A great player like Stephen Curry will be hard to appear again in the future!

It’s not alarmist or argumentative, I’m discussing this issue very seriously.

At present, the general view is that Curry is the top 10 great players in history. In the future, the list of the top 10 in history will be fixed and no new members will appear.

Why do I say that? It's very simple, you have to understand what greatness is first.

What is great?

Whether a player is great or not depends on whether he has harvested enough honors, especially hard-core honors such as MVP, FMVP, championship, first team, scoring king, rebounding king, etc.

Sometimes, a certain honor of a player will be criticized by everyone, such as the two championships and two FMVPs that Durant won for "submission", or the FMVP of Iguodala should be awarded to Curry.

But when we talk about Durant's historical status, we still can't avoid these two champions and f mvp. If there is another player who also has honors comparable to Durant, then you can say that these honors of Durant are not of high value, thus ranking Durant behind.

But if this player has not received more honors than Durant, such as only one championship and one FMVP, then he does not even have the qualifications to compare with Durant, and Durant has to be in the front.

Why did James' career last longer than Jordan, but why was Jordan a real goat? Because when Jordan harvested honors, he got everything he deserved. James failed many times but failed in the end.

So, why do I say that there will be no more players as great as Curry in the future? Is it not OK for Jordan to travel to this era?

Yes, Jordan can't do it when he travels through time, O'Neal can't do it, and Chamberlain can't do it.

Why am I sure of this? The reason is very simple, because they will not receive enough honors. Where does

Honor comes from?

If a star wants to gain honor, it is not enough to rely on his personal efforts and strength. Without the support of the team, no matter how good the performance is, it will be useless. After all, basketball is a collective sport.

For example: Which one is better this year, Jokic or Alexander?

Obviously, Jokic is better. But why is this year's MVP bound to be Alexander? Because the Nuggets' record is not good enough, it is much worse than the Thunder. Jokic did a good enough job, but his teammates weren't good enough.

The team has poor record and it is difficult for stars to reap the honors of hardcore.

First of all, the most core honors such as championship, MVP, and FMVP are all linked to the team's record.

After O'Neal's eastward trip, do you still remember how strong Kobe was in those two seasons? But what's the use? The MVP trophy for both seasons was given to Nash.

If you want to form a team, in addition to the MVP-level leading stars, you must also have a group of strong character players, even the second and third stars. But players with strength must also have high salaries.

Salary Trap

A team cannot collect talents without limit. The reason for all this is the NBA's unique salary system.

First, there is a limit on the total salary of a team, which is the so-called salary cap.

If a team is overcapped, it will be subject to many restrictions on signings. If you have more, you have to pay luxury tax. The more you have more, the more you pay. If the team triggers a super luxury tax, the tax amount is staggering.

So, each team is working hard to reduce the total salary downward.

If a team plays well, it must be because the players have strength; if the players have strength, they will naturally require high salaries. If the team does not have salary space and cannot meet the player's salary requirements, the player will be signed by another team.

Therefore, a champion team often begins to lose talent the summer when they win the championship. Green forced Durant away, the Lakers let Monk and Pope go, and the Nuggets lost Pope (yes, the same Pope), all of which are the same reasons.

Secondly, the NBA stipulates that the annual salary cap increase cannot exceed 10%.

This article prevented the teaming method similar to that of the Cosmic Warrior back then.

After the Warriors lost the championship in 2016, the league's salary cap rose sharply. Therefore, this super team with 73 wins in the regular season actually introduced the MVP-level Durant while retaining its core players, thus creating a super team that may be the most invincible in history. The emergence of

The appearance of cosmic courage has caused an imbalance in the league situation and made all other teams become runners of the championship.

It was from that season that the NBA issued this rule. Since the 10% increase in salary cap is often consumed by the players' natural salary increase, no team will be able to use this space to recruit powerful stars.

Furthermore, the super maximum salary system makes strong teams feel at ease.

The original intention of super top salary is to help small-scale teams retain the stars they train. Only when a star stays in his parent team can he maximize his salary.

But this article also had a strong impact on the strong team.

In the past, the maximum salary accounted for 25-30% of the team's total salary. Even if a team has two maximum-paid players, the total amount is only 60% of the salary cap. In addition, the salary cap is rising every year, and the team still has the ability to recruit a large number of high-quality role players.

and super top salary accounts for 35% of the salary cap. Although it seems to have only increased by 5%, it is very harmful to the team's salary structure..

Two maximum-paid players account for 70% of the total salary, and the team can only use the remaining 30% to recruit another 13 players. So how can the quality of role players be high?

So, the super top salary is a cup of poison. If the team does not drink, the star will run away; if the team continues to drink, the team will not be able to strengthen and fall into a long-term dilemma.

If the super top-paid player is injured or his condition declines, the team will be even worse. This is the case with 76 people this year.

Take turns to be the banker

Under this salary system, super teams can no longer appear.

The emperor took turns to do it and came to my house this year. Since the two consecutive championships of Yunyun, there has been no consecutive championships until today. Every team is happy and dies.

The Raptors were in 2019, and Leonard ran away in a blink of an eye;

The Lakers were in 2020, and then Pope, Monk, and Caruso were lost because they could not afford their wages;

The Bucks were in 2021, and although they retained their main force, they were difficult to sign;

The Warriors were in 2022, and the salary pressure was great at that time;

The Nuggets were in 2023, and Pope was lost;

The Celtics in 2024.

After the Celtics won the championship last year, they did not disintegrate immediately. This year, the Celtics are still a top three team in the league, and there is a lot of hope of winning the championship. The Celtic management did a good job and was very smart.

However, no matter what happens in the next summer, even if the title is successful, the team will have to disband. Because if they don't make any changes, their salary plus luxury tax will exceed $500 million next season. Double Tanhua is likely to send one person away (apparently it will be Brown). Under the pressure of super top salary and super luxury tax, strong teams often fall quickly.

This year's Lakers, Nuggets, Bucks, Clippers, and Sixers have performed poorly. At the same time, young teams that are taking advantage of rookie contracts, such as the Thunder, Cavaliers, Rockets, Grizzlies, etc., have emerged.

This year and next year, the Thunder and the Cavaliers will be the biggest favorites to win the championship.

But we also need to see that these teams that rely on rookies will soon hit the salary ceiling.

For example, the hottest Thunder team this year, its winning window is probably this year and next year.

By 2027, the team's No. 2 and No. 3 characters Jaylen Williams and Chet Homegren, their rookie contracts will expire. With the strength of these two people, even if they are not the maximum salary, they will have to be the maximum salary, and the Thunder's salary chart will expand rapidly.

If the Thunder forcefully retains these three cores, then high-quality role players such as Dolte and Caruso must make choices. The same goes for the Rockets, Jaylen Green and Shin Kyung's big contracts will be executed from next season.

Cavaliers are the same. Mobley signed a big contract with the team, which will be executed from the next season.

These young teams will quickly hit the salary ceiling.

No more superstars

, my friend?

This salary system leaves a very short window for each strong team to win the championship. After that, they will quickly fall into salary trouble and disintegrate. This is the fundamental reason why there are no more consecutive championships in the past few years.

Back to the personal honor of the star: if you cannot form a long-term strong championship team, then the core stars of the team will not be able to reap the honors steadily. After missing the window to win the championship, they can only waste their time in vain.

A few years ago, Antetokounmpo won two consecutive MVPs and won one championship. People exclaimed: Antetokounmpo is so amazing. He will definitely surpass Duncan and Malone and become the greatest power forward in history! What about the result of

? Today's Antetokounmpo is still vigorous, but the Bucks are getting further and further away from the championship. Antetokounmpo's great honor is still about two MVPs and one championship. With this honor, would you like to surpass Duncan? Dream! After Antetokounmpo, Jokic, who rose up, is even more powerful. He has won three MVPs and won one championship. He achieved a triple-double per game this year, and his personal performance even surpassed the peak James.

But what's the use? Due to the team's record, this year's MVP battle will be lost to Alexander, and the hope for the championship is also slim. With such a good performance, he is likely to not be able to get any honors.

At the same time, the Nuggets' prospects are not optimistic either. The team has just fired the head coach and general manager, and there will be major changes this offseason.

cannot form a super team, and naturally it cannot form a historical superstar. Many years later, we will find that the honors of stars like Curry and James have accumulated to an insurmountable level.

Since Curry is considered to be the top ten goalkeeper in history, the list of the top ten will not change again in the future. Curry was the ceiling of the stars later.

Unless, the salary system will be changed back in the future.

But this is impossible. In my opinion, the current salary system is actually quite reasonable.