LeBron James comments on NBA's 'shift' from Big 3 era

"I played in the era as well of the Big 3 era, but it's looking like now the game is starting to shift again to how can we create the most depth, but also how can we create the most energy life? How can we create have the most shelf life out on the floor to be able to sustain an injury or sustain a run?" James said.

The new collective bargaining agreement essentially stops teams from stacking up multiple big contracts, so the Big 3 era may now transition into an era of power duos.

The most recent NBA champions haven't only been the best teams but also the deepest teams.

For example, the Oklahoma City Thunder have enough positional versatility to match up with any type of opponent. They can play jumbo lineups with multiple bigs and dominate on defense, or they can thrive off shooting and athleticism.

Championship-caliber teams need to run at least nine players deep now, even in the playoffs when the rotations tend to shrink.

That has led to more parity, and while the Thunder should have a long window, it'll be interesting to see how they manage to keep everybody around after committing so much money to stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.