Being a basketball fan is truly exciting right now. The game is transitioning smoothly from one era to the next. LeBron James has had an incredible two-decade career, and it’s time for King James to relinquish the crown. The luster of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors’ decade-long success is beginning to fade.

The NBA is currently undergoing a rebranding, and it’s happening at an ideal time. TNT Sports’ 35-year television partnership with the NBA will conclude after the 2025 season. The league will begin its new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon Prime starting in the 2025-26 season. Additionally, John Tesh’s iconic “Roundball Rock” theme music is making a return, introducing a new generation of basketball fans to its catchy tune. There couldn’t be a better way to kick off this rebranding than with some fresh headliners.

The 2025 NBA Finals features two burgeoning superstars in Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly crowned 2025 NBA MVP, and Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Shai and Tyrese are not superstar-level yet, but they are at the doorstep. They are spearheading this new wave of contemporary talent and ushering in the yet-to-be defined era.

“We’re witnessing the changing of the guard,” said former L.A. Clippers guard Lou Williams on the “Run It Back” podcast on FanDuel TV. “We are seeing the LeBrons and Kobes of our time. These young superstars are starting to make their mark on the game and define where it’s headed in the future. SGA is going to be one of those special players.”

Lou Will had a unique perspective on Shai’s development, having been his teammate during SGA’s rookie season with the Clippers. “This is my rook,” said Williams, who recognized Shai’s maturity from Day 1. He observed how Shai dedicated himself to improving at just 20 and is now seeing him emerge as one of the best players in the league at 26.

“[Shai] was always a responsible player who carried himself like a mature professional,” Williams noted. “He had big aspirations and was clear about his endgame. He knew his abilities.”

Lou Will’s praise for Shai’s work ethic underscores SGA’s character. The Clippers had a strong feeling that SGA could become an All-Star caliber player, but an NBA MVP? “Not in my wildest dreams,” Lou Will admitted. “I’m sure Shai had [MVP] on his vision board.”

SGA embodies the qualities of a throwback player who understands the importance of consistency and patience in achieving the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

The same holds true for Haliburton. The 25-year-old Pacers guard possesses an unorthodox shooting style but plays like a classic point guard with modern capabilities. He can dominate a game without scoring, pushing the pace like an ’80s playmaker while boasting an astonishing 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. For context, a 3:1 ratio is considered well above average, while 4:1 is excellent. Haliburton is operating on an entirely different level in terms of minimizing turnovers.

Few players can match Haliburton’s killer mentality. He has made headlines by leading two historic comebacks with game-winning shots that thwarted the playoff hopes of the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He also delivered a memorable choke sign celebration at Madison Square Garden after making a dagger shot that seemingly floated five feet in the air before swishing through the net. That shot and choke sign celebration will linger in the memories of Knicks fans for a long time.

The Pacers achieved remarkable comebacks, erasing a seven-point lead in 34.7 seconds to eliminate the Bucks in five games, then erasing another seven-point deficit in 46.7 seconds to take a 2-0 lead against the Cavaliers. In the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, they came back from a nine-point deficit in 52.5 seconds in Game 1, with Haliburton sinking critical shots during each comeback.

SGA and Haliburton — alongside Anthony Edwards (23), Jalen Brunson (28), Cade Cunningham (23) and Luka Doncic (26) — are entering their prime years. Five of the six made the 2025 All-NBA teams (Luka didn’t qualify because of games missed), and they represent the present and future of the Association. They represent the major shift in the NBA as we head into a new era.

HISTORY LESSON: BREAKING DOWN DIFFERENT ERAS IN THE NBA

How did we arrive at this point? Let’s pop the VHS tape into the VCR and press rewind. The first 75 years of the NBA can be divided into six distinct eras.

In the league’s formative years of the 1950s and 1960s, eight basketball pioneers — Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell — established the groundwork for greatness. Bill Russell and his Boston Celtics didn’t just participate; they dominated the era, clinching 11 championships in 13 seasons. This is an astonishing achievement that is unlikely to ever be matched.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Rick Barry, George “Iceman” Gervin, and Julius Erving carried the torch through the colorful and turbulent era in the 1970s. This was a challenging time marked by the competition between the ABA and NBA, resulting in dwindling audiences.

The arrival of Magic Johnson in L.A. and Larry Bird in Boston revitalized basketball during the 1980s, often regarded as the league’s golden era. It was a period of glitz and grit. Showtime vs. Celtic Pride. East Cost vs. West Coast. This period also saw the emergence of the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons, along with three-time MVP Moses Malone’s move from Houston to Philadelphia. Moses teamed up with Julius “Dr. J” Erving in the 1982-83 season and co-authored one of the most dominant playoff runs, sweeping Magic’s Lakers in the ’83 Finals and capping off a 12-1 postseason record. Moses’ audacious move may be the first variant of a superstar player joining another superstar player to form a super team.

The Air Jordan era took flight in the 1990s. After grabbing the baton from Magic and Bird, Michael Jordan ruled the ’90s, winning six championships in eight years and denying peers Sir Charles Barkley, Karl “The Mailman” Malone, and Patrick Ewing from winning rings. Jordan’s Bulls was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals and pulled off the three-peat twice.

Hakeem Olajuwon benefited from Jordan’s brief two-year retirement, leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. David “The Admiral” Robinson teamed up with Tim “Big Fundamental” Duncan in San Antonio, winning titles in 1999 and 2003.

The immediate post-Jordan era was dominated by five players: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Duncan. Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan combined to win 13 NBA titles, four regular season MVPs, and eight Finals MVPs from 1999 to 2010. For a decade, the road to the NBA Finals went through Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan. It was the dueling dynasties era. Shaq and Kobe led the Lakers to a three-peat — one of only five three-peats in NBA history. Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers did it. Russell’s Celtics did it. Jordan’s Bulls did it twice. And Shaq and Kobe were the last to do it in 2002.

Nowitzki bridged the gap between the Kobe Bryant era and the LeBron James era. Nowitzki ended Kobe’s reign as the world’s best player when Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks squad knocked off Kobe’s Lakers in the 2011 playoffs. In the same playoff run, Nowitzki pumped the brakes on LeBron’s title run when his Mavs defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

LeBron’s appearance in the 2011 Finals started a run of eight consecutive trips. He put together a super team in Miami, winning two titles in 2012 and 2013, but lost to the Mavs in 2011 and Duncan’s Spurs in 2014. After a four-year run in South Beach, LeBron returned to Cleveland to fulfill his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown team. He delivered on the promise by winning a title in 2016, ending Cleveland’s 52-year professional title drought.

Dirk and KG revolutionized the game, ushering in a new era of big men. The Big Ticket made it possible for high schoolers to skip college and turn pro at 19. Nowitzki opened the door for European bigs who preferred to face the basket instead of having their back to it. Nowitzki and Garnett were instrumental in the game’s evolution, as more and more teams shifted away from traditional power forwards and opted for stretch-4s.

LeBron took the Cavs to four straight NBA Finals but could muster just one victory in four matchups against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. Curry led the Warriors to four championships in eight seasons — two of those championship banners were aided by the addition of Kevin Durant.

The Dubs Dynasty opened the portal to the “small ball” era and advanced metrics. Analytics experts preferred shooting 3s over 2s — it’s either a layup or dunk or a 3-ball — and the midrange shot was viewed as somewhat of a dinosaur idea. The modern NBA puts a premium on pace and space.

The Pacers and Thunder are extensions of the pace-and-space approach, with some added features. Much like today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world, the game continues to evolve. Sure, the traditional back-to-the-basket center may be extinct, but centers are more valuable than ever. Small ball is becoming out of style like skinny jeans. Big-boy basketball is back — with pace and space.

Spurs 7-foot-6 center/forward/guard Victor Wembanyama is the type of player every team craves. Wemby is a big man with a handle who can shoot threes while being an anchor on defense. There’s only one Wemby, but teams will scour the Earth to find a similar player.

OKC found a Wemby-type unicorn in Chet Holmgren. Holmgren may not be as tall as Wemby but he can do all the things Wemby does. Holmgren has a decent handle for a 7-1 player, which allows him to get to his hot spots. Holmgren is also one of the best shot blockers in the NBA, which allows OKC defenders like Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso to press up and stay attached because they know Chet has their back.

The Thunder and Pacers both subscribe to the pace-and-space philosophy, but what allows them to consistently play at hyper-speed is depth. Indiana and OKC throw a wave of bodies at teams, saving their starters from having to play heavy minutes.

Today’s NBA is littered with 3&D wing players and big combo guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and Cade Cunningham. What’s also becoming in vogue is skilled big men. Teams are looking for the next Nikola Jokic, a 5-man who can be the hub of an offense. We are deep in the era of positionless basketball where forwards can play center and centers can play guard.

Because the ball is in the hands of principal scorers, the traditional point guard is being phased out. What used to be the primary job of the point guard is now being distributed to other positions.
Haliburton might be one of the last of the Mohicans in terms of pure point guards, much like the gas-guzzling SUVs with V6 engines. It’s becoming harder and harder to find them. Suppressing point guards and centers isn’t healthy for the game. We need more of them, not less.

Shai, Cade, and Luka, on the other hand, are the archetypes of today’s point guard. They are big, heliocentric guards (6-6 and 6-7) built to play downhill, able to attack a compromised defense while coming off ball screens. They can score or draw fouls in the paint or draw multiple defenders and kick it out for open threes. It’s essentially an extension of what LeBron or James Harden have been doing for the past decade.

What separates SGA from Luka and Cade is his ability to do damage in the midrange area. The midrange (or the high post) is the area on the court that’s 4 to 5 feet below the 3-point line or roughly 15 to 20 feet away from the basket. It stretches from one side of the free throw line elbow to the next. Attack the mid-range is a core part of SGA’s game, and he’s proficient at it. During his 2024-25 MVP season when he averaged a league-leading 32.7 points per game, Shai made 57% of his mid-range attempts. The average NBA team’s midrange field goal percentage is around 42%.

There’s a fictitious narrative in basketball in terms of the mid-range shot. Many pundits and players jumped on the 3-point shot bandwagon and shoved the middie to the side of the road. But the middie never really went away. It is still the weapon of choice in the postseason, and it is still the best shot that’ll lead to a title. Outside of Steph Curry’s Warriors and Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics, the mid-range or the mid-post is where championship teams earn their money.

The adage of “what’s old is new again” seems fitting here because SGA is making the old mid-range shot the new viral trend.

As much as we’d like to see our sports heroes play forever, they can’t. Every now and then they might be able to summon a flicker of their greatness, but eventually the flame will go out.

We’ve been fortunate enough to watch all-time greats like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant entertain us for years. However, Father Time is undefeated and the clock will eventually run out on LeBron (who turns 41 next season), Steph (36), and KD (36).

It’s time for a new generation of stars to entertain us. Embrace the changing of the guard and get excited. It’s going to be fantastic.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastbreak.net. Follow and subscribe to his YouTube channel at @onemanfastbreak1.

The NBA honored its 75 greatest players — 76 to be exact because of a tie — on Feb. 20, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio. LeBron James was one of 45 members of the all-time 75 team who came in person and participated in the festivities.

For LeBron, being a part of an event to honor basketball’s greatest fraternity was like seeing the posters on his bedroom wall come to life. “To see those guys and then be on stage with those guys — it’s just crazy,” he said.

Bill Russell was one of the living legends who were honored in Cleveland. Russell won 11 championships in 13 years with the Boston Celtics. The man has more rings than fingers. Commissioner Adam Silver summed it best when he called Russell basketball’s Babe Ruth.

The NBA 75th anniversary team was selected by a blue-ribbon panel of current and former NBA players, coaches, general managers, team and league executives, WNBA legends, sportswriters, and broadcasters. Voters were asked to select the 75 greatest players in NBA history without regard to position. Panelists did not rank their selections. Current and former players were not allowed to vote for themselves.

Choosing the 75 greatest players in the history of the NBA was no easy task. For the most part, the blue-ribbon panel got it right. But there were a few notable misses.

OneManFastBreak thought it would be fun to revisit the list and rank them in order from 1 to 75, with some editing to make the list our own. The benchmarks were based on individual accomplishments, team success (with more weight placed on postseason resume and titles), how they performed against other great players in their era, overall influence and impact on the game, and legacy. But more importantly, the question we have to ask while ranking the best of the best is this: can you write the story of the first 75 years of the NBA without this player?

Here are the 75 greatest basketball players of all time, based on one man’s opinion.

1-Michael Jordan

2-Kobe Bryant

3-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

4-Bill Russell

5-Magic Johnson

6-LeBron James

7-Shaquille O’Neal

8-Tim Duncan

9-Larry Bird

10-Stephen Curry

11-Wilt Chamberlain

12-Julius Erving

13-Hakeem Olajuwon

14-Kevin Garnett

15-Jerry West

16-Dirk Nowitzki

17-Moses Malone

18-Oscar Robertson

19-David Robinson

20-Kevin Durant

21-Dwyane Wade

22-Giannis Antetokounmpo

23-Nikola Jokic

24-John Havlicek

25-Isiah Thomas

26-Willis Reed

27-Bob Pettit

28-Scottie Pippen

29-Rick Barry

30-Bob Cousy

31-Karl Malone

32-Charles Barkley

33-Kawhi Leonard

34-Jason Kidd

35-Dave Cowens

36-Bob McAdoo

37-Bill Walton

38-Allen Iverson

39-Wes Unseld

40-John Stockton

41-Dennis Rodman

42-Clyde Drexler

43-Elgin Baylor

44-Walt Frazier

45-Elvin Hayes

46-Gary Payton

47-Kevin McHale

48-James Worthy

49-Joe Dumars*

50-George Mikan

51-James Harden

52-Russell Westbrook

53-Klay Thompson*

54-Patrick Ewing

55-Manu Ginobili*

56-Tony Parker*

57-Dwight Howard*

58-Dennis Johnson*

59-George Gervin

60-Paul Pierce

61-Nate Archibald

62-Steve Nash

63-Earl Monroe

64-Ray Allen

65-Dikembe Mutombo*

66-Sam Jones

67-Hal Greer

68-Draymond Green*

69-Billy Cunningham

70-Bernard King*

71-Alonzo Mourning*

72-Reggie Miller

73-Pete Maravich

74-Dominique Wilkins

75-Paul Arizin

* Wasn’t included in the original NBA 75th anniversary team

Honorable mention: Lenny Wilkens, Nate Thurmond, Robert Parish, Dolph Schayes, Jerry Lucas, Bill Sharman, Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Artis Gilmore, Sidney Moncrief, Adrian Dantley, Dan Issel, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gobert, Chris Paul, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard.

OMFB’s top-12 list is rock solid. The gap between each of them is minuscule. You won’t hear pushbacks here if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was placed ahead of Michael Jordan, or LeBron James ahead of Kobe Bryant, or Shaquille O’Neal ahead of Magic Johnson. The order can be rearranged but the history of basketball can’t be written without mentioning Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Bill Russell, Magic, LeBron, Shaq, Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, and Julius Erving, and Stephen Curry.

Jordan is universally recognized as the Greatest of All Time — aka the GOAT. Air Jordan’s resume speaks for itself. MJ was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals and named Finals MVP six times. Once he dethroned Magic in 1991, he never relinquished the crown until he retired.

Kobe is No. 2 on the OMFB list. Black Mamba was a facsimile of Air Jordan. He was the closest thing to MJ. Kobe and Mike were the same height and had the same body type. Kobe even sounded like Mike. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Jordan gave rare praise to his contemporaries, but he made an exception for Kobe. “He was a mentally tough kid, maybe even tougher than I was,” Jordan said of Kobe, who tragically died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. Jordan spawned millions of ballers who wanted to be Just Like Mike. Kobe gifted the next generation of hoopers the “Mamba Mentality.” If you’re still not convinced that Kobe deserves to be No. 2 on the all-time list, pull up the YouTube video from Jan. 22, 2006. Kobe authored arguably the greatest individual performance in NBA history when he scored 81 points in 42 minutes. Phil Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan in Chicago, was sitting on the Lakers bench for Kobe’s 81-point game. He put it in proper perspective. “It was another level,” Jackson said. “I’ve seen some remarkable games, but I’ve never seen one like that before.”

Some LeBron fans might be aghast seeing their beloved king at No. 6. But here are the cold, hard facts. LeBron lost six times in 10 trips to the NBA Finals. He has a 22-33 win-loss record in The Finals. Magic (24-26), Erving (10-12) and Wilt (16-19) are the other top-12 players who had sub-.500 records in the NBA Finals. LeBron lost to Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs twice and he could have been 0-3 against Duncan if Ray Allen hadn’t made a ridiculous late-game 3-pointer, saving the Heat’s season and forcing a Game 7. LeBron is 1-3 against Steph Curry. It’s an unfair record because Curry teamed up with Kevin Durant in 2017 and 2018 against James, but they were “Ls” on LeBron’s resume nonetheless.

LeBron’s place among basketball’s all-time greats is secure. To say he’s had a better career than Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Magic, Russell, or even Duncan is up for debate.

Steph Curry broke into the top 10 after winning his fourth NBA title. Curry is considered the best long-range shooter in the sport, and the numbers back it up. When Steph hangs up his Under Armour sneakers, a strong case could be made that he was the most influential. Because of Steph — the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made — there’s a generation of players at various levels launching shots from beyond the arc.

OMFB made the difficult decision to remove 10 players from the league’s original top-75 list and inserted 10 new names: Joe Dumars, Dennis Johnson, Dwight Howard, Dikembe Mutombo, Klay Thompson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bernard King, Alonzo Mourning and Draymond Green.

Dumars was a two-time NBA champ and Finals MVP in 1989. Thompson is a four-time NBA champ and arguably the second-greatest 3-point shooter we’ve ever seen. Thompson pulled off an unthinkable feat in 2017 when he scored 60 points in 29 minutes, using just 11 dribbles. Dennis Johnson earned three championship rings and was Finals MVP in 1979. Larry Bird considered DJ the best player he ever played with. Howard was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), carried the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009, and won a title with the L.A. Lakers in 2020. Mount Mutombo was a four-time DPOY and pulled out the “finger wag” each time he blocked a shot.

Parker inspired a generation of new-age point guards. Aside from winning the 2007 Finals MVP, the four-time NBA champion’s biggest contribution to the game was his signature shot: the tear-drop floater. The vast majority of guards in today’s game, from high school to college to the pros, have a floater in their bag of shots. Parker’s backcourt mate in San Antonio, Ginobili, sacrificed personal statistics in order for the Spurs to win titles. Ginobili posted modest numbers throughout his career (13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists), but his 72% winning percentage ranks among the all-time best. Ginobili also introduced one of the best basketball moves in recent memory — the Eurostep.

Alonzo Mourning was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. Pat Riley’s famed “Heat Culture” in Miami wouldn’t exist without Zo. He embodies what Heat Culture is all about. The Heat prided itself on being the hardest-working, best-conditioned team, and that defined Mourning’s career until a rare kidney diseased robbed him of his athletic prime.

Bernard King was a scoring machine until he wrecked his knee at the peak of his powers. Armed with a smooth turnaround jumper that was nearly impossible to stop, King put on a show in the 1984 playoffs as he averaged 34.8 points and almost single-handedly led the New York Knicks to the conference semifinals.

Outside of Dennis Rodman, four-time champ Draymond Green might be the most unique player. The 2017 DPOY won’t blow you away with individual stats but he’s arguably the heart and soul of the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Green is the primary playmaker on offense as the point forward and the anchor on defense.

The first 75 years of the NBA can be broken down into six eras.

From the 1950s through the 1960s, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell were the pioneers.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Rick Barry, and Julius “Dr. J” Erving carried the torch through a rough patch in the 1970s when the ABA and NBA canceled each other and the audience dwindled.

Magic and Bird revived basketball in the 1980s, arguably the league’s golden era that also included the rise of Isiah Thomas’ “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons. Moses Malone teamed up with Dr. J during the 1982-83 season and together they co-authored one of the most dominant playoff runs, sweeping Magic’s Lakers in the ’83 Finals and capping off a 12-1 postseason.

Michael Jordan took the baton from Magic and Bird and ruled the 1990s. Jordan won six championships in eight years, pulling off the three-peat twice and denying peers Sir Charles Barkley and Karl “The Mailman” Malone from winning rings. Hakeem Olajuwon benefited from Jordan’s brief retirement, leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. David “The Admiral” Robinson teamed up with Tim “Big Fundamental” Duncan in San Antonio, winning titles in 1999 and 2003.

The immediate post-Jordan era was dominated by five players: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Duncan. Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan combined to win 13 NBA titles, four regular season MVPs, and eight Finals MVPs from 1999 to 2010. For a decade, the road to the NBA Finals went through Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan.

Dirk and KG revolutionized the game and ushered in a new era of big men. The Big Ticket made it possible for high schoolers to skip college and turn pro at 19. Nowitzki opened the door for European bigs who preferred to face the basket instead of having their back to it. Nowitzki and Garnett were instrumental in the game’s evolution, as more and more teams shifted away from traditional power forwards and opted for stretch-4s.

Nowitzki bridged the gap between the Kobe Bryant era and the LeBron James era. Nowitzki ended Kobe’s reign as the world’s best player when Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks squad knocked off Kobe’s Lakers in the 2011 playoffs. In the same playoff run, Nowitzki put a pause on LeBron’s title hopes when his Mavs defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

LeBron’s appearance in the 2011 Finals started a run of eight consecutive trips. He put together a super team in Miami, winning two titles in 2012 and 2013, but lost to the Mavs in 2011 and Duncan’s Spurs in 2014. After a four-year run in South Beach, LeBron returned to Cleveland to fulfill his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown team. He delivered on the promise by winning a title in 2016, ending Cleveland’s 52-year professional title drought.

LeBron took the Cavs to four straight NBA Finals but could muster just one victory in four matchups against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. Curry led the Warriors to four championships in eight seasons — two of those championship banners were aided by the addition of Kevin Durant.

The Warriors opened the portal to the “small ball” era and advanced metrics. Analytics experts preferred shooting 3s over 2s — it’s either a layup or dunk or a 3-ball — and the midrange shot was viewed as somewhat of a dinosaur idea.

The modern day NBA put a premium on pace and space. The traditional back-to-the-basket center is becoming extinct and today’s game is dominated by versatile wing players like LeBron, Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. All of whom can anchor a defense like a center and initiate the offense like a point guard. We are now in the era of positionless basketball.

Basketball is cyclical. What may be considered old school could swing back to new school. The next generation of players will determine what the NBA will become in 25 years when we celebrate the league’s 100th anniversary.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson stepped down as Lakers president. (Getty Images)

There is no need to drum up any conspiracy theories on what happened to the Los Angeles Lakers. Magic Johnson basically told you what went down in Tinseltown during his 45-minute impromptu press conference announcing his resignation as the team’s president of basketball operations.

To summarize the State of Magic address, he didn’t want to be the bad guy.

“I had more fun when I was able to be big brother and ambassador to everybody,” Johnson said. He mentioned not being to make a simple tweet about Dwyane Wade’s retirement or give young superstar Ben Simmons some advice without hearing from the NBA police. He racked up almost $600,000 worth of fines for speaking publicly about Paul George and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

What really irked Magic was the way the whole Anthony Davis ordeal went down. Magic didn’t think the New Orleans Pelicans negotiated in good faith as the Lakers tried to acquire the All-Star center. There were too many leaks to the media, and it almost looked like someone bugged Magic’s phone.

Putting Magic in a box is not fun for Magic. And Magic wasn’t having fun running the Lakers from the executive chair.

He didn’t want to be the guy to tell Luke Walton that he won’t be coaching the Lakers anymore. He didn’t want to be the guy to force owner Jeanie Buss’ hand and fire general manager Rob Pelinka. He didn’t want to be the guy who people gossip about near the water cooler. He didn’t want to be the guy who people constantly peppered on the radio for making bad executive decisions (like trading away 22-year-old 7-foot center Ivica Zubac to the Clippers and got very little in return).

So when it was time for Magic to fire some folks in the Lakers’ building, he called timeout and took himself out of the game.

BREAKING: Magic Johnson has stepped down as Lakers' President of Basketball Operations. pic.twitter.com/yrHkguOO02

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 10, 2019

It wasn’t all Magic’s fault. He wasn’t the one who refused to run Luke’s offense. He wasn’t the one who didn’t connect quicker with the younger players on the roster. He wasn’t the one who couldn’t deliver in the clutch when the team needed big buckets down the stretch. He wasn’t the one who had a negative defensive rating.

Yes, LeBron James. You get a lot of the blame, too.

Statistically, LeBron had a very good 2018-19 season, averaging 27 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 55 games. Those were great fantasy numbers. Unfortunately, we’re not playing fantasy basketball. At the end of day, we measure success by wins and losses. And LeBron lost a ton of games.

There were several games where the Lakers needed LeBron to be Superman and he turned into Blankman. No one will dare say but James has lost a step. He can’t turn the corner like he used to and he can’t overpower opponents like he used to. He relies way too much of his fadeaway jumper and doesn’t get to the rim as often. And when he does get to the rim, he doesn’t finish like he used to.

LeBron didn’t appear to be fully invested in the Lakers. He may be calling L.A. his new home, but he still hadn’t unpacked all his bags and left some important items in boxes. He seemed more interested in his post-NBA career than the NBA postseason.

Not everything Magic touched in his two years as Lakers exec turned into Avengers dust. He did some good things, too. He and Pelinka pulled off the impossible by moving the dead-weight contracts of Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng. He was 5-for-5 with his draft picks, selecting Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart in 2017 and selected Mo Wagner and Svi Mykhailiuk in 2018. All five showed promised, although Svi got traded to Detroit so the jury may still be out on him. He was partly responsible for piecing together a very flawed roster for Luke, bringing in iso-centric players like Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley on one-year deals. Center JaVale McGee was the only player worth keeping.

If we had to grade Magic he’d get a C. He did an adequate job. He wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t great either.

Magic Johnson’s failures as a basketball front office player doesn’t change the way we should view him. He’s still one of the greatest players in NBA history and gave us so much joy. He just wasn’t a good executive. Which is OK. Michael Jordan is a terrible owner and Larry Bird was a so-so general manager with the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers issued a statement following Magic’s resignation, thanking him for “all that he has done for our franchise – as a player, an ambassador and an executive.”

“We thank him for his work these past two years as our President of Basketball Operations and wish him, Cookie, Andre, EJ and Elisa all the best with their next steps,” the Lakers said in the release. “He will always be not only a Lakers icon, but our family. As we begin the process of moving forward, we will work in a measured and methodical fashion to make the right moves for the future of our organization.”

Classy move by a world-class organization.

Now Magic can be Magic.

Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have assembled a playoff contender in L.A. (Getty Images)

When Jeanie Buss needed to press the reset button on the Los Angeles Lakers, she went full Khaleesi mode.

She ousted her brother, Jim, as the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations and fired longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak. Then she hired her father’s favorite player of all-time, Magic Johnson, to be the president of basketball operations. The face of the Showtime Lakers was now tasked with rebuilding the Lakers brand.

Magic needed a sidekick. Not just any sidekick. Someone who is well connected with today’s game and today’s players.

Enter Rob Pelinka.

Before Pelinka, 48, became a sports agent, he was best known as a role player on the Michigan Fab Five team that dominated college basketball for two years. After ditching the basketball sneakers for Florsheim shoes, Pelinka became a big-time player in the sports agent world. His biggest client was none other Dr. Jerry Buss’ second-favorite Laker of all-time, Kobe Bryant.

Pelinka personally handled player contracts and had a good feel for how the NBA salary cap worked. He was the perfect numbers guy to help Magic clean up the bad Laker deals Jim Buss and Kupchak had accumulated in the post-Kobe era. Luol Deng’s four-year, $72 million contract remains one of the great mysteries of our time. Jeanie Buss hired Pelinka to be the Lakers’ general manager, and now she had her two-headed monster to save Laker Nation.

“I sent her a meme from Game of Thrones of Khaleesi riding on the ship going to her homeland with the ships behind her,” Kobe told ESPN. “I said sometimes the mother of dragons has just got to be the mother of dragons. And Jeanie went full Khaleesi.”

If Jeanie is the mother of dragons then her two main dragons, Magic and Pelinka, have been breathing fire these last 17 months because the Lakers are not only relevant again, but they are breathing down the necks of the current elite teams in the NBA.

*****

When the NBA free agency period began at 9:01 p.m. PDT on June 30, Magic Johnson was camped outside LeBron James’ Los Angeles house at 8 p.m. PDT. He was a full hour early, so he sat and waited in his car just to make sure he didn’t break league policy. The 58-year-old basketball Hall of Famer knew the importance of this meeting. His meeting with LeBron not only could change the course of the Lakers franchise but it could also accelerate his three-year master plan.

Before he came through the gates of LeBron’s mansion, Magic did his homework. He studied film of LeBron’s games, going back to his early days in Cleveland, to his four-year stint in Miami, then back to his last four years in Cleveland. Magic didn’t want to leave any stones unturned. He didn’t want the same mistakes the Lakers made in recent past when they couldn’t even get a meeting with big-name free agents because the franchise was in such disarray.

“This guy is a basketball genius in terms of his mindset,” Magic told reporters during a conference call. “I think we both thought we were talking to ourselves when we’re looking at each other. We’re mirrors of each other when it comes to basketball mindset, championship DNA, and just playing the game the right way and also being a great teammate. That’s what it was. It was a lot of just basketball conversation. And as I told him, we want to get to the championship one day and he could be a big part of leading us back to that. That’s it.”

For three hours, Magic and LeBron talked basketball. Strictly basketball. No fancy video pitches. No power point presentations. Just two basketball junkies talking about the game they love.

“[LeBron] already knew the team, maybe better than I did,” Magic told Spectrum SportsNet. “He broke the roster down right in front of me. He knew every single guy, the strength and weaknesses on our team.”

Magic added: “We had a great time of going back and forth, here we are two guys, similar. Both from the Midwest. Both grew up poor. Both love to compete. Both love to win, and I think both excel at the highest level. We connected right when I walked in the door. Just two guys that talk free to each other, and talk basketball, and that’s what I love about LeBron.”

The next day, LeBron’s management group, Klutch Sports, sent out this tweet: “LeBron James, four time NBA MVP, three time NBA finals MVP, fourteen time NBA All Star, and two time Olympic gold medalist has agreed to a four year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.”

*****

Pelinka says the Lakers aren’t trying to beat the Golden State Warriors at their own game. Instead, they’re building a team around LeBron James to do something different.

Yes, LeBron James is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. It still feels like a dream, but it is for real. LeBron signing a four-year deal with the Lakers is the culmination of a well-orchestrated plan set in motion by Magic and Pelinka back in early 2017 when they  began putting together the pieces of a potential championship puzzle.

When Pelinka spoke publicly for the first time since the Lakers’ remarkable offseason overhaul began, he was beaming. He was excited about the future.

“To get the commitment from LeBron James to come to the Lakers for four years was really the culmination of everything we’ve been working towards,” Pelinka said. “When LeBron chose to come here, it was the ultimate validation for the moves we’ve made and what we’ve been building since we started.”

The longest postseason drought in franchise history could be finished after James chose the Lakers in free agency. The club also added veterans Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson alongside their talented young core led by Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma. Ball and Ingram are both 20 years old, while Hart and Kuzma are 23.

Pelinka and Magic hope the result is a long, athletic, defense-minded team with enough up-tempo offense to compete with the Warriors and Houston Rockets in the Western Conference.

“I think to try to play the Warriors at their own game is a trap,” Pelinka said. “No one is going to beat them at their own game, so that is why we wanted to add these elements of defense and toughness and depth and try to look at areas where we will have an advantage.”

Pelinka said the Lakers focused their free agency recruitment efforts on versatile, playoff-tested talents who can score and defend, instead of looking for elite players with only one specialty. He hopes the result will be a flexible, dangerous team under coach Luke Walton. It’s a different look around James, whose Cleveland Cavaliers teams often looked like a collection of perimeter shooters whose deficiencies were exposed by Golden State.

“The road to the NBA championship has to go through the team that won last year, and we all know the guys up north have a special group,” Pelinka said. “But one of the ways to attack what they have is with defensive toughness. I think we saw that in the Houston series with some of the players that Houston has.”

Pelinka’s desire for flexibility extended to the payroll as well. After years of trading away draft picks and acquiring high-priced veterans in an effort to win now with Bryant, the Lakers were overextended until Pelinka and Johnson spent the past few months creating enough salary cap space to sign two elite free agents.

No matter what happens, Pelinka said the Lakers’ series of one-year contracts around James will put them in position to have ample cap space again next summer, when several stars could be available to join James. Pelinka said the Lakers will have “an open training camp” in September, with only James guaranteed to be a starter.

In order to properly rule a kingdom, you need a king, a queen, a trusted adviser who knows the lay of the land, and a little bit of magic. The Lakers appear to have all of them.

Magic Johnson views Lonzo Ball as the main piece in the Lakers’ rebuilding plan. (AP)

Magic Johnson admitted that 19-year-old Lonzo Ball needed to win him over during the NBA draft process. Even though Johnson and the rest of the Lakers brass had their eye on the former UCLA All-American guard they needed more validation.

Their first meeting didn’t quite live up to Johnson’s expectations. The second meeting in Chino Hills, however, was a game-changer. After visiting with the Ball family in their Southern California home, the L.A. Lakers legend was finally convinced Lonzo can be the point guard to lift the Lakers out of their funk and challenge the heavily favored Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference.

The Lakers are in the midst of the worst stretch in franchise history, posting an abysmal 91-237 record the last four seasons and landing in the top three of the draft lottery three straight years. Lakers Nation is so desperate for a winner it is willing to absorb all the blowouts and embarrassing losses the last four years just to land a superstar.

Enter Lonzo Ball.

“We knew he was special. What we were lacking was a leader,” Johnson said during ESPN’s summer league broadcast. “We traded a very good point guard in D’Angelo Russell. [D’Angelo] has the potential to be very special. But we needed a leader. We didn’t need a scoring point guard. We needed somebody who can get everybody involved.”

A day after selecting Ball with the No. 2 pick in the draft, the Lakers held a press conference to introduce their newest headliner. Magic, who was named the Lakers’ president of basketball operations back in February, pointed to a wall inside the Lakers practice facility where all the retired Lakers jerseys hung. He told Ball he expects his jersey No. 2 to be hanging up there some day. Talk about putting pressure on a guy who is just two years removed from high school.

Ball is facing sky-high expectations. He’ll play a huge part in Johnson’s grand plan to rebuild the Lakers brand and make them relevant again. Ball won a state title in high school and took UCLA to the Sweet 16 in his one-and-done season. He’s a winner, and the Lakers are hoping that winning touch and unselfish mentality can carry over to the pro level.

“There is a lot of expectations,” Johnson said of his new prodigy. “Everybody wants him to be great. We want him to be great. But it’s gonna take time. He’s at the most difficult position in basketball. The point guard position. There are so many great point guards in our league, so he’s gonna have his hands full every single night.”

It didn’t take long before Ball found out just how bright the spotlight can be as the new leader of the Lake Show.

Ball struggled during his Lakers debut before a sold-out Thomas & Mack Center in the NBA summer league in Las Vegas. He went 2-for-15 from the field and 1-for-11 from 3-point range. His very outspoken dad, LaVar, called it the “worst game” of his son’s young career. Naturally, Ball was roasted on social media. The “haters” came out in droves. But Lonzo took all the criticism in stride and vowed to play better. And he did. In his second summer league game before another jam-packed crowd, Ball posted a triple-double. He scored 11 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and dished out 11 assists against the Boston Celtics.  He showed flashes of why he was college basketball’s best passer. There was a buzz in the arena with every shot, with every drive, with every no-look pass, and even with every miss. Lonzo played with pace and poise, two important skills that’ll come in handy when he’s running with the Laker regulars in three months.

Magic wasn’t too concerned when Lonzo struggled in his pro debut. He understands that it’ll take time before Ball can get comfortable being the maestro of Showtime 2.0.

“What I try to do now is sit down and talk basketball with him,” Magic said. “I said, ‘Look, just take your time. There’s a learning curve. Through the good times, through the bad times I’m gonna be with you. The whole organization is gonna be with you. And you don’t have to tear the league up right away because you’re not. Just be patient and let it just flow and let it happen. You got some other good young basketball players on our team and you gonna set them up to be successful. That’s really your job. Just run the show, make the good read, make the good pass.’ ”

And if there was any hint of an issue with Lonzo’s omnipresent, controversial father, Magic cleared that up real fast when he spoke to LaVar prior to the draft.

“I wanted to talk to LaVar man to man. What I saw was a proud father. He has done an excellent job of coaching [his sons],” Magic said. “Then I saw him working with the community kids. Forget all the trash talking. He’s just marketing himself, his sons, Big Baller Brand. And that’s OK. But he knows his son is a pro now and he gotta back up.”

Steve Nash has been ruled out by the L.A. Lakers this season. (GETTY IMAGES)

Steve Nash has been ruled out this season by the Los Angeles Lakers, and his basketball career is likely over.

Because of a recurring nerve damage in his back, the 40-year-old point guard may have to call it quits. Nash’s career spanned 19 seasons in the NBA. He was named MVP twice and made the All-Star game eight times. He ranks third all-time in assists (10,335) behind only John Stockton (15,806) and Jason Kidd (12,091).

The only box unchecked on Nash’s basketball resume is a championship. He never got to play in the NBA Finals, one of only six NBA MVPs who do not have a championship ring. The other five are Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.

Canada’s best-known basketball export will go down in history as one of the best point guards to play the game of basketball. However, to say Nash was the best to play the position would be a slap in the face to the legends who played before him.

OneManFastBreak ranks the 10 best point guards in basketball history:

10-STEVE NASH — Nash is the only two-time MVP winner not to reach The Finals. He captured his first regular season MVP in 2005, leading the Suns to the NBA’s best record, but the San Antonio Spurs bounced Nash and a loaded Suns squad that also featured Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Joe Johnson in the Western Conference finals. Then in 2006 Nash won his second MVP award but was eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks led by his buddy Dirk Nowitzki, who removed himself from the ringless fraternity in 2011. Voters made a huge mistake by giving Nash the MVP in 2006. Nash didn’t deserve to win it over Kobe Bryant, who had one of the best statistical seasons and delivered the signature moment of the year when he scored 81 points against Toronto. Nash is hoping for one last hurrah with the Lakers, but time is not on his side.

9-GARY PAYTON — The brash player known around the basketball world as “The Glove” was one of the best two-way players who’ll ever find. At 6-4, Payton is a big guard who used his size and quickness to pester opponents. Payton was the head of the snake of Seattle’s vaunted fullcourt-pressing, halfcourt-trapping defense that powered the Sonics to the 1996 NBA Finals. Payton’s career took off when head coach George Karl unleashed him in his frenetic system. Payton was also a notorious trash talker. When The Glove smelled blood in the water, he pounced like a piranha. He is the only point guard in league history to win Defensive Player of the Year. He was named to the NBA’s first-team all-defense team nine times and ranks fourth all-time in steals with 2,445. He reached the NBA Finals twice, winning it all with the Miami Heat in 2006.

8-JASON KIDD — Ever since bursting onto the scene as a high school phenom from Oakland, Calif., Jason Kidd has been a winner all of his career. He won a state title in high school, he took Cal to the Sweet 16, he took the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals and he led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA title in 2011. He is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, leading Team USA in 2000 in Sydney and in 2008 in Beijing. Kidd owns a total of five gold medals in international competition and a mind-boggling 56-0 international record in Olympics, Olympic qualifying and exhibition games. He ranks second on the all-time NBA list in steals (2,684) and assists (12,091), and third in 3-point field goals made (1,988). His 107 triple-doubles ranks only behind Hall-of-Famers Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson.

7-TONY PARKER — Once San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich gave the keys to Parker to run his team, the Spurs busted out of their conservative shell and became more dynamic. They went from driving a Cadillac to driving a Ferrari, with Parker holding the steering wheel. Parker’s greatest contribution to the game is a shot he may not have created but he has certainly perfected: the floater. Some call it “the runner” or “the teardrop” or “the push shot.” It’s a devastating weapon against big men, and it is used today by nearly all the guards at all levels. Despite all of his accomplishments, including winning the 2007 NBA Finals MVP and owning three NBA titles, Parker is rarely mentioned when basketball experts talk about the best point guards in the NBA. But Parker is OK with that. “For me I’ve been in San Antonio for so long I don’t really pay attention to top-five point guards,” Parker said. “They always forget about me anyways. It doesn’t matter to me anymore, seriously. I just play for the city of San Antonio, for the Spurs and all our fans, Coach Pop, my teammates. That’s what keeps me going.”

6-BOB COUSY — You can’t write the history of basketball without mentioning Bob Cousy. “The Houdini of the Hardwood” was a pure basketball showman. He was the foundation of a Boston Celtics dynasty in the 1950s and ’60s. He is a six-time NBA champion and was named league MVP in 1957. He is one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history. The Cooz was way ahead of his time. In an era when guards walked the ball down the court and dumped the ball into the big men, Cousy pushed the tempo and threw behind-the-back passes. He revolutionized the point guard position. He also possessed one of the best handles. When coach Red Auerbach needed to close the game, he turned to Cousy to dribble out the clock.

5-DENNIS JOHNSON — DJ wasn’t blessed with a ton of athletic ability, but he made himself into an outstanding two-way player. During his 13-year playing career with the Seattle SuperSonics, the Phoenix Suns, and the Boston Celtics, Johnson established himself as one of the best defensive guards in the NBA. He hounded Magic Johnson into a rough series in the 1984 NBA Finals in which the Celtics won. He had quick hands and a strong base, making it hard for opposing guards to score on him. He was named to five All-Star teams and nine straight all-defensive teams. He was a member of three NBA championship squads (two in Boston and one in Seattle), and his postseason heroics earned him a reputation as a money player. He was the Finals MVP in 1979 for the Sonics, and co-authored one of the signature moments in playoff history when he finished the game-winning layup off a steal by Larry Bird in the 1987 series against the Detroit Pistons. Remember the great call by Celtics announcer Johnny Most: “And there’s a steal by Bird! Underneath to DJ, lays it in!” Bird calls Dennis Johnson the best player he’s ever played with.

4-JOHN STOCKTON — If we’re strictly basing everything on statistics, then Stockton should be considered the No. 1 player on this list. He is the NBA’s all-time leader in assists (15,806) and steals (3,265). Both records could stand for a long, long time. Stockton played his entire pro career with the Utah Jazz. He led the Jazz to 19 playoff appearances and took them to the NBA Finals twice, losing both times to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. Stockton benefitted greatly from having one of the greatest scoring power forwards in the game in Karl Malone, but that shouldn’t diminish what Stockton meant to the Jazz. He may not say a whole lot on the court, but he was a tenacious competitor who pushed the envelop on some of those nasty screens. What is it dirty? Probably. Stockton played to win, even if he had to bend the rules a bit. Gary Payton calls Stockton tougher to defend than Michael Jordan.

3-OSCAR ROBERTSON — “The Big O” is the player against whom all others labeled “all-around” are judged, and he may remain the standard forever. Statistically, one need look no further than the numbers Robertson put up in 1961-62, just his second year in the league: 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists per game-an average of a triple-double for an entire season. Not even Magic Johnson or Larry Bird could match those numbers. During his 14-year NBA career with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks, Robertson amassed 26,710 points. He won his only NBA title as a member of the Bucks in 1971. His average of 25.7 points per game ranks as the sixth-highest mark ever among retired players, and he averaged 30 points or more in six seasons. Robertson was the NBA’s all-time leader in assists (9,887) when he retired. He also averaged 7.5 rebounds for his career and led his team in rebounding once, a rare feat for a guard. At 6-5 and 210 pounds, The Big O was the first dominant guard. Celtics coach Red Auerbach said: “He is so great he scares me.”

2-ISIAH THOMAS — Zeke was the unquestioned leader of the “Motor City Bad Boys.” Don’t let that million-dollar smile fool ya. Thomas was a stone-cold killer who didn’t back down from a fight. He and Joe Dumars was arguably the two toughest players on a squad with a bunch of rough riders. Thomas never got the credit he richly deserved because his Pistons were not part of the glamour teams. The Pistons won two NBA titles with a grit-and-grind approach that didn’t resonate with basketball fans. They ended the Celtics and Lakers dynasties, and was the major roadblock for the Bulls. Thomas had two unforgettable playoff moments. The first was the great shootout with Bernard King in the 1984 playoffs in which Zeke scored 16 points in 94 seconds to force overtime. The second was his epic gutsy performance in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals against the Lakers in which he scored 25 points in the third quarter despite a badly sprained ankle. It defined Thomas’ career.

1-MAGIC JOHNSON — Forget positions for a moment. Based on impact alone, Magic is arguably one of the best players to ever play the game. He changed the game. He was a power forward with major-league handles and unbelievable vision. No one in the history of basketball has ever seen a player like Magic. At 6-9 and 215 pounds, he was a matchup nightmare. He averaged 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 11.2 assists for his career. He blew past forwards and posted up smaller guards. And you’ll never find a better passer on a 3-on-2 or 2-0n-1 fastbreak. Also, he was a tremendous leader on and off the court. When he led, players followed. He earned three NBA MVPs and led the L.A. Lakers to five championships. The signature moment of the career came in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the hated Boston Celtics. With the Lakers down by one point, Magic drove the lane and threw up a baby skyhook over two defenders to give the Lakers the lead. After the game, Larry Bird said: “Magic is just a great player.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Dwight Howard calls the 2012-13 season with the Lakers a “nightmare.” (GETTY IMAGES)

Drama seems to follow Dwight Howard wherever he’s at. He was like a petulant child in his final days in Orlando, holding the team hostage for months because he couldn’t make up his mind. Now, the drama has shifted to Los Angeles where Howard is again at the center of a firestorm that will undoubtedly exhaust the Lakers franchise this offseason.

Howard will be a free agent this summer and could leave L.A. for another city. In what may be his final game in a Laker uniform, Howard scored seven points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had five turnovers in just 20 minutes because he was ejected in the third quarter for arguing with an official after he felt he wasn’t getting the benefit of the calls against the Spurs big men. Howard walked off the court, briefly ran into Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak in the tunnel and had some choice words about the officiating.

It wasn’t exactly the image the Lakers envisioned when they acquired Howard during the offseason. He was suppose to help Kobe Bryant win championship ring No. 6 and serve as the Lakers’ next great franchise player of the future.

The season didn’t go as planned and, when the Lakers needed Howard the most, he folded his tent and literally left the building. As much as we’d like to think that Howard didn’t quit on his team, it certainly begs the question.

Magic Johnson had the same thought when he tweeted this message to Laker Nation moments after the Spurs eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs: “Dwight with an already depleted team you couldn’t afford to foul out or get kicked out. Having you on the floor was the only chance for the @Lakers.”

Hours later, Howard responded Monday morning and apologized to Laker Nation. Here’s a series of tweets from @dwighthoward:

The four-game sweep was a fitting conclusion to a season Howard described as a “nightmare.”

“It’s like a bad dream, and we just couldn’t wake up from it. That’s what it felt like,” Howard said. “It seemed like nothing could go right, right from the start, injuries and all that stuff. We get an opportunity to get some rest for guys who are injured. A chance to rehab and think about what we can all do to better ourselves.”

When Yahoo! Sports writer Marc Spears asked Dwight if the last part of that statement reflected optimism toward returning, Howard said: “You’re reading too much into it.”

One of Howard biggest critics is Shaquille O’Neal, who knows a thing or two about playing center for the Lakers. O’Neal said on TNT’s postgame show Sunday that the first thing Howard needs to do is change his attitude and approach to the game. “Dwight is a power player and he needs to get some power moves. This is his seventh or eighth year and I’m disappointed that he doesn’t have a go-to move where he could score every time. The rest is just all heart and determination.”

O’Neal recalled when he acted up like Howard, complaining to the refs and whining about not getting enough calls. But Shaq said former Lakers assistant coach Bill Bertka convinced him that he needed an attitude adjustment. “I used to be like Dwight, doing stupid stuff and getting techs. Bill Bertka, Phil Jackson, and my father Phil Harrison told me ‘Do you see Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] complaining?’ No. Kareem went out, dominated, and won championships. The way to combat [the bad calls] and defeat that is to go out and dominate.”

Charles Barkley said Howard needs to spend more time with former Rockets great Hakeem Olajuwon and learn some post-up moves because Howard is severely limited when it comes to low-post skills. “He doesn’t even know how to post up,” Barkley said. “He’s a very good rebounder and shot-blocker, but offensively he hasn’t gotten better.

“You notice he gets one or two offensive fouls a game because he doesn’t know how to post up. He’d post up with his arms way down. When you post up, you put your arm up. You don’t swing your arms. I like him a lot as a person, but as a player he’s got a long way to go.”

From strictly a financial standpoint, it would be better for Howard to re-sign with the Lakers because the team could pay him a five-year, maximum $117.9 million contract. If he signed somewhere else, he’d only get a four-year deal worth around $87 million. Howard would have to walk away from $30 million on the table if he decides to leave the Lakers. That alone should be an indication that Howard is leaning heavily toward re-signing with L.A., which is not good news for Lakers management because — based on the last two seasons — he has proven be undependable and unfit to be the face of a franchise.

Howard says he’s going to reflect on the season and clear his head. What the Lakers should do is clear his locker room and plan on not having him for the foreseeable future.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Longtime Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, here with actress Bai Ling, loved being around beautiful women. (GETTY IMAGES)

If there’s anyone in the world who could best tell the story of Dr. Jerry Buss, who died on Feb. 18 at the age of 80, it would be Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Magic had the unique perspective of being on Buss’ side for 34 years, and he probably knows the man just as well as Buss’ children.

“I was like a son to him and he was like my second father. He allowed me to be one of the Buss boys,” Johnson said on ESPN’s SportsCenter hours after the longtime Lakers owner, Los Angeles entrepreneur, and NBA visionary passed away.

Magic entered the NBA around the same time Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, a $67.5 million mega deal that also included the L.A. Kings and The Forum. At the time it was considered one of the biggest business moves in sports history. Buss had a great eye for talent and used that to his advantage. He had a feeling this Earvin Johnson guy from Michigan State was going to be a star in the NBA, and felt so strongly about it that he was willing to nix the Laker purchase unless then owner Jack Kent Cooke would agree to select Magic with the No. 1 pick in the 1979 draft. Kent Cooke chose Johnson, Buss got his man, and 10 NBA championships later the Lakers are now considered the Camelot of basketball.

Johnson relieved all the great memories he had with Buss, and gave a sneak peek at what made the man affectionately known in Southern California as Doc Buss so successful.

“Dr. Buss was just a fun-loving guy. But the man was very competitive. He wanted to bring championships and he brought all of us in together to do that. And at the same time he wanted to be friends to the players,” Johnson said of his mentor, who earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at USC and was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Johnson credits Buss for a lot of the entertainment we see today at NBA games. From the Laker Girls to the extravagant halftime shows, Buss gave casual fans plenty to cheer about. The Hollywood-type atmosphere brought celebrities to Laker games, as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Denzel Washington, Andy Garcia, Arsenio Hall, and Dyan Cannon became fixtures at courtside.

“He was the first owner who actually cared about entertainment … doing things we haven’t witnessed at a basketball game. He made it an event and he made it fun. He changed the whole scope of basketball. Everybody started [doing it]. He was a pioneer and at the forefront of all of that.”

Aside from his eye for basketball talent, Buss also had an eye for women. Oh, he loved his women and wasn’t afraid to flaunt them every chance he could.

“Dr. Buss loved the Lakers. He loved to play poker. And he loved his women,” Johnson said. “He loved being around beautiful women. That was his thing. Dr. Buss lived a great life. He told me, ‘Earvin, nobody should feel really sad for me because I’ve had a great life. I did everything I wanted to do.’ Here is a guy who grew up dirt poor and had a chance to own the Los Angeles Lakers.”

Johnson added: “He was just a great guy. He would always meet you at the same places, the same Italian restaurant. People don’t know this but he was a great dancer. We used to go out to the nightclubs when I was a lot younger when I could dance all night. We should to go to this club called Pips and he loved to dance, and we would just dance all night. He could outlast me.

“He was just a different owner than anybody in a lot of ways. He was a common guy owner.”

As for the product on the court, Johnson said Buss gave the Lakers “everything we needed” in order to win a championship. “We stayed at the best hotels, we had the best trainers, we had the best equipment, on and on and on. It started with him,” Johnson said.

Buss envisioned a dynamic pairing of Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would produce multiple titles in the 1980s, and his vision came true.

The winning began in the 1979-80 season when Magic led a gimpy Laker squad with Abdul-Jabbar sidelined with an ankle injury to Philadelphia in Game 6 and clinched the first of five championships in the ’80s. When Buss fired Paul Westhead and hired Pat Riley in the 1981-82 season, “Showtime” was born and the Lakers have never looked back since.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

John Stockton, Chris Mullin, and Charles Barkley revel in the moment after clinching the gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Twenty years ago, when NBA players were allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics it changed the entire landscape of the sport of basketball.

The global impact of the 1992 U.S. men’s basketball team — also known as the Dream Team — was enormous. They opened the door for international players such as Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker to become NBA stars and heightened the popularity of the sport around the world.

A documentary presented by NBA TV sheds light on how the Dream Team came together and the untold stories behind the greatest team ever assembled.

The first call went to Michael Jordan as then NBA executive Rod Thorn called the reigning league MVP and explained to the Bulls’ megastar that “this is bigger than the NBA Finals . . . and we need you.”

Jordan was hesitant at first because he had already gone through the whole Olympic experience. He needed to be convinced and told who else was joining the historic squad. So Thorn made his next move. He called Magic Johnson.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” Johnson said. “I was in from Day 1. I figured if I jumped in first and said I wanted to play then I would get guys to want to participate as well.”

“I think if Magic wasn’t on that team it wouldn’t have been as spectacular as it was. To finish out our careers was important for both of us,” said Larry Bird, who was named team captain along with Magic.

“Once you get guys like Magic and Larry committing on the team then all of a sudden it becomes something very, very special. Representing the USA is already a tremendous honor. To know that you’re gonna be on a dream team is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said center David Robinson, who was a member of the U.S. Olympic squad that finished a disappointing third  in the 1988 Summer Games in South Korea. It was the watershed moment that sparked the whole NBA-led Olympic movement.

“They called in the big guns,” Patrick Ewing said.

One by one the Dream Team started to take shape. After Jordan, Magic and Bird eight other Hall-of-Famers accepted the invitation: Robinson, Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin, John Stockton, and Clyde Drexler. The last spot was filled in by Duke University standout Christian Laettner — whom many referred to as “the college guy.”

“It didn’t matter if you called me last. I got the call,” Malone said.

There was one major omission from the squad and that was Detroit All-Star Isiah Thomas. Jordan and Pippen both admitted they didn’t want Thomas — the ring leader of the Motor City bad boys, who tormented the Chicago Bulls for years — on the roster and the bad blood between the Bulls and the Pistons spilled over into the selection process of the Dream Team.

“I don’t think [Jordan] wanted [Isiah] on the team,” Pippen said.

The first official win for the Dream Team was the 77-point blowout against Cuba in the Tournament of Americas in Portland. The starting five who took the floor that day was Magic, Jordan, Barkley, Bird and Robinson. It was the first time Magic, Bird and Jordan — arguably the three greatest players in basketball history — shared a court together as teammates.

Magic made it a point to compete against Jordan in anything, anywhere, and anytime from HORSE games to free-throw shooting contests in practice to card games.

In Monte Carlo the scrimmages were intense as Daly split the practice squads and held live four-quarter games. On one side it was Jordan, Pippen, Mullin, Barkley and Ewing. Magic’s team had Drexler, Malone, Bird, and Robinson.

“Michael never liked to lose,” Pippen said. “He always got that look. When you see that look then give him the damn ball and get out of the way.”

Jordan said as much as it was five-on-five games it gravitating toward a Michael vs. Magic showdown.

By the time practice was over even Magic, who won five championships in the 1980s with the L.A. Lakers, had to acknowledge that basketball’s landscape had changed forever. “Larry and I were talking and Michael walks in and he says ‘There’s a new Sheriff in town.’ And we both hit each other like ‘Well, he’s not lying.’ ”

Monte Carlo definitely had its perks and Barkley, easily the most quotable star on the team, wasn’t shy about sharing one of those private moments. “Everyday after we got back from practice we made a beeline to the swimming pool with all those girls laying out topless,” Barkley said.

Barkley also admitted that you didn’t want to get in a beer-drinking contest with Bird because “Larry Bird drank Budweiser and Budweiser is the strongest beer in the world. And my head hurt for like two days.”

Robinson and Drexler also marveled at how Jordan could play round after round of golf yet still have enough energy to practice basketball. “I remember thinking ‘Does this guy ever sleep?’ ” Drexler joked.

The Dream Team officially didn’t lose a game, but there was that one dubious “loss” to the U.S. Select squad — which included then college studs Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Rodney Rogers, Eric Montross, and Chris Webber — at the start of training camp.

The college players defeated the Dream Team, 62-54, during a scrimmage in UC San Diego, but assistant coach Mike Krzyzewski saw it differently.

“Chuck [Daly] threw the game,” Krzyzewski said of the Dream Team coach’s master plan.

“If you looked on how much Jordan played and how much he subbed guys in, not picking up, not making any adjustments. He knew what he was doing,” Krzyzewski said. “I hate to burst their bubble, but it was a game thrown. Not many people would have done it, and he did it.”

Krzyzewski added: “It was brilliant on Chuck’s part to be able to orchestrate that and play along like he did.”

So why didn’t he tell his staff? “We probably would have screwed it up,” Coach K explained.

The next day the Dream Teamers flexed their muscles and showed why they were basketball legends. Barkley boasted his side won by more than 100 points and Coach K remembered the Select Team had all kinds of problems putting the ball in the basket. And, oh by the way, Jordan played a lot more in the rematch.

“It was gratifying to Chuck to have our butts beat like that because now we had to listen to him,” Jordan said.

Malone recalled Daly’s one and only speech to the players, and the message was crystal clear. “His speech was anybody can get beat,” The Mailman said.

From that point on the team never lost and none of the games were even close. The ’92 U.S. Olympic team ripped through the competition in Barcelona en route to the gold medal. They showcased total domination, execution, and basketball genius that left a lasting legacy that still resonates 20 years later.

“We made the game a worldwide game,” Barkley said. “I talked to Tony Parker, I talked to Ginobili, I talked to Dirk Nowitzki. Those guys said their first love of basketball started with the Dream Team. And I’m really proud of that.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Kevin Durant will be matched up against LeBron James in the 2012 NBA Finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

This is the dream matchup for the NBA. You have arguably the best team from the West playing against arguably the best team in the East. And each side boasts arguably the two best players in the game.

The NBA Finals has not had this kind of salacious showdown since Magic Johnson’s Lakers faced Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1991. Twenty-one years ago, a hard-charging Jordan outdueled Magic, who was a few months away from retirement, to capture his first NBA title. The 2012 matchup between Kevin Durant’s Thunder and LeBron James’ Heat involves two superstars in the prime of their careers hungry to win their first championship rings.

No disrespect to Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, but this year’s NBA Finals series is all about LeBron, the three-time league MVP, and Durant, the three-time scoring champion.

“Yeah, that’s a sexier matchup I guess,” Durant said. “But I don’t read newspapers. I don’t get on Twitter anymore. I just focus on what I need to do.”

The last time Durant posted something on his Twitter account was May 1. LeBron’s Twitter account hasn’t been touched since April 27. Both young men have been razor sharp in the postseason, with James averaging more than 30 points per game while Durant has already produced three game-winning baskets.

James averaged 25 points and eight assists against OKC during the regular season, while Durant averaged 29 points and six rebounds. The Heat are coming off a hard-fought seven-game series against the Celtics, while the Thunder dispatched the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks says Durant will definitely guard LeBron in the series, but the Thunder will need all hands on deck to slow down the 6-foot-8, 265-pound locomotive who wears No. 6 on the Heat.

“Kevin is a gym rat. He’s always looking for a challenge,” Brooks said. “It’s definitely a matchup that is enjoyable to see and how it turns out. If Kevin has a bad shooting night it’s probably because they played great team defense on him.

“They’re both great players. They’re both driven and hungry basketball players.”

After what transpired in last year’s Finals, there is a ton of pressure on James to win now. He has already failed once as a member of the Cavaliers and last year as a Heat. He is hoping the third time is a charm.

“I didn’t play well. I think I’ve said that 100 times this year,” James said of his 2011 NBA Finals meltdown against Dallas.

“I didn’t make enough game-changing plays that I know I’m capable of making and I felt like I let my teammates down,” he continued. “‘I’m happy and I’m humbled that I can actually be back in this position less than 12 months later to do a better job of making more plays, more game-changing plays out on the floor on a bigger stage. So we’ll see what happens.”

For Durant, he is four games away from winning his first title before his 24th birthday but he has to go through his good friend LeBron to accomplish his ultimate goal.

“He can score at will. He’s strong, can shoot it. I have to play my hardest every possession. I can’t take any possessions off,” Durant said of James, who worked out with the Thunder superstar during the summer and served as his mentor.

”Our relationship is really good,” James said. “Our relationship is going to continue to grow and I’m happy to be in this position where I can compete against him.”

Great players rise to the challenge, and the series will likely come down to Durant and James. The championship will come down to which superstar shines the brightest.