Does Parity Make The NBA Better Than Dynasties?

We dig into why the 2026 NBA pace of play looks like the 1980s and what that could mean for the league’s next wave of popularity. We also question whether today’s championship parity is more fun than dynasties and which teams could spark the next great rivalry. 

• Defining pace of play as possessions per 48 minutes 
• Comparing NBA pace across decades from the 1960s to today 
• Questioning whether the league is chasing an 80s-style product 
• Laying out the no-repeat-champion run since 2019 
• Weighing modern parity against the appeal of dynasties 
• Comparing star duos of the 1980s with recent title leaders 
• Imagining a renewed Lakers vs Celtics era around Luka and Boston’s core 
• Projecting the 2030s as a Wemby era or Ant-Man era 
• Asking what makes a “better era” for fans over time 

please make sure to comment your thoughts, but also make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. 

Transcript

Cold Open And Duke Mood

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show. Get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey and as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Look, y'all know I got to come back with a double up this day because I had to go on high A this Monday. I had to. It was a somber day. It was a sombre day for Duke fans. Hence why I ain't talking about collars right now. I'm talking about the NBA. I'm worrying about the pace of play, ladies and gentlemen. And the pace of play, that's a metric that estimates the total number of possessions a team uses over 48 minutes. Okay. Now, to note, I'm going to give you the ranking in terms of the pace of play, meaning the higher the pace of play number, that means the more possessions there were. So in the 60s, they had 121.3 possessions over 48 minutes. The 70s were next with 106.1. The 80s were at 101.5. The 20s are currently at 99.2, all-encompassing, by the way. 2010s, that was 94.6. The 90s at 93.8. And the 2000s is the lowest pace of play era with 91.4. Now, this specific season, 2026, the current pace of play is 101. That's right there with the 80s. And I'm starting to question, ladies and gentlemen, is the NBA trying to replicate the 80s? I was wondering about that. Because again, the pace of play, right? It matches the 80s. So are we trying to go back to the 80s? Because again, the 80s is arguably the season, the era, the decade that sparked off the NBA's popularity. You had Larry versus Magic. You had the Lakers versus the Celtics. Those were the prominent teams in the NBA. When I say prominent, I mean championship winning teams, by the way. There were other good teams, but we only had four teams that won it during that decade. Again, my Lakers with five championships, the Celtics with three, and then the Pistons, the 76ers with one apiece. Right now, and we'll even stretch this back to 2019. This, I when I found this out, it made me wonder: is the NBA purposefully trying to go a different route, even though the pace of play is kind of similar to the 80s? Because I told you there were a bunch of repeats in the 80s with championships, right? Well, currently, dating back to 2019, we don't have a repeat champion. And I'm not just talking about back-to-back. I'm talking about the Raptors won in 2019, the Lakers won in 2020. Bubble season. I don't respect my championship for the Lakers, but you know what? It won. Like we count, like it, it, like we, we, we did won the participation war. Cool. The Bucks, 2021, the Warriors, 2022, the Nuggets, 2023, the Celtics, 2024, and the Thunder, 2025. We've never seen this long of a reign of teams not repeating as a champion. Again, I'm not just talking back to back. I'm talking about the same team that won a championship, win another championship in that decade. The longest one that we had was between 1975 and 1980 when we had the Warriors, the Celtics, the Blazers, the Bullets, the Supersonics, and the Lakers winning before we had a repeat of one of those teams winning. So this is the longest tenure in the history of the NBA of not having a repeat. So I found that very interesting. Is it tougher to repeat nowadays as opposed to back then? That's going to be a question that comes up, which I know people are going to say, oh, yeah, it's tougher to repeat nowadays. I hear you. Because you might think that the talent level is a little bit tougher. Well, to be clear, ladies and gentlemen, the prominent NBA players of the 80s, it might be a little lower than the prominent NBA players of today during these championship runs. Well, that's because teams simply haven't repeated. Like we had Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Now you could talk about other players on the Lakers too, but those were the dynamic duos. You had Larry Bird and Kevin McHale again, same thing. You had Dr. JM Moses Malone. Were there other players? Sure, but those are the dynamic duos. Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumas, again, dynamic duos. Nowadays, we got Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam. I mentioned Pascal because he was just in the finals this past season, too. And he did his thing for the Raptors of 2019. LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the bubble. I don't count that Mickey Mouse award, but hey, it happened. Giannis Ante de Kumbo and Drew Holiday. Remember, Drew Holiday was on the Celtics team that won in 24. So we got to include him respectfully. We have to. Steph Curry, Nicola Jokic, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Again, they won in 24, went there in 22. Shea Gilders Alexander, 25. You could talk about Jalen Williams. I would even question Rajon Rondo. He was part of he was the third option for us in the bubble. You could potentially add Rajon Rondo, especially because he's won with the Celtics before. Is that a prominent player? You want to take him off the list, sure. But either way, we have a decent amount of prominent players. Just because we have more teams winning. So I am curious, as an analyst and as a fan, again, the pace of play, that's the same as it was in the 80s. Are we going to get back to the 80s ways? Because again, that is the era that arguably sparked off the NBA's popularity. So can we get back to that? I think we can. And I'm curious which teams are going to do that. I think right now the Celtics and Thunder could end up replacing the war, um the Lakers, my Lakers, and the Celtics. That could be interesting. Are there other teams to throw into the mix? Because we've seen the Celtics beat Luka Donczyk when he was on the maths. Well, now Luca's on my Lakers. So could we make that into a rivalry? Hey, you're on the Lakers now, Lakers versus Celtics. Can Luca get his get back? Luca's supposed to be like Magic Johnson. Someone might say that Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown take on more of the role of Larry Bird, meaning a scorer who can defend a little bit as well, too. JB's in the MVP discussion. JT's been in the MVP discussions. Luca's been in the MVP discussions. Can we get back to the Lakers versus Celtics era? I am curious how the NBA's going to be going. And then on top of that, let's think about this. After the 80s, the 90s was purely about the Bulls, a couple of stragglers, but again, about the Bulls. So will the 2030s, which is not too, too far away, will that be the Wimby era? We'll have to see. Or could it be the Ant-Man era? Could it be someone else's era? We'll have to see, ladies and gentlemen. But the era that sparked off the NBA's popularity, it has the same pace of play as the current season right now. So will we start to see this will the popularity rise even more so because of the current pace of play mixed with today's skill level? I don't know. That's why I'll be waiting to find out. Also, will we not see another repeat team win a championship? Will we hit an eighth, an eighth team? Could the Knicks win it? Could the Rockets win it? Could the Spurs win it? Could the Wolves win it? That's possible. So we could hit that eight team. Or one of the repeats finally breaks the ceiling. Finally breaks the record. I'm curious about that. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm curious overall, which era are we going to deem as the better era? Will it in fact be the eighties? Or will it be the 2020s? Will we enjoy seeing Repeat Champions, seeing those rivalries form? Or will we enjoy more so this on any given Sunday vibe that the NBA is producing currently? Over time, I'll be wondering how this looks going forward. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to comment your thoughts, but also make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.