In the 2000-01 season, the average NBA team attempted 13.7 3-pointers per game. In the 2024-25 campaign, that figure jumped to 37.6. No center averaged even four assists 25 years ago. Nikola Jokić just reached double digits. Hand-checking was allowed and zone defense was not. That has since flipped. Only one international player won an MVP award in the 20th century. We’re now in the middle of a seven-year streak of only having international MVPs. We have an In-Season Tournament. We have a Play-In Tournament. That’s two more tournaments than we had at the turn of the century.
All of this is to say, basketball is an ever-evolving sport. The sport we had 25 years ago is very different than the one we have now. And that is inevitably going to be true moving forward. The NBA in 2050 won’t necessarily look all that much like the NBA in 2025. The sport is going to change. The way we talk about it is going to change.
So, as we put a bow on our run of Quarter Century content, we’re going to try to figure out what sort of changes are coming. Below, the CBS Sports NBA staff each made one bold prediction about the NBA in 2050.
Ranking NBA’s 25 best trades of 21st century: Pau, SGA, Luka among title-winning and franchise-changing deals
Robby Kalland
Victor Wembanyama will be considered the greatest player in NBA history
We’ve never had a player with Victor Wembanyama’s combination of physical traits and developed skills. How many 7-foot-3 centers have ever been able to put the ball on the deck on offense and switch onto the perimeter defensively? Or block five shots and make five 3s in a single game? Michael Jordan and LeBron James towered over their eras figuratively….
..
