In 2021, the Brooklyn Nets went all in to win an NBA championship. After trading for James Harden and adding him to a team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn upped the ante by signing veteran stars LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin.
As expected, the talent-laden Nets had a great regular season. They finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, behind only the Philadelphia 76ers. When the playoffs began, Hall of Famer Julius Erving – who won championships with the Nets in the ABA and Sixers in the NBA, criticized Brooklyn for taking the shortcut.
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According to Erving, Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai used the money to buy himself a championship-worthy team.
“It’s reminiscent of how the Yankees used to do it all the time,” said Erving. “They load up – they call it ‘buying a championship.’ The Lakers are known for doing that, too.”
Bought, not built
The Yankees have won a record 27 World Series in their history. However, several of those are attributed to heavy spending, as the Bronx Bombers are historically known to use financial resources to assemble competitive teams. Specifically, the championships won during the 1990s and 2009 are often cited as products of big-time spending.
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That season, the Nets ranked second behind the Golden State Warriors in total team payroll at over $201 million. But while the Dubs’ core was built, Dr. J said the Nets were bought. He also took a shot at the Lakers, who signed LeBron in 2018 and AD the following year. The Lake Show won the 2020 NBA championship in the Orlando bubble.
“They’re getting all these pieces,” added Erving. “They don’t know at the end of the season what it’s going to look like or what it’s going to feel like, but they’re going to be formidable. You’ve got a team with six former All-Stars and three [All-NBA] guys who have been there and succeeded in the playoffs.”
Did Doc’s Sixers also buy their 1983 championship?
However, neither the Nets nor the Lakers won the NBA championship that year. The second-seeded Nets were eliminated in the second round by the No. 3-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, who went on to win it all that year.
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Meanwhile, the then-defending champions, the Lakers, were ousted in the opening round by the Phoenix Suns. In baseball, the Yankees also did not win the World Series that year as they lost to the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card game.
“Buying” championship teams isn’t uncommon in the NBA or other sports. It was just a surprise that Dr. J called out the Nets publicly because he might have forgotten that his 1983 Sixers used its financial muscle to outbid the Houston Rockets and steal Moses Malone from Houston to Philly.
That acquisition gave Dr J’s team their first title after losing in their first three championship appearances. Now, wasn’t that a bought title, Doc?