New NBA Era: Emerging Faces in the 2025 Conference Finals

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00:00Let's talk about the National Basketball Association. I mean, we are kind of getting

00:04to the point here where we're seeing a lot of new faces in the NBA's Eastern Conference and

00:09Western Conference Finals, and we're going to have a new champion this year. You know,

00:13LeBron James was sort of used to seeing him and, you know, calling him the face of the NBA. And

00:18certainly for more than two decades, he definitely has been that player. What do you think is next

00:22for the league? Honestly, it's an exciting time. And we've talked about this so much on

00:26front office sports today because people don't realize 11 of the last 16 NBA Finals had LeBron

00:32James, Steph Curry, or both of them in it. And so to see that stat that came out earlier this week,

00:37that this is the first time a Western Conference champion is not going to be coming out of

00:42California or Dallas, excuse me, Texas, more importantly, since 1996 is earth shattering.

00:47But it also is a testament to the new faces. I mean, it's MVP, Shea Gildress Alexander,

00:52it's Anthony Edwards, it's Tyrese Halliburton, Jalen Brunson, new names. And I think it's

00:56allowed the league to really show that there's a new era. It's the passing of the baton,

01:02no dynasties or in that regard of favorites, but it's really wide open, even when you look at this

01:07final four grouping. Yeah, it really is. And by the way, Renee, the other thing before we move on,

01:12you know, off the NBA is that, you know, for me, it would be doing a disservice to not even,

01:16you know, mention the international players. I mean, to me, still the best player in the NBA plays on

01:20the Denver Nuggets in Nikola Jokic. I know, you know, here in the States, you know, we

01:26taught to gravitate toward our own here, but you know, him and Luka Doncic and so many other players

01:30around the league, you know, certainly could emerge as the top player, whether or not LeBron's

01:34in it or not. Yeah. And this is the seventh straight season. We've seen that the MVP has

01:40been an international player. It's been Nikola Jokic, as you mentioned, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

01:44It's been, of course, SGA getting his first ever, but I think that also is why the league

01:48saw dramatic growth this season, even though people were a little bit skeptical in the

01:52beginning of the regular season, the post-season rounds, a 3% increase is a big part of the

01:57global presence, the expansion in terms of favorites and fans in that regard, and just

02:02allowing more markets and more pockets of the world to be tapped in versus always being

02:06the same teams, the same markets and fan bases.