player has to be so extraordinary in either: Dominance, Winning or Fame. And cannot be bad in one of them.

Duncan was bad in terms of fame. Shaq I think had early 00s as the Shaq/Kobe era.

[Im so nba'd out]

Lebron doesn’t have an “era”. Lebron shared eras with Kobe 08-12 and curry 2014-20. The only person who had no competition for an era was Michael Jeffery Jordan. He went the entire 90’s where his toughest competition was the knicks (+ pacers giving him a scare).



Now the 90’s, may have been very different if Len Bias didn’t die. That was probably gonna be Jordan’s “Curry” or his “wilt”. That would have probably been his rival through the 90’s since magic, bird, and isiah retired. Imagine if Reggie Lewis didn’t also die on the court. Imagine the Celtics with Larry bird and Kevin mchale as the 2nd and 3rd option or even as a 6man Bill Walton esque…. We could of been taking about how the 90’s were dominated by the Celtics. Basketball history/rankings could have been very different if those 2 didn’t die tragically.