The NBA under Adam Silver has tried various gimmicks to spice up the regular season. The NBA Cup, the 65-game minimum requirement for individual awards, and the Play-In Tournament are just a few examples of this. “Rivals Week” might be the most contrived of them all.
The NBA has 11 matchups between January 20 and 24 that they’re calling “Rivals Week.” It’s difficult to come four or five good matchups that you could consider a rivalry. The amount of player movement makes it difficult for rivalries to build up organically. Most of the matchups that we think of as rivalries are actually just players that we want to see face up. And, considering divisions are basically meaningless, there isn’t the regional animosity that builds up in baseball or football, where your divisional opponents greatly impact your playoff chances. Coming up with this many rivalry games isn’t an enviable task.
That said, you could’ve found a few better opponents for the Cleveland Cavaliers than the Charlotte Hornets.
Some of the other matchups are a little forced, but none more so than the Cavs and Hornets. The justification for this one is that it’ll be a showdown between the Ball brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo. But, I’m not sure how bankable that matchup really is. They aren’t twins or both starters like with the Thompson brothers with the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets. This seems like more of an interesting footnote and not something to build a whole event around.
There’s nothing aside from the Ball brothers that could generate any interest in this particular matchup. I’m not sure either franchise has played a truly meaningful game against the other in the 21st century.
The most memorable recent matchup came in February 2022, where the Hornets were awarded a three-point shooting foul for a shot that went up several seconds after the whistle was blown late in the fourth quarter of a close game. It was truly the worst call I’ve ever seen in an NBA game. But the drama wasn’t from the opponent, it was with the refs.
This also isn’t expected to be a good game. The Hornets won 19 games this past season, and they aren’t likely to take a significant step forward. This isn’t projected to be a future playoff matchup or an interesting contrast in styles. It’s just a normal, regular-season game.
A team like the Boston Celtics, which isn’t featured on “Rivalry Week,” would’ve made much more sense for a matchup with the Cavs. These teams have faced off numerous times in the playoffs in the last decade and should both be near the top of the conference for the foreseeable future, even though Boston will likely struggle this year without Jayson Tatum.
Even a team like the Atlanta Hawks would’ve made much more sense. The Hawks overperformed against the Cavs last season, they improved in the offseason, and it could be a playoff matchup. We also saw these two teams in the postseason for the 2022 Play-In game.
Instead of that, we’re left with a bland Cavs and Hornets matchup. Hopefully, the Ball brothers can share the court and make at least a couple of interesting highlights out of what will likely be a game we’ll forget about a week after it happens.
