3 Takes on NBA Playoff Schedule: League Too Dependent on LeBron

Saturday, the NBA postseason tips off with the Blazers-Grizzlies play-in series. The winner faces the Lakers in the 1-8 matchup.

Last night, the league released the first-round schedule, which starts Monday:

Some thoughts:

1) The NBA needs LeBron James, it needs the Lakers. The narrative is the NBA is "a star-driven league." Sort of. It's "A star-driven league." Empathize the singular form because it's only that. It's LeBron and a few other social media influencers. The NBA doesn't have a league, it has a player. Thus, the exclusive primetime slate.

The Lakers will advance past either the Blazers or Grilizzes. Round 1 isn't the NBA's concern. It's the Finals, where it badly needs the Lakers.

If another team represents the West in the Finals, the viewership will need A-level spin jobs from the media. Not dissimilar to last season.

2) As my colleague, Ryan Glasspiegel tweeted: the NBA knows Giannis Antetokounmpo is not a national ratings draw.

It doesn't matter how many MVPs he wins, how many first seeds he leads the Bucks to; it won't even matter how many championships he wins. He doesn't have it. He's not a star, he doesn't say anything interesting and is absent of baggage.

No, it's not the market. LeBron played in Cleveland, Kevin Durant starred in Oklahoma City.

Don't mix a great player with a star.

3) The NBA wants to make the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard a draw.

The only scenario the NBA would love more than annual dominance from the Lakers is a yearly LA vs. LA WCF Game 7. As long as the Lakers prevail, of course. LA vs. LA is cool, theoretically. Easy to promote. But there is only one LA NBA team that matters. This will never be the rivalry the NBA envisions.

Leonard is a better player than LeBron. However, he's less interesting than Antetokounmpo. This past weekend, there were at least 10 golfers more intriguing than Leonard.

The other LA team has too many spotlight games.