By Marc Stein, The New York Times

The NBA stuffed a lot .

It was a decade bookended from the very first forays into free service for LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard, the two of whom shook the league with all the decisions they made and the manner in which they left them. It was a decade in which the Golden State Warriors created the NBA Finals that their June home for five successive seasons, constant excellence hidden since Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics in the 1960s. This was the decade in which Kobe Bryant shot himself into retirement with an incomprehensible 60-point farewell match — and it was the NBA’s Twitter decade, also. Social networking platforms, chiefly Twitter and Instagram, became the most league’s 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year playground, resulting in increased relevance for the game (and no lack of side problems ).

Together with 2019 dwindling down to its last days, let’s anoint 10 standouts from the 2010s.

Team of the Decade: Golden State Warriors
Jason Miller, Getty ImagesStephen Curry (30) and Draymond Green (23) of this Golden State Warriors celebrate Kevin Durant (35) from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second half of Game Three of the 2018 NBA Finals on June 6, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio.

We’ll never have the ability to line up the summit Warriors from the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of the 1990s in a fantasy series to determine which power was truly superior.

What we do know for sure, however, is the Warriors’ operate played out under the glare of a far more demanding spotlight. And I really do award bonus points for that. The degree of scrutiny is such in today’s game which it exacted an emotional toll on the Warriors the Bulls, to some degree, happily avoided.

Kevin Durant lasted just 3 seasons as a Warrior following the polarizing decision to end his Oklahoma City marriage with Russell Westbrook and unite fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the Bay Area. Consider this a reminder nonetheless that yours truly has claimed since October the Warriors will be back among the league’so elite by following season.

King of the Decade: LeBron James
Rick Scuteri, Associated Press fileIn this March 2, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) controls the ball in the second half during an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix.

Over and over and over, LeBron James did it his way, emerging since the face of what’s now reflexively referred to as “player empowerment. ”

He formed a Super Team in Miami, alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, via a widely scorned made-for-television event known as The Decision.

He announced that his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 in a Sports Illustrated essay — on the 11th day of free agency.

And then, having raised one of the most infamous curses in sports by leading an unforgettable comeback from a three-games-to-one shortage in the 2016 finals against Golden State to deliver Cleveland its first key championship in 52 decades, LeBron consented to attempt to haul the Los Angeles Lakers from their deepest funk in Lakers history. That change of address was made public in a sudden 36-word news release on the very first night of free service in 2018.

James might have won just 3 names in his eight trips to the forefront at the 2010s, but make no error. The NBA might be and continues to be his kingdom —.

Revolutionary of this Decade: Stephen Curry
Kevin C. Cox, Getty ImagesStephen Curry of this Golden State Warriors drives from the Atlanta Hawks in State Farm Arena on Dec. 3, 2018 in Atlanta.

Selecting between LeBron and Steph for Player of the Decade is so excruciating I felt that the need to create different classes for them.

It’s the least we could do in order to adapt the dreaded and most influential shooter in the history of this game.

Curry altered the calculus of basketball with his capacity to produce 30-footers (and beyond) both regular and okay. Elevating him further, Curry was also the surface of the franchise and foremost entertainer for the decade’s most enduring team.

Lefty of this Decade: James Harden
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver PostJames Harden (13) of this Houston Rockets drives as Gary Harris (14) of this Denver Nuggets defends during the third quarter on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.

We adore our southpaws in Stein Line HQ. Regular readers certainly remember my recent ode to James Harden, that enumerated each of the ways he is proving to be a worthy heir to Wilt Chamberlain.

Harden’s hefty use and continuous trips to the foul line are branded turnoffs, as is his most intermittent playoff resume, but the narrative of this decade may ’t be told . It’s especially true today that Harden and Westbrook are reunited in Houston, dire to the championship validation that has eluded the two.

The 40-something of this Decade: Dirk Nowitzki
Gregory Shamus, Getty ImagesDirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks appears on while playing with the Detroit Pistons during the first half of Little Caesars Arena on Jan. 31, 2019 in Detroit.

Atlanta’s Vince Carter, still heading at age 42, has an undeniably worthy case here. But Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, on top of playing before he was nearly 41, finally walked off in April following a record 21 consecutive seasons with one team and one of just seven players in league history to record at least 30,000 points.

Don’forget the decade started with Nowitzki leading the Mavericks to a championship in 2011 that rewrote his heritage. Winning that ring, even with no other All-Stars on the Mavericks’ 2010-11 roster, allowed Nowitzki to retire because either a revolutionary for altering the manner his position is performed (a la Curry) and also a consensus top-20 decision whichever because of his name breakthrough.

Underachievers of this Decade: James L. Dolan’s Knicks
Frank Franklin II, Associated Press fileIn this April 4, 2017, file photo, New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (7) tests in as coach Jeff Hornacek, left, watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in New York. The Knicks said Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, they expect Anthony will attend school camp whenever they report next week.

Even the New York Knicks have been 319-484 because Jan. 1, 2010. They have won one series in 3 trips. They’re on course to miss the playoffs entirely for the seventh consecutive season.

A brief dose of Linsanity in 2012, followed by Curry’s breakout 54 points in Madison Square Garden a year after, were the most widely celebrated minutes in what’s assumed to be the league’s most storied construction.

You know just what to do, Jim Dolan.

Resilience of this Decade: 2014 San Antonio Spurs
Chris Covatta, Getty ImagesThe San Antonio Spurs celebrate with all the Larry O’Brien trophy after defeating the Miami Heat to win the most 2014 NBA Finals in the AT&T Center on June 15, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio squandered the 2013 NBA Finals in tragic fashion, narrowly losing the final two matches in Miami after almost finishing off the LeBron/Wade/Bosh Heat in Game 6. The Spurs, however, rebounded from the devastating effects of a storied Ray Allen 3-pointer to dismantle Miami in five matches in the 2014 finals, establishing Kawhi Leonard since the decade’s dynasty disrupter.

Kawhi won finals MVP honors that season in age 23, despite playing along with a trio of old reliables (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) on which really ought to be understood among the decades ’s Super Teams. Then he made it again last season by leading the Toronto Raptors past injury-depleted Golden State to the very first championship in franchise history — and the first acquired by a team based out of U.S. borders.

Performance of this Decade: Klay Thompson
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver PostKlay Thompson (11) of this Golden State Warriors reacts to being called for a foul during the first half against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. The Denver Nuggets hosted the Golden State Warriors in the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Thompson’s 11 3-pointers in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference finals, rescue the Warriors in Oklahoma City if they had been on the verge of elimination, represent the most crucial 11 in No. 11’s livelihood.

However the only 11 dribbles of this basketball that Thompson wanted en route to ringing 60 points in 29 minutes against Indiana on Dec. 5, 2016, were arguably more impressive.

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In a decade therefore influenced by analytics, in which the typical amount of 3-point attempts per game rose from 18.0 in the 2010-11 season to its present 33.7 per match, no one did more with over Thompson.

Transaction of the Decade: The Aborted Trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers
Sue Ogrocki, Associated Press fileIn this Monday, May 5, 2014 file photo, Oklahoma City Thunder shield Russell Westbrook (0) pushes against Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) in the first quarter of Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City.

Last summertime provided a lot of doozies to record. I will also personally never forget parking myself in front of a computer for almost 24 hours straight to track every dialogue, emoji and mad spin of DeAndre Jordan’s dedication to sign with Dallas in July 2015, followed closely by Jordan’s subsequent (and surreal) de-commitment, therefore that he could go back to the Clippers.

But no registering or exchange (or even vetoed trade) creates a response like David Stern’s refusal, since the behaving owner of this league-owned New Orleans Hornets, to allow New Orleans general director Dell Demps to go ahead with a three-way agreement in December 2011 that would have landed the disgruntled Paul together using the Lakers.

It was one of the most controversial decisions of Stern’s 30-year operate since NBA commissioner and one that Stern, asked about differently since stepping down in 2014, hasn’t apologized for.

Invasion of the Decade: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic
Gregory Shamus, Getty ImagesGiannis Antetokounmpo (34) of this Milwaukee Bucks handles the ball from Kawhi Leonard (2) of the Toronto Raptors during the first half of game four of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Scotiabank Arena on May 21, 2019 in Toronto.

Two of these five best players in the league this season are from Europe: Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee’s otherworldly force known as The Greek Freak) and Luka Doncic (Dallas’ 20-year-old Slovenian sensation). Let’so view where they Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s loquacious center from Cameroon, will shoot the NBA in the face of countless struggles for Commissioner Adam Silver in the decade ahead.

Among the issues on very top of Silver’s record are coping with ever-declining interest in the regular season in this playoffs-mean-everything Earth, as well as the expanding impact of the gambling industry in all professional sports and the incongruous nature of this NBA’s seemingly hotter-than-ever popularity because of its own social networking stations while TV ratings decline.

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