Dennis Rodman's Opinion In The '90s About A 'Diluted League' Confirms JJ Redick's Statement About Michael Jordan's Era

Redick had made his take while speaking to Shaquille O'Neal on 'The Big Podcast'.

“A lot of times, we're comparing eras. I'll say this with Michael Jordan, and I don’t mean this to be controversial. During his heyday, six teams were added to the NBA. There were 90 players added to the NBA. Does that not water it down? I'm not talking playoffs by the way, no chance. But you're not telling me that the league for a little bit is going to be watered down."

Jordan entered an NBA that had just 23 teams competing, with the number increasing to 29 by the time Jordan retired in 2003. A 30th team was added after that season, but the number has held steady for the last two decades.

Rodman's quote shows that the perception of the overall competition in the league was low as new franchises were essentially adapting to the NBA on the fly. They drafted the rejects of all NBA teams and found bargains in free agency to field teams which often weren't competitive. 

The criticism toward Jordan loses it's weight when you think about the biggest accolades of his career. Jordan is revered for going 6-0 in the NBA Finals, a stage where he played the absolute best team in the West. His playoff success was against legitimately challenging opponents, not just the bottom-feeders of the NBA. 

A New Expansion Is On The Horizon

The NBA is about to finalize the league's next media rights deal, where TNT is currently expected to possibly lose the rights to the league with players such as NBC and Amazon looking to join the NBA's broadcasting/streaming family. The league has maintained for years that they would look at possibly adding two teams to the league through an expansion after the media rights deal is finalized.

With the media rights deal nearly complete, the league will likely shift its attention to an expansion. Two West Coast teams are in the driver's seat for a new franchise, with Las Vegas and Seattle in the mix.

Las Vegas already hosts the NBA Summer League and houses the reigning two-time WNBA Champions, the Las Vegas Aces. More sports teams are coming to Vegas, so it seems inevitable the NBA will bring a team to the desert, with former players like LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal looking to be owners.

Seattle saw their NBA team taken away from them in 2008 when the SuperSonics became the OKC Thunder. With a state-of-the-art arena and a passionate fanbase, the NBA has to consider giving the city its franchise back. Former Sonics draft pick Kevin Durant wants to be the owner of a new Seattle franchise.

More cities will be evaluated, with a possible expansion into Mexico City on the cards as well. It'll be fascinating to see the NBA go through such a significant change once again, but hopefully, it maintains the recent competitive fervor we're seeing in the league.