Ex-champion Derek Fisher compares today’s NBA with WWE due to entertainment mindset

Two former champions with the Lakers recently met and shared some laughs about the state of the NBA today. It was Derek Fischer, who critiziced the style of play that the league encourages in modern basketball during the most recent episode of Byron Scott’s Fastbreak show. 

You could say Fisher is qualified to make such remarks, especially considering that he played in the NBA for 18-long seasons, and conquered the Larry O’Brien Trophy in five different occasions throughout his career. The purple and gold icon simply believes that the entertainment world is slowly corrupting the competition.

“Remember when the WWE was the WWF?” D-Fish asked his former teammate. “I don’t know if anybody remembers that. But there was a time when the WWE was the WWF -World Wrestling Federation. And then it shifted to World Wrestling Entertainment.”

Byron Scott and Derek Fisher criticize modern NBA, comparing it to WWE on Scott’s “Fastbreak” podcast. https://t.co/pwACRWCNoN pic.twitter.com/zl7A5UYbHr

— Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) September 17, 2024

Derek believes that the NBA is heading in the same direction as these kinds of wrestling tournaments. “Again, not right or wrong, because one could argue that the WWE is a more impactful sport than the WWF was, depending on what side of the conversation you’re on,” he said with a laugh.

The former player’s train of thought was headed towards the fact that the old WWF used to be less focused on being purely entertainment, which eventually transformed into a “fake” sport. This lack of physicality has been addressed by many former basketball athletes in the past.

While the old-school NBA continues to advocate over the theme that there is a lack of aggression in today’s NBA, Fisher shares his concern is more about the league being more worried about big sponsors and salaries, and not taking the sport to the next level of competition.

“All the pro sports to some degree, not just the NBA, even the NFL,” the L.A. star added. “You listen to guys that played before, coached before. It’s a different game. And it’s not a negative thing. It’s just built more for the entertainment value, maybe, than the competitive value.”

Many famous athletes from the past have criticized the modern NBA mostly based on the theme that there is a certain softness and lack of aggression

Earlier this year, another retired NBA icon talked about what he calls “the softness” in today’s basketball. Rasheed Wallace took it on himself to express his opinion on the matter in a February episode of the Underdog NBA podcast. “The softness. It’s one thing where you want to be an offensive league with scoring, that’s fine.

“It’s just the softness with some of these rules and damn referees where the people are there to see them,” said the former player. “Nobody came there to see y’all except the two people you gave your tickets to. Definitely bring back hand check, that forearm shiver so that way cats can’t just flow so easily through that paint. You’ve got to make it somewhat tougher because right now look at it. Sh*t, look at it. It’s a gimmick.”

Wolves star Anthony Edwards sure spiced things up last month when he said recently that Michael Jordan was the only player from previous generations who actually had talent. In the latest reaction to his bold claim, retired legend Kevin Garnett tried the best to set the record straight and slammed modern athletes in the process.

During a recent episode of Ticket & The Truth alongside Paul Pierce, he voiced out his opinion. “If I am being honest, I do not think anybody in this generation could have played like 20 years ago,” expressed the 48-year-old, who played 21 seasons in the league from 1995 to 2016.