The NBA is experiencing an all-time peak in terms of popularity, but is still missing one key element. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson directly contributed to this polarizing aspect of the league during their playing days. Fans fell in love with the dynamic they added. Bird spoke about the state of the league in 2009, and, even today, in 2025, his comments still apply.
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In the 1980s and 90s, the league thrived on rivalries. It began with Johnson and Bird, which then trickled down to Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas. Those rivalries weren’t just among players but with teams.
Johnson and Bird led the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, which still stands today. Although the two are best friends, when they stepped onto the court, they hated each other. That isn’t necessarily the case nowadays. Players are quite friendly with one another. As a result, rivalries aren’t as prominent as they once were. Bird believes that to be the problem in the league.
“We have a lot of great players in our league, but we don’t have the rivalries we used to have,” Bird said in an ESPN special in 2009.
At the time when Bird made these comments, players weren’t competing with the same edge as in the past. The closest thing to a rivalry was the NBA Finals appearances between the Celtics and the Lakers in 2008 and a year after the interview in 2010.
Bird would see his words age quite well over five years later. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors met in the NBA Finals four consecutive years. Those matchups became highly anticipated among basketball fans and birthed an entire generation of the game’s enjoyers. Aside from that brief glimpse, rivalries have ceased to live up to their past reputation.
Bird believes a part of the reason is due to how young the new crop of NBA players are, saying, “A lot of them came out of school early and once they get older and feel they got an opportunity to win a championship, I think there’ll be more competitiveness and a lot better players.”
However, some teams are going back to the league’s roots, which Bird has urged for 16 years. The Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers have reignited their divisional rivalry. The two teams have met in the NBA playoffs in consecutive seasons and genuinely don’t like each other.
Although it isn’t mainstream, Jalen Green and Cade Cunningham have a rivalry, which stems from their high school career. Unlike Bird and Johnson, the two are the furthest thing from close friends.
In the grand scheme, those two examples don’t live up to the countless rivalries the NBA used to be home to. All it takes is a couple of players to bring a certain level of intensity to the game for rivalries to brew. Hopefully, the tides begin to change soon.
