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Steph Curry is a shooting guard and shouldn’t be compared to the likes of Magic or Stockton or Paul

Jayson Tatum has like an >50% chance of retiring as the #2 all time Playoff scorer

Unlike other sports, NBA fanbase will die if “top xxx discussion” is banned.

If Dennis Schroeder had signed with the Lakers he would be worth that money due to his fit alongside Bron and AD. He’s been a better selection than just about every lakers guard of the Bron-AD era other than Caruso, KCP and Reaves

Kobe Bryant is not a top 10 player of all-time

Everyone is on steroids

I believe Brandon Ingram can still be a marquee player in this league and high end all-star, Pelicans have just had a lot of weird that has limited everyones consistency.

How deep you make it in the playoffs is irrelevant to a players legacy unless he win a chip.

Are these really unpopular opinions?

Russ rebounding wasn’t stat padding he was being a transition player because that’s his game.

Embiid is way more talented than Giannis. If Embiid had Jokic’s mindset of staying even, Embiid would be the best player in the world. But he rides the waves too much

Dillon Brooks is an elite role player

Tyrese Haliburton is much better than Trae Young

JJJ would not be the dpoy if he wasn’t playing next to Steven Adams last year.

Also cam Thomas is currently better than Jalen green

I don't have to like someone just because they play for the team i root for. (Dillion Brooks and Pat Beverley) Crappy behavior is still crappy.

Curry’s legacy as a #1 option is overrated

I've got a few I'll roll off the brain:

1. Kyrie Irvings shot in game 7 of the 2016 NBA finals was more clutch than Ray Allen's 2013 gane 6 shot. Ray's is incredibly clutch, don't get me wrong, but his shot didn't win the Heat the game. Granted they would've lost the game had he missed but Kyries 3 (along with a couple defensive stops) literally won a finals series.

2. Darvin Ham is a decent coach when considering everything he offers and lakers fans are extremely unfair wanting him fired. There have been a few cases where coaches with good records get fired either during the offseason or even midseason but Ham does a great job of getting his squad to play and to play hard for him which makes up for some questionable rotations, timeouts and play calls. He can get better at those hopefully with time. You don't just go firing a coach when you started 2-10 and ended up making the damn wcf.

The Jazz-Wolves Rudy trade wasn't bad for the Wolves. They are going after a championship and the only way is through Jokic as it likely will be for the next few years. Gobert gives you a better shot to defend the nuggets than nearly any other player even if he's not the best against other teams.

LeBron James adjusted to rapid fame and fortune better than any athlete in history, and for that matter most famous people period.

Also the MJ-LeBron debate is annoying and has gotten toxic.

Well, let me add to the toxicity lol but my hot take for this is that MJ has no rings without Phil, while Phil has plenty more without MJ. On the flip side, no coach who has won a ring with LeBron has won one without him. Very likely MJ wins no championships if Phil doesn't come to Chicago while LeBron has done it with three different coaches and three different franchises.

Jokic has surpassed KD all-time

Lebron > Jordan it's just fact now. Rings are irrelevant. Look at the player.

Scottie Barnes will make MVP one day

Haliburton got the worst no look passes of all time

Ian Eagle is nothing special

Jayson Tatum will never win an MVP. And i say that as someone who watches every last Celtics game, have for years, and is currently lounging in my authentic (humble brag i know) JT jersey.

He just….doesn’t pass the MVP eye test. Idk how to describe it. He absolutely passes the superstar, perennial All NBA eye test but not the MVP one. Just doesn’t feel he takes control of the game often enough. I know folks will probably pull out some stat like “he has the highest percentage of game winning shots” or something like that but theres just too many times we need him to take over and he doesnt. Giannis, Luka, Jokic, Embiid….they take over constantly. JT is one of my favorite players and our best player but i think he’ll be someone who gets top 3 voting for a number of years but doesnt win it. Although he does have the American advantage after years of foreign MVPs.

there, you want an unpopular opinion you got one.

Most Celtics fans would have you believe the main reason their team has come up short in recent years are some combination of Joe Mazzulla, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and the refs. It's not. The reason is simple. The NBA is a superstar league and in this league you go as far as your best player can take you. Jayson Tatum has absolutely not been consistently good enough to be the best player on a championship team and it is the #1 reason the Celtics disappoint every year in the playoffs. If he were then this team would've won the 2022 Finals (where he played like absolute dogshit) and they would've at least made the Finals last year. But Tatum has as many dominant games as he has ice-cold games where he just looks like an unserious playoff scorer. His team is never going to win a title until he cuts those crappy performances out. Their are other parts of the team/org that can be criticized but none of them are nearly as big of an issue as their best player losing his shot in big playoff games.

Longevity is massively overvalued in NBA discourse.

Its cool that players who played 18-20 years managed to stay healthy and relevant for that long. But to evaluate greatness or compare players careers, it should only be a minor factor, if one at all. Playing for 20 years where you were a great player for 10 years and good or above average for the other 10 shouldn't elevate you over someone who played 10 years and was great for all ten.

Similarly, cumulative stats are also mega over valued in NBA discourse.

Trading Haliburton for Sabonis was a horrific mistake. Haliburton is a much better player and his ceiling is so much higher. They should have tried much harder to make it work with Fox and Haliburton instead of taking 60 cents on the dollar for a "better fit."

Here’s one: not every bad #1 option would be a good #3-4 option.

Ja Morant has elite BBIQ and is a top 5 point guard in the NBA when playing

Wemby will be a below average perimeter scorer for his career and eventually will become mainly a PnR/PnP and put back guy. Comparing him to guys like KD and KP is just ridiculous.

Disregard my flair for the following point-

2021 is the best finals of the past 10 years, and is significantly better than 2016. 2016 had 1 good game (albeit one of the greatest games ever played), and really the only significant highlights of the entire series come from the last 5 minutes of that game. It was marred by Draymond’s suspension and filled with blowouts.

On the other hand, 2021 closed with 3 great games in a row, 2 of which had plays top 3 finals moments of the past 10 years (obviously the Lebron block is #1). It also had a 2-0 comeback, Giannis overcoming injury, amazing battles with Booker, some great Jrue/Khris performances, and overall a really fun and intense series. If instead of Phoenix vs Milwaukee that was LA vs Miami you’d never hear the end of it

Brooks is dumb, but fun, and generally a positive player for any team.

“Walking the dog” is dumb and the NBA should add a rule to start the clock when the ball touches the ground

The best thing the league could do for its long term health is contract. I know they’ll never do that. So the second best thing is to move teams out of the smaller markets and into bigger ones.

I think the NBA has four(?) teams in markets smaller than anything the MLB has.

Well the actual best thing is to force shitty owners to sell but they’d never really do that.

I think Anthony Davis is overrated, he’s awesome but seeing people put him in their top 10 players in crazy to me. Hes an awesome defender, but he’s wildly inconsistent offensively and has games where he just disappears.

He has also shown time and time again he isn’t a number 1 option if you want to be competitive. We saw that in New Orleans, and he has a 23-28 record in LA in games where LeBron isn’t playing.

Not to mention he never plays. He’s only played 30ish more games than Kawhi over the last 4 seasons, and Kawhi missed a full year with a torn ACL in that timeframe. Yet I see people rank players, and Kawhi ends up really low because “he misses too much time” while I see AD as a top 10-12 player.

Is he great? Yes. But seeing people treat him as a top 10 player is crazy.

Jokic should’ve been more severely reprimanded for pushing Morris

The NBA should eliminate the corner 3. Just let the arc run out of bounds on the sidelines without that unnatural bend to for form the “legs”.

It would force some offensive innovation since corner 3 specialists would lose 1/3 of their value.

Go ahead and add a four point line to compensate for the loss.

The Indiana Pacers don't have a good offense. They just run and don't play defense

KAT is the most unreservedly hated on player in the league.

He gets one of the worst whistles in the league for a star. Part of that is his complaining, which is annoying. But part of it is that he is either unwilling to, or incapable of flopping.

Meanwhile, certain players who flop constantly are glazed by r/nba as dawgs. When you really think about it, why do people act like complaining is worse than flopping?

People will also watch like one KAT game and act like he's not a star if he doesn't play well. When Ant has an off game, no one says the same shit. Some even say he's a role player, which is fucking stupid.

He's one of the best shooting bigs of all time. He's a match-up nightmare for a lot of players. And he's a dynamic scorer. This season he's played elite defense too. It's about time he got his respect.

I don’t. Thanks though!

Unpopular but hard truth: The Blazers are winning it all this year and DominAyton is going to win his first MVP and FMVP. I know that you Nugget, Celtics etc fans don't want to hear it, but your time is over. A new power is rising!

Pull up 3s and step back threes are still low percentage shots and should only be shot late in the shot clock or by elite players. Inside out catch and shoot threes should be the focus

The NBA has the worst coverage and the worst fans of any professional sport. When I talk to a fellow MLB or NHL fan, they pretty much always are first and foremost interested in the sport itself. They are interested in baseball and hockey. That is not the case with most NBA fans. Most NBA fans are fans of celebrity drama, who these players are dating / what they do with their personal lives, and maybe highlight-reel plays. But the average NBA fan has little appreciation of the game of basketball and probably can't even dribble a ball.

It's something I hate because I love this game but the discourse around this league is just terrible. When I watch MLB or bring it up with others, people talk about the nuances of the game of baseball itself. But most NBA talking heads and fans don't give a shit about basketball or have a clue how the sport actually works, and they just want to talk about Lebron's Instagram posts or Kyrie's third eye or some shit that has absolutely nothing to do with why I like NBA in the first place.

The vast majority of city jerseys are corny and terrible.

LeBron "never getting into trouble" is an overblown circlejerk when guys like Curry, KD, Giannis etc. have been 90% as famous (all in the social media era, with Giannis and KD also coming from nothing) for 10+ years without anything damning about them surfacing either

Prime Dame>Prime Westbrook

If you hate Dillion brooks you must be gullible or no fun.

He’s playing an act and trying to make things more fun and competitive lol. Hating him is playing into it and you’re gullible as a 12 year old kid believing in WWE.

Harden's offensive prowess is overrated, and he'll be exposed playing against better competition this season.

• His lazy defense gives up easy looks + offensive boards, and has 0 effort in transition, offsetting a lot of his production on the other end
• He's useless off-ball, players guarding him can just stand and rest
• His scoring has relied heavily on his ability to draw fouls, which isn't a reality anymore