This piece was published in the September 2026 print edition of Roar News.
One common theme that has followed a busy summer in the NBA media landscape has been player loyalty. A topic with a long history of debate amongst players and analysts has once again found itself at the forefront of NBA headlines. Multiple storylines that developed over the off-season have contributed, from trivia games to social media disputes.
The 82-0 Game
Each NBA team plays 82 games over the course of a regular season, hence the possibility of 82-0 seasons has become a topic within basketball debate culture, especially surrounding hypothetical teams featuring all-time players. The NBA2K community picked up the concept and turned it into a formal ‘challenge’, with players and 2K creators attempting to build and simulate a team capable of going 82-0, including additional challenges such as using specific settings or trivia games to pick players.
Most recently, NBA trivia games adopted the 82-0 challenge when the viral 82-0 web game revolutionised NBA trivia within the community, paving the way for multiple new creative games throughout the summer of 2026. The concept behind the 82-0 web game is to spin a ‘team’ and an ‘era’ wheel, then select players to build a position-locked starting five capable of going 82-0 based on the game’s simulation algorithm.
When YouTuber Kenny Beecham (KOT4Q) posted a video playing the game, he commented on the regularity with which he was able to select Kevin Durant. This is a consequence of Durant having switched teams frequently throughout his career. As a result, a prime version of Kevin Durant is available on all of the 2010s Oklahoma City Thunder, 2010s Golden State Warriors, 2010s Brooklyn Nets, 2020s Brooklyn Nets, 2020s Phoenix Suns, and 2020s Houston Rockets. For a player who has consistently been viewed as a top-10 scorer throughout his NBA career, that is a very welcome range of teams to have available.
The King’s New Home
In initial breaking news, LeBron James, nicknamed ‘The King’, announced early in the off-season that he was stepping away from the Los Angeles Lakers and signing with a different team. In the breaking news that followed, James announced his decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, shocking many, as the popular belief was that he would be returning to Cleveland or Miami to end his career.
With the 76ers having recently acquired Jaylen Brown from the Celtics in a trade sending Paul George to Boston, James was joining a starting lineup featuring four 25+ PPG scorers, including himself. Hence, The King received renewed accusations of ring chasing and building superteams.
Those who defended James’ decisions brought up both his tenure with the Lakers and his past connections to the 76ers. James had expressed prior interest in signing with Philadelphia during both the 2014 and 2018 free agencies. Additionally, not only were his eight years with Los Angeles his longest single tenure with one team, but he was also the best player on the team for the majority of the run, including when Luka Dončić was sidelined with injury: the 2026 playoffs serve as prime evidence.
Kevin Durant’s Latest Comments
After LeBron James signed with the 76ers, Kevin Durant took to social media to highlight the fact that James was creating a ‘superteam’, in an attempt to bring legitimacy to Durant’s own decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors during the 2016 free agency. Durant’s 2016 decision has become one of the most infamous examples of disloyalty within the NBA: the signing came after the Warriors eliminated Durant and the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. Moreover, Golden State earned a record 73 wins during the 2015-2016 regular season, finishing 73-9.
Rarity of Loyal Players
In other off-season news, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, and Trae Young have all switched teams over the past two years. Whilst none of those players outright requested a trade, and whilst players requesting trades is not a new concept, with Bryant, Iverson, and Garnett all having done so, it is becoming rarer to see star players ride out their entire careers with one franchise, as Reggie Miller and Dirk Nowitzki did.
The question remains whether loyalty or player empowerment should be favoured, and how much teams themselves are willing to invest in their star players. With the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets facing rebuilding eras in the near future, it remains to be seen whether Steph Curry or Nikola Jokić will retire having played for just one team, or if Nowitzki may have been the last of his kind for now.
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