Derek Fisher compares today’s NBA to WWE because of ‘the softness’

Two former Lakers champions recently met up and shared some laughs about the state of the NBA today. It was Derek Fischer, who criticized the style of play the league encourages in modern basketball during the most recent episode of Byron Scott’s Break quickly show.

You could argue that Fisher is qualified to make such comments, especially considering he played in the NBA for 18 seasons and won the Larry O’Brien Trophy five different times in his career. The purple-and-gold icon simply believes that the entertainment world is slowly corrupting the league.

““Remember when WWE was WWF?” D-Fish asked his former teammate. “I don’t know if anyone remembers. But there was a time when WWE was WWF – World Wrestling Federation. And then it became World Wrestling Entertainment.”

Byron Scott and Derek Fisher criticize the modern NBA and compare it to WWE on Scott’s podcast “Fastbreak.” https://t.co/pwACRWCNoN photo.twitter.com/zl7A5UYbHr

— Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) September 17, 2024

Derek believes the NBA is headed in the same direction as these types of wrestling tournaments. “Again, not right or wrong, because you could argue that the WWE is a more impactful sport than the WWF, depending on which side of the conversation you’re on,” he said with a laugh.

The former player’s thinking was that the old WWF was less focused on pure entertainment, which eventually transformed into a “fake” sport. This lack of physicality has been addressed by many former basketball players in the past.

While the old-school NBA continues to argue that there is a lack of aggression in today’s NBA, Fisher is more concerned that the league is more concerned with big sponsors and salaries, and not taking the sport to the next level.

““All professional sports to some extent, not just the NBA, even the NFL,” the LA star added. “You listen to guys who have played before, coached before. It’s a different sport. And that’s not a negative thing. It’s just built more for the entertainment value, maybe, than the competitive value.”

Many famous athletes of the past have criticized the modern NBA, mainly based on the theme that there is a certain softness and lack of aggression

Earlier this year, another retired NBA icon spoke out about what he calls “the softness” in modern-day basketball. Rasheed Wallace took it upon himself to weigh in on the matter in a February episode of the NBA underdog podcast. “The softness. It’s one thing where you want to be an attacking league with scoring, that’s fine.

“It’s just the softness of some of these rules and the damn referees where the people are there to see them,” the former player said. “Nobody came there to see you except the two people you gave your tickets to. Definitely bring back the hand check, that forearm shiver, so cats can’t run through that paint so easily. You gotta make it a little harder, because look at it now. Shit, look at it. It’s a gimmick.”

Wolves star Anthony Edwards added some spice last month when he recently said that Michael Jordan was the only player from previous generations who actually had talent. In the latest response to his bold claim, retired legend Kevin Garnett did his best to set the record straight, taking a swipe at modern athletes in the process.

During a recent episode of Ticket & The Truth alongside Paul Pierce, he gave his opinion. “If I’m honest, I don’t think anyone from this generation could have played 20 years ago,” said the 48-year-old, who played 21 seasons in the league from 1995 to 2016.