New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Ways the NBA Changed after The Last Dance

The New Orleans Pelicans are symbolic of many of the changes that the NBA has gone through since The Last Dance, all of which have good and bad elements.

In many ways, The Last Dance isn’t just about the end of the Michael Jordan era in Chicago, but also about the myriad changes that have happened since MJ left the game. The New Orleans Pelicans are very much representative of those changes.

As someone who was actually alive and sentient during the Jordan era, I have seen both sides of the old and new NBA and there is plenty to like and dislike about both.

Old NBA heads often bemoan the “soft” modern game and how players from their era were tougher, more physical and would wipe the floor with young teams like the New Orleans Pelicans.

Young fans think the old guys are nuts. Most of the players from the past wouldn’t be able to hang with the super-athletes of today, and some even go so far as to say that Michael Jordan, the GOAT of the NBA, would be average in today’s game.

Both sides are wrong. The modern game is not too soft, it’s just not as dirty and if you think Jordan wouldn’t dominate in today’s “no hand check” game, you don’t know anything about basketball.

People fear change, which is why there will always be fans who think their era was the best and everything that came after a pale comparison.

But change is never all good or all bad, which is why we took a look at three of the biggest ways the game has changed since The Last Dance era.

Change is never one-sided, so we broke down the good and bad that came with the evolution of the NBA since Jordan and The Last Dance.