Blake Griffin vs. LeBron James: Who is More Important To the NBA's Future?
Blake Griffin or LeBron James? Who matters more?
The NBA is in really bad shape. In the first four years of the collective bargaining agreement, the NBA has lost at least $200 million each season. With bloated NBA contracts and lack of general interest from the fans, the NBA is finding itself in a bind that must be fixed by a new CBA.
The NBA is also looking to count on its superstars to help bring the league back to financial health the same way that Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson did in the 1980s and 1990s. It's going to take not just an extraordinary talent but a player that has mass appeal and supreme marketability.
So, if the NBA had to pick one superstar that will be more important to the future of a league in trouble, who would it be: LeBron James or Blake Griffin?
The answer is not as simple as you think.
10. Blake Is Younger
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This isn't an arbitrary point. Blake will be 22 this year while LeBron will turn 27.
That makes a difference when you are thinking about the future of your brand. LeBron(if Kobe is any indication at all) has another five seasons left of peak performance. Blake, on the other hand, has around 10 or 11 peak years left.
To put it in perspective, when LeBron is 33, and Blake is 27, would you still want LeBron?
9. LeBron is Better
2 of 11Yes, Blake Griffin is younger, but he's not even on the same level of ball player that LeBron is.
Over time, it's most important that a player be good to be important for his league. The most exciting player in the league only counts for so much.
Look at the NFL. Devin Hester may be the “most exciting” player in the league, but Tom Brady and Peyton Manning get the big ratings, because over the long haul, they are the better players. So, Blake might be a human highlight film, but Lebron has done more with his talent, and that counts.
8. Blake Plays in the Bigger Market
3 of 11In the NBA, ratings matter.
The NFL is successful because of the massive tv contracts it has. The NBA has to have big television deals in order to be financially viable. Blake Griffin plays in the second biggest television market in the country.
LeBron plays in the 16th.
Blake Griffin is a huge draw in nationally televised games. Take February 8th, 2011. The lowly Los Angeles Clippers (with 19 wins) outdrew the highly publicized Heat in ratings.
Here's another thing to consider. The buzz in L.A is huge right now for a guy who plays on a team that has been forgotten for the past 30 years. Miami would be visible without LeBron (thanks to Wade), but the Clippers would be invisible without Blake.
7. LeBron Is the Face of the NBA Right Now
4 of 11I don't think David Stern thought that LeBron would be treated the way he has been this season, but the truth is LeBron has carried the league over the past five seasons.
He's been the most recognizable and marketable star. I think we mistake the NBA perception of him with the public perception. While his brand has taken a hit, he's still got several endorsement deals, and that matters to David Stern.
Michael Jordan wasn't just helpful to the league because of what he did on the court but because of how he sold off the court. His face was everywhere, and that kind of branding helps the product.
6. Blake's Mixed Race Is Appealing
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I have to bring this up very carefully so as not to confuse what I'm trying to say.
Blake Griffin is a mixed-race player. He's not the first, nor the only in the NBA, but he's right now the most popular and most talked about (with apologies to Deron Williams). While the NBA has sports biggest global following, their two biggest fanbases are still white and black.
So, it only helps if one of the fastest rising stars has an appeal to the two biggest NBA fanbases. The same way that it's not important that Yao Ming be Chinese, but the fact that he is appeals to a potentially huge fanbase is something the NBA likes and uses to their advantage.
Blake's mixed race does count for something.
5. Lebron Can Win
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Blake may play in L.A, but the way that team is constructed, he's a long way from winning. LeBron on the other hand, while there might be concerns about their half-court offense, is already winning with the Miami Heat. It matters that a team wins.
Great stars like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing were all marketable stars that were dwarfed by proven winners like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal. Winning gets you headlines, gets you endorsements and helps the league. Unless something changes within the Clippers, the Heat will win a championship well before L.A does.
4. Blake Has SportsCenter Appeal
7 of 11We live in an age where SportsCenter and YouTube clips dominate the way we get our basketball information. The average SportsCenter game recap is just under 30 seconds and brings in 411,000 viewers a day. This means we only see the highlights, the dunks and the breakaways.
While LeBron is no slouch on Top Plays, he's not quite the highlight machine that Blake is right now. Blake appeals to the demographic of people who the NBA is appealing to: younger to middle-aged men who spend time online and on ESPN.
The NBA needs to cater to this demographic, and Blake Griffin is that guy.
3. Lebron is Polarizing
8 of 11It's hard to be as beloved as Michael Jordan, and when you are hated like Ron Artest, people don't pay you any mind. But LeBron is something different. Call the Decision what you want, but it made LeBron polarizing. Everyone has an opinion about him, and that's not a bad thing for the NBA. Half the people want to see him succeed, but the other half want to see him fail, but everyone wants to watch him do something. That's the key.
It's like the WWE. John Cena gets half cheers and half boos when he comes out, but he's the only guy who gets a reaction from every single person in the arena. The NBA wants a star that affects every single person. That's LeBron James.
2. No One Hates Blake
9 of 11Public image certainly matters.
While Blake isn't the most charismatic superstar in an interview, and he doesn't have flashy commercials (not yet anyway), he is well thought of, whereas LeBron is not. For those who think it's a Cleveland thing, it's not. Take a listen to every arena he plays in. He recently came in sixth in a poll of sports most-hated athletes.
A villan is always good for the NBA, but it's not the person that you would run your entire league around. The goal is to bring more fans into the game, and LeBron may have made himself more well known, but he hasn't made himself more well liked, and well-liked athletes get people to watch.
1. Lebron Brings Value
10 of 11You can complain about Lebron James, but you can't deny that he brings value to the teams he goes to.
Nothing is more evident than the impact he has had on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers were worth $476 million when LeBron was there. They are now worth an estimated $360 million. That is the biggest drop off in any sport. And as soon as he joined the Miami Heat, their net worth went up 17% to $425 million.
LeBron brings value to the NBA, and it's something Blake has yet to show.
Conclusion
11 of 11While Blake is a young and exciting player, right now LeBron James is the most important player to the future of the NBA. He's got plenty more years to go, and he looks poised to win at least a title or two.
If Blake continues to develop his game and the media continues to push him, he could be more important in a few years. but right now LeBron is more important to the league and to their bottom line. Just ask Cleveland how important James was on and off the court. The NBA knows it too.
