2023 closes with a new NBA champion, the Denver Nuggets, with Joel Embiid getting his first MVP and with the debut of the In-Season Tournament. With many faces changing franchises, with Pau Gasol being honored by the Lakers and the Basketball Hall of Fame and with LeBron James making history, first in February and more recently in December. Because 2023 has given us a lot of NBA and These are the 10 moments that define the year in the best league in the world.
LeBron James becomes the leading scorer in NBA history
The early morning of February 7 to 8 will remain a mark in history of basketball like the day there was a change at the top of the scoring. LeBron James, that night, overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time leading scorer in the duel against the Oklahoma City Thunder. A game that the Lakers lost, but that will remain in the memory as the night where almost 34 years of dominance by KAJ were broken. Since then, James has continued to increase the distance with the second, comfortably exceeding 39,000 points before closing the year 2023.
Pau Gasol sees his retired jersey in the Lakers pavilion
No one else in the Los Angeles franchise will wear the number #16 with which Pau Gasol became two-time NBA champion.. It was an express request from his friend, the deceased. Kobe Bryant, and this past March 8 it became official. At halftime of the game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the franchise where Pau began his NBA career, accompanied by his entire family, teammates on the Spanish team or those with whom he shared a locker room on the Lakers. His name joins that of the greatest, along with Shaq, Chamberlain, Kareem or el propio Kobe Bryant. And she was his widow, Vanessa Bryant, in charge of presenting the ceremony.
Joel Embiid is finally named MVP
After two years in a row being a finalist, Joel Embiid finally managed to win the award for best player of the regular season. The Cameroonian led the Sixers to the third best record in the league, was the top scorer for the second consecutive year and averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per night. He was All Star, All NBA and took 73 votes out of the 100 available as MVP, getting almost 250 points more than Nikola Jokic in the final classification. It was a summary of international dominance, with six of the top eight being non-American players.
Nikola Jokić champion and MVP of the NBA Finals
Without the MVP of the regular season, Jokic had to settle for taking the championship ring and being consecrated as the MVP of the finals. Along the way he took Minnesota, the Suns Devin Booker y Kevin Durant, and swept the Lakers 4-0 in the Western finals. For the final plate, a 4-1 against Miami and the best player of the series award for the Serbian, who reinforced his candidacy as the best player on the planet. In the finals he averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists and closed the playoffs half an assist short of a triple-double. This is how June began.
Ja Morant, banned for 25 games for showing a gun on Instagram
On May 13, in the middle of the NBA playoffs, Ja Morant showed a firearm in an Instagram live. It was the second time in months that the Grizzlies point guard did the same, having already missed eight games due to the first suspension. This time the sanction was much harsher: 25 games at the beginning of next season, as announced by the league on June 16. It has been a difficult year for Andbut those 25 duels have already passed, and Morant has already returned after the suspension: for now, with him on the court, the Grizzlies are 4-1.
Pau Gasol, first Spanish player to enter the Hall of Fame
Double award for Gasol during 2023. After the jersey was retired, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced the entry of the Catalan player, the first Spaniard to achieve that honor. The ceremony, held on August 13 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Pau shared a class with Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade y Dirk Nowitzki, rivals and teammates during his NBA career. In his speech, he reviewed his career from Sant Boi until his retirement from Barça, remembering teammates, coaches and friends along the way. Although he may not be alone for long: this year they could enter Navarro, Garbajosa or Amaya Valdemoro.
Damian Lillard closes the season of transferred stars
Less than a month before the start of the 2023/24 season, Damian Lillard was packing his bags. From Portland he headed to Milwaukee, a transfer that shook up the entire NBA and changed the list of favorites. But he was not the only star moved during 2023: Kevin Durant left Brooklyn for Phoenixwhere it accompanies him now Bradley Beal; He also left the Nets Kyrie IrvingDallas player. Chris Paul moved to Golden State, Kristaps Porzingis to Boston and the last, James Hardenchanged Philadelphia for the Clippers where he shares a team with Russell Westbrook. And it all happened in one year.
Victor Wembanyama arrives in the NBA, the player of the future
That Wembanyama was going to be the first pick in the 2023 draft was known since the beginning of 2021. Rarely has a teenager caused such a sensation before stepping into the NBA. But seeing him play in France was not the same as doing it in the NBA. And his debut came on October 25, against Luka Dončić. He scored 15 points, although in just over two months he has left exhibitions, super-class details and the enthusiasm in San Antonio is still intact. The Wemby era has just begun in the NBA. And his duels with Chet Holmgren will be generational.
The Lakers, champions of the first In-Season Tournament
One of the biggest novelties of 2023 has been the arrival of the new In-Season Tournament, the NBA Cup. It was held between November and December, with the final four in Las Vegas. And the Lakers were proclaimed champions, with LeBron James being the first MVP. It was used to watch direct elimination matches, to create excitement for the first month of the season and for the world to discover Tyrese Haliburton. And he is here to stay, because the NBA has already confirmed that in 2024 there will also be IST. We just need to know who will take over from the Lakers as champion of the new Cup.
Draymond Green, from sanction to sanction and to therapy for a punch
December was also the month where Draymond Green temporarily left basketball. The NBA suspended the Warriors player indefinitely after punching Jusuf Nurkic during the duel against Phoenix. It was just a month after trying choking Rudy Gobert, an action that forced him to miss another five suspension games. For now, since December 14, he has not played again and will need to meet certain league requirements in order to return. The Warriors, out of the playoff, need him, although the priority remains for the player to recover from the problems that have made him act like this.
Sports journalist covering the NBA from Toronto. Leaving from Barcelona, he has lived in Boston, Sydney and Bogotá before staying in Canada to bring the best basketball league on the planet. All NBA, a little basketball, because he grew up with Tracy McGrady and Pau Gasol, but also with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Arvydas Macijauskas. He studied journalism in Barcelona, where he worked for various media and radio stations, and currently also collaborates with Gigantes del Basket and NBA Spain. He was in the NBA Finals where Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo got their first ring. If you don’t see him here, he’s probably on Twitter. …
2023-12-31 17:33:31
#LeBron #Pau #Gasol #Morant #Nikola #Jokić #Relevo
