All season long, today’s NBA stars have been fighting for respect from a national media that has found every reason to criticize them. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is trying to speak up to ensure they get the credit they deserve.
The NBA’s coverage, especially from the league’s national media partners, is fundamentally broken. There is a complete lack of ability to actually discuss the players and teams of today’s NBA without resorting to some hackneyed generational debate or wondering about who the next face of the league is going to be, or whatever goalposts can be moved to put down today’s players.
This was never truer than this week, when epic performances from Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic were washed over by waves of disses and complaints from stars of yesteryear. And in an appearance on Willard and Dibs on 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area, Steve Kerr said that today’s players are being taken for granted.
Is today’s NBA being taken for granted?
Steve Kerr believes so 👀 pic.twitter.com/VrfB4cTSzw
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) April 3, 2025
“If these type of games had happened 10 years ago, honestly, I think NBA fans would have been absolutely losing their minds,” Kerr said. “And I think what’s happened is the players have gotten so skilled and they’re doing such amazing things, and I think our game is being taken for granted right now.”
“What these guys are doing is so spectacular. I never could have survived the NBA if I were playing today. I couldn’t have survived. These guys are so talented, they’re so good, and it’s like you read these articles like yea ‘The NBA product isn’t that great.’ Are you kidding me? Are you looking at these guys? They’re just spectacular and they’ve never been more skilled and I’m just blown away by what I see night after night.”
The things that the stars are doing in this day and age, the skills they possess, the athleticism on display, is otherworldly. To highlight the absurd skills of the modern day player, Steve Kerr specifically cited an incredible shot from 40 year old LeBron James.
LEBRON 1-LEGGED FROM WAY DOWNTOWN 😲 pic.twitter.com/h47wNes5tD
— NBA (@NBA) April 1, 2025
“I’m watching their game against Houston from two nights ago to prepare. And there’s like 2 seconds on the shot clock and he shot a 35 foot runner, just non-chalantly from the left wing, just off one foot, swish. And I’m like, ‘are you kidding me?’ And we don’t even bat an eye anymore because this is just commonplace. These guys are so skilled, so talented, they’re doing it every night. And like I said, everybody’s kind of taking it for granted. It’s just incredible what’s happening,” he concluded.
Steve Kerr has been involved in the NBA for decades as a player, television analyst, and coach. If he says today’s stars don’t get the flowers they deserve, then he has all the justification to do so. If we can get Stephen A. Smith to stop talking about his personal feud with LeBron and Shaq to stop negatively comparing every player today to himself and his era, then perhaps this generation of players will finally get their due.
