When David Stern was the National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner (1984-2014), he followed NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s lead in turning his league into a marketing machine for superstars like Larry Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Now, it is Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Dončić, Victor Wembanyama, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Fans pay hundreds of dollars for shoes with their stars’ names, initials, or logos on them. Corporations pay hundreds of millions of dollars to put the superstars’ names, initials, or logos on shoes they can sell for hundreds of dollars. Television networks pay billions to broadcast games. The superstars get rich, the team owners get rich, and there is some trickle down to the supporting players. Who could complain?
Purists lament the superstar system. Giving the ball to a superstar while his teammates get out of his way makes a travesty of basketball, which is fundamentally a team game, with quick passing and pick-and-rolls that are as beautiful as ballet. Yes, but basketball is also entertainment, and entertainment is fundamentally winner-take-all. The NFL and NBA know that and that’s why they aided and abetted their winner-take-all systems.
