NBA journeyman Austin Rivers recently spoke on the state of the league, calling attention to an issue that's been going on for years. Rivers voiced his thoughts on the missing “face of the league” following LeBron James' eventual retirement. While James may have years left in the tank, it seems the NBA is still counting on the Los Angeles Lakers superstar to be the face of the league. Rivers is worried about where the NBA will turn since James is soon to be 39 years old.
“We're still relying on LeBron to be the face of the league. We don't have anybody else… Jokic doesn't want it and he doesn't have the game for it, in terms of style and flash, and just overall fanfare,” said Rivers, via Off Guard on X.
Rivers talked about the league and fans potentially being spoiled with all of the talent they've seen in the past few decades. He tries to envelop the point that while there are All-NBA players and consistent stars in the league, there isn't anyone who can change the game or carry a legacy the same way James or Kobe Bryant did with Michael Jordan.
“There's things that like LeBron, Mike, and Kobe could do just from an aspect of an awe standpoint, the dunking, the moves, the quickness, the whole body of work, we don't have that. We have good players; Jayson Tatum is really good, Luka is really good, Devin Booker is really good. Do we have a face of the NBA type, generational talent, like someone who's going to come in and change the game of the NBA, no we don't have that.”
The issue with Rivers' take is that this can't happen overnight. A player is most likely going to have to win multiple rings to cement their name in legend status and possibly be the face of the NBA. The talent is there, but right now the results don't show for the young stars in the league.
“It can't be Steph and LeBron still winning rings and competing for championships. These guys are 37, 36 years old, somebody else got to come to the plate… That's the aspect of the NBA for us to sustain and grow,” said Rivers.
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