NBA: Rise in a Parallel World

Office of the NBA President.

Just when Nathan Cole was feeling heartbroken about the $600 million in taxes he had to pay, a long-lost electronic notification suddenly sounded in his mind.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the main task: successfully finishing the first season of the NBA!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the main reward: 30 NBA superstars from the 1970s!]

Hearing this, Nathan Cole was stunned for a moment, then overwhelmed with excitement.

The system's reward had arrived at the perfect time!

Today, while the NBA had gained global recognition, it still had its flaws. The biggest problem? The lack of superstar players!

During the NBA's first season, the talent gap between teams was glaringly obvious.

The Lakers, Celtics, Warriors, and Kings were stacked with stars, while other teams struggled to attract talent.

The league had 30 teams, but only a handful had true franchise players. This imbalance wasn't good for the long-term growth of the NBA.

If the league wanted to continue expanding, it needed more elite players to distribute across teams—stars that could elevate the level of play, attract fans, and create intense rivalries.

However, five-a-side basketball was still new, and the NBA had just been established.

Where could he suddenly find 30 superstars?

Fortunately, the system had solved that problem for him!

The reward for completing the main task was the introduction of 30 legendary players from the 1970s!

Nathan immediately thought of the NBA legends who dominated the 70s.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—The master of the skyhook, one of the most dominant players ever.

Julius "Dr. J" Erving—A high-flying magician who revolutionized the game with his dunks.

Pete "Pistol" Maravich—A ball-handling genius whose creativity was decades ahead of his time.

George "The Iceman" Gervin—Effortless, smooth, and unstoppable with his signature finger roll.

Moses Malone—The king of offensive rebounds and a three-time MVP.

Rick Barry—One of the greatest scorers, known for his deadly free-throw shooting.

Wes Unseld—A rebounding machine with legendary outlet passes.

Bill Walton—A big man with the passing and vision of a point guard.

Earl "The Pearl" Monroe—Flashy, stylish, and a true artist with the ball.

David "Skywalker" Thompson—A scoring machine who could leap out of the gym.

In addition to these superstars, there were still other 1970s legends—Dave Cowens, Walt Frazier, Elvin Hayes, Bob McAdoo, Nate Archibald, Paul Westphal, and more.

With this batch of players, the NBA would finally have stars on every team!

Nathan was thrilled.

However, he quickly realized a problem.

"Wait," Nathan muttered to himself. "The NBA is already full. How are these '70s stars going to enter the league? Through the draft?"

[That's correct! These 70s stars will be selected through the NBA Draft!]

Nathan suddenly understood.

It was late June, and in just a few days, the first NBA Draft in league history would take place.

At that time, each of the 30 NBA teams would take turns selecting new players.

Nathan couldn't help but laugh.

This year's draft class was absolutely insane.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Bill Walton, George Gervin...

There was no way to make a bad pick!

Every single draft choice would be a franchise-changing player.

[Ding! The next main task has been released: Form the NBA Development League within one year!]

Nathan's eyes narrowed.

NBA Development League?

He immediately thought of the NBDL (later known as the NBA G League) from his past world.

In his previous world, the NBA had introduced a second-tier league to serve as a training ground for young prospects.

The NBA G League was crucial for developing talent, allowing teams to send players down to gain experience or recover from injuries.

Over the years, the G League had grown into an essential part of the NBA system.

Many future All-Stars, such as Khris Middleton, Pascal Siakam, and Fred VanVleet, had spent time in the G League before making a name for themselves in the NBA.

However, in this world, such a development league didn't exist yet.

Now, the system had assigned him the task of creating the NBA Development League within a year.

Nathan took a deep breath.

The timeline was tight, but if he succeeded, the next reward would be NBA superstars from the 1980s!

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley...

Just thinking about it sent chills down his spine.

However, he couldn't get ahead of himself.

Right now, the top priority was the upcoming NBA Draft.

This was about to be the most legendary rookie class in history.