by Kaiden Middleton 

The dominant stretch of the NBA is coming to end. 

Lebron James, the face of NBA for over 15 years, is the all-time leading scorer with 42,947 points; 11,826 assists (which is fourth all time), and 11,930 rebounds (which is 24th all time), but his career is coming to an end because he is in Year 23 of his career. 

Stephen Curry enters year 17 in the NBA known as the greatest shooter of all time – 4,233 points, which is ranked number one, as he has shot over 40% from three-point range in his career. Curry is also a four-time NBA champion and a one-time NBA finals MVP. In 2014-15  Curry was the first and only unanimous  MVP. 

Kevin Durant enters his 19th year in the NBA and is known as one of the greatest scorers to play the game. Durant is a two-time NBA champion and a two-time NBA finals MVP. He has scored 31,862 points, which ranks at sixth-place all-time in scoring. 

Russell Westbrook is in his 18th year in the NBA. Known as the king of the triple-double, Westbrook was the NBA MVP in 2016-17.  

With these players’ careers coming to an end, NBA viewership has decreased over 50% The game has changed — it used to have fewer 3-point attempts. Now teams are taking almost 40% of 3s and it is not as enjoyable for the because every game is a high scoring shootout.   

The All Star game for the NBA is dying as well. The game used to feature some of the best players in the NBA all coming together on two teams. The players would leave it all on the line, but it does not have that same feeling anymore because the players don’t seem to care as much as they have in the past.  

The NBA is still in good shape with many rising stars in the league, including Cooper Flagg, Victor Wembanyama, and Anthony Edwards. In addition, the incoming draft class is reported to be one of greatest draft classes since 2003 when Lebron James,D Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony came into the league.