The Independent Variable

nytimes.com

The Bulls had made the playoffs just once since the two men took over the front office in 2020.

Even though the Bulls have been stuck in purgatory since this leadership team joined, I honestly didn't see this coming. The roster at the current moment in time is probably the worst it's been in a decade—which is a bummer—and the leadership team has definitely made some mistakes with draft picks and trades, but to start over fresh and get rid of the team who built the Denver Nuggets juggernaut feels risky, especially at a time when we're probably going to lose our head coach Billy Donovan to UNC.

theringer.com

Is there enough talent, especially high-end talent, to support two more teams? How will the talent dilution affect the quality of play? Especially now, at a time when a third of the league’s teams are barely competitive (some, but not all, by design)? Will adding two more franchises exacerbate the tanking crisis? Will struggling small-market squads have an even harder time attracting players when there are two glimmering new teams in two glamour markets?

The real question is how does the NBA work to create more parity? What does the league look like if teams are forced to keep just one superstar rather than the ability to stack three together on a team? I think there are close to 32 players in the league that could conceivably be the best player on their team. Tanking is going to happen in some form or fashion no matter what, whether you add two teams or not. But bickering about the number of teams is pointless—there should just be a constant turning of the knobs to de-incentivize the bad and incentivize the good.