The 2017 NBA regular season was one of the most irrelevant seasons in recent memory, with the final two opponents for the championship being predicted before it even began. Despite the Golden State Warriors starting the season with a 29-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers ending the season with the #2 seed, it was a wrap. The 2017 NBA playoffs only confirmed the popular consensus that both teams would go at it again for the championship.

Yet, despite how disappointing it was to see the rest of the league be trampled by these two on their quest to compete in the NBA finals, and (biasedly speaking) how heartbreaking it was to see a stacked Warriors team gang up on a defensively inconsistent Cavaliers team and their man LeBron James, people still watched. Ratings were the highest they've been in 20 years and the off-season has been filled with intrigue since, wondering how these other teams would improve to take down GSW. With all the hoopla over free agency, trades, and contract extensions, the term "Ball is Life" (in reference to basketball alone) is extremely prevalent now more than ever.

The off-season has already presented a symbol of importance for the sport through contracts alone. Four of the top eight contracts in the HISTORY of the league have been presented in only the last month, with the top two included in the bunch. Stephen Curry resigned with the Warriors on a 5 year, 201 million dollar deal and James Harden, a 6 year $228 million contract (technically a 4 year, 170-million-dollar extension) with the Houston Rockets. That is a ridiculous amount of money per year alone, and shows how much these teams value their players.

But this big time money also highlights professional basketball's big time business as a sport. Compare it to its competitors, the #1 and #2 most popular sports in the country, football and baseball (respectively). The largest NFL contract was given to quarterback Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts with a 139 million dollar deal through 6 years, and Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins has the largest MLB contract worth $325 million over 13 years. Though the money is there, the yearly average is far lower, showing the NBA intends on paying their players far more impressively in the future through spurts of time.

Sports media has only helped make basketball the focal point of conversation. With networks such as ESPN and FS1 constantly discussing the NBA, once contract talk is done, they talk about the players themselves, only further displaying the sport with utmost importance. Lonzo Ball was recently drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in this year's draft, and him being selected was hyped months before it happened. This is mostly because of his father Lavar who said he'd be chosen by the Lakers and made the Big Baller Brand (BBB) to elevate his son's stardom by giving him his own shoe (the ZO2s) before he was even picked up by LA. However, though many say his dad was annoying, pompous, and promoted his son way too much, it's the sports networks that gave him the platform to do so. They gave him the attention because they felt it'd be entertaining, and followed the hype to get ratings.

Now that the Summer League has begun, he is getting more attention based off his performances and even how they relate to the shoes he's worn. He played poorly in the Z02s, got a triple double in Kobe's and another triple double in James Harden's Adidas shoes. In even the medium-sized scheme of things, what shoe is being worn does not mean a thing, yet it's all the talk in the sports world, and we’re talking about a player who hasn't even played a regular season game yet. Mind you, the MLB regular season is still taking place, and yet I rarely hear about it.

With the money and hype towards individual players, the NBA is going to change the game. Professional basketball will be THE sport to watch, not football nor basketball. As players are more easily advertised and spoken of, while being drafted at younger ages, the sport will become a much more favorable goal to go for than other sports. In addition, having not even mentioned outside contracts such as shoe companies, clothing brands, or being paid for commercials, the NBA contracts themselves will become enough incentive to try to be a NBA player. The better you are, the more hype you get, which creates outside popularity as well, making players much more marketable, especially considering you can see their face while they play, unlike in football where they're under a helmet.

Being highlighted in top tens on ESPN is a lot more common, even further popularizing players or having kids idolize them, unlike in baseball, where much of the sport is static in comparison, on both offense and defense. In addition, with the way money is being made from these teams, everything will improve, including arenas, jerseys, etc. Sports fans will become more enveloped in the hype and advertisement of the sport, making more people want to watch it, play it, strive to make a career out of it, and pay more attention to it than the other popular sports.