Answering 5 Burning Questions Before the NBA Season Tips: the Complex Sports 2021-22 Media Survey

There are a ton of questions that need to be answered as the NBA season officially tips Tuesday. So we asked a few of our friends who cover, observe, and comment on the Association to offer up their expertise.

We came up with the idea of sending an elementary survey to find out a few things like 1. Who our friends around the Association really are? And 2. What do the people we really respect actually think about a few debate-y issues?

Here’s how it worked: We sent this brief—and I can’t emphasize brief enough—five-question survey to roughly a couple dozen of our friends around the NBA media landscape at the beginning of October. That means this was way before the Kyrie Irving situation took a turn for the truly toxic and wrestled the biggest training camp/preseason headlines away from Ben Simmons. So forgive us for not including anything Irving related. We’re pretty sure you’ll survive.

Polling men and women from ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo Sports!, The Athletic, Turner, Sports Illustrated, and few independent operators you probably follow on Twitter dot com, we asked each to answer four questions—and granted them anonymity so as not to ruin any potential preview content they had to pump out for their outlet. For the final question, which is a bit of an obtuse one, we asked them to elaborate and provide a reason why they chose who they chose. You’ll read answers from a number of the participants who justified their selection.

That’s it. Nothing deep, nothing crazy, probably way more elementary than we’d ideally like, but at least give us some credit for trying something new before the 2021-22 NBA season. Know that not every single one of the power players we reached out to and asked to fill out the survey complied. We forgive them since they were probably busy breaking a scoop or two or writing some fantastic preview stories. Hopefully we’ll get them on board next season and maybe we’ll trick it out for the 2022-23 season, upgrading our elementary survey to something slightly more sophisticated. But for now, here’s what we netted:

Fifty-eight percent of the respondents believed Simmons would be shipped out of Philadelphia before the regular-season tips Tuesday night.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

The Sixers actually open their season Wednesday in New Orleans, but regardless, we laid out some of the potential suitors to keep an eye on should the 76ers finally decide the time is right, and an offer’s enticing enough, to get rid of the three time All-Star and two-time All-Defensive player. With Simmons reporting to the 76ers and practicing with the team, it seems like he will at some point suit up for Philly even though he reportedly vowed he’d never do that again during the offseason.

Self-explanatory. What team will win more, or end up having a deeper playoff run, than most people are predicting right now?

Two teams accounted for 33 percent of the answers: Golden State and Charlotte.

The Hornets made the Play-In Tournament last season and flirted with crashing the playoffs. They are a logical choice to surprise in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Warriors similarly flirted with the playoffs last season, making the Play-In Tournament. But Steph Curry could only carry so much of the offensive burden and with Klay Thompson’s return expected in the coming months, many observers believe Golden State could soon resemble the 2015 or 2016 version that went to back-to-back NBA Finals and won a title (before Kevin Durant arrived and made them practically unbeatable and made him the NBA’s No. 1 villian for a few seasons).

The Hornets’ season win total is 38.5. The Warriors’ season win total is 48.5. Golden State’s odds to make the playoffs are -600. Charlotte’s odds to make the playoffs are +175. The Hornets are +105 to make the Play-In Tournament.

Also receiving votes: Blazers, Bulls, Wizards, Pacers, and Lakers.

Everyone has a favorite squad they love to check out on the NBA’s streaming service. Generally speaking, we’re talking about a team you’re not going to see a ton of on national TV. For instance, Zion Williamson and the Pelicans were everyone’s pick two seasons ago as their League Pass squad when he debuted in New Orleans alongside Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday. You’re not necessarily tuning in because the basketball’s guaranteed to be stellar, but at the very least it’s probably going to be entertaining. Or you’re tuning in to see a transcendent player do crazy things on the regular.

The answers we received were varied and there was nothing close to a consensus. The most responses, with 16 percent, went to the young Hornets, led by last season’s Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball. Not a big surprise there.

We received votes for the Nets, Lakers, and Warriors but those squads will have a combined 140 national TV games. In our book, they don’t count. In fact, over half of the Lakers’ games (42) will be shown on either ABC, ESPN, or TNT. The Warriors will be on one of those three networks 41 times while the Nets will make 37 appearances on national TV.

Surprisingly, the Hawks weren’t a more popular pick despite making a surprise run to the Eastern Conference finals last season featuring one of the brightest, and boldest, young stars in the game, Trae Young. Other teams to receive votes: Heat, Grizzlies, Bulls, Rockets, and—we have no idea why because they’re going to be putrid—Magic

The purple and gold are overwhelming favorites to win the Western Conference after completely revamping the roster. We all understands why. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook make for the NBA’s most celebrated and intimidating big three since Kyrie Irving has decided he’d rather do his own thing than get vaccinated and play basketball with Kevin Durant and James Harden.

So that means everyone else is scrambling for second-class status in the West.

Forty-one percent of respondents chose the Suns, the defending Western Conference champs, as the second-best team in the West. The Jazz and Warriors tied with 25 percent of the vote as second-best in the West. The Mavericks, led by Luka Doncic, received one vote. There was no support for the Clippers—sans Kawhi Leonard—Nuggets—who should be without Jamal Murray for a large chunk of the season—or Blazers.

As I said up top, this is a bit of an obtuse question, but one we were curious to have answered. We gave respondents four choices: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, or Giannis Antetokounmpo. We wanted them to pick out the one player—like Michael Jordan back in the day or Kobe Bryant after him—that people picture/associate with the league before everyone else if they were asked to think about the NBA.

James has been the answer to this off-beat question since Bryant retired in 2016, and you could easily argue James was dating back to “The Decision” and his four Finals appearances with Miami. Not to mention Nike’s marketing campaign around him.

After Antetokounmpo carried the Bucks to their first Finals victory in 50 years, maybe there was a changing of the guard? Antetokounmpo has an international profile being that he’s from Greece and is a Nike athlete. Curry’s in so many commercials—how many Subway ads did he film this summer?—he’s starting to put Shaq to shame. Durant, meanwhile, is the widely considered the game’s best player so maybe he’s the Face of the NBA?

Maybe we were stupid for posing this question because 91 percent of respondents chose James. Antetokounmpo was the only other name who received a vote. We asked each of our survey respondents to explain their answer. Here’s what some had to say:

“Until he isn’t, he is. LeBron is the greatest of our generation and a global superstar that transcends the game of basketball.” — Kristen Ledlow, NBATV

“LeBron is in the discussion for GOAT. He has more MVPs (and Finals MVPs) than any active player. As great as these other stars are, none move the needle (ratings, clicks, debates, etc.) the way LeBron does. He’s been the undisputed face of the NBA for more than a decade. That’s a status you don’t relinquish until you retire.” — Howard Beck, Sports Illustrated

“LeBron is the best and winningest player of this era. He’ll be the face of the league until he’s no longer a top 5 player on a championship contending team. Although, if Giannis dominates and leads the Bucks to a second straight title, he’ll become the face of the league.” — Chris Broussard, Fox Sports

“He’s been the face of the sport for more than a decade, and he will remain the face of it until he retires—and probably beyond. As we’ve seen with Michael Jordan, the shadows cast by all-time great players in the NBA are long ones, and that will certainly be the case with LeBron.” — Tim Bontemps, ESPN

“LeBron is still the King. As long as he is in the NBA he will be the face of the league. The league is healthy with superstars and exciting young stars, but LeBron will always steal the headlines and has the most power in the NBA.” — Joy Taylor, Fox Sports

“LeBron is still the face of the NBA because the Lakers are the face of the NBA. Year 19 and still regarded in the Top 3-5 of multiple positions is one of the more absurd things we’ve seen in NBa history.” — Josiah Johnson, tweeter extraordinaire

“LeBron James has been the face of the NBA for over a decade. Steph Curry came the closest to dethroning him during his supernova run from 2015 to 2018, but I think Curry teaming up Kevin Durant, as well as the Warriors’ sudden decline, prevented him from every truly passing James. Similarly, Durant has been famously docked for joining a historic championship in Golden State and has seemingly distanced himself from “Face of the NBA” with his anti-media stance. Giannis Antetokounmpo finally broke through and won a championship, but he needs to win at least one more to begin challenging James’ standing. Curry, Durant and Antetokounmpo are worthy adversaries, and may pass (or have passed) James in terms of current on-court performance, but James is still The King of the NBA until he retires.” — Jovan Buha, The Athletic