[Observation] Hidden themes of the division finals: Which one is better, the 18th class or the 20th class?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Hui

Tomorrow, the 2024-2025 playoff division final will kick off. At this stage of the playoffs, "New King Dangli" has become the hottest theme. Among the remaining four teams, their number one star has never won the championship. Therefore, a new king is destined to be born this season.

In addition to "New King Dangli", there is another topic that is easily overlooked in this season's divisional semi-finals, that is, the struggle between the 2018 rookies and the 2020 rookies, which is particularly obvious in the two groups of matches in the divisional semi-finals.

The Western Thunder plays against the Timberwolves. The Thunder's main player is the 2018 rookie Alexander. Although he failed to enter the top 10 in the draft, Alexander is undoubtedly becoming the best player in this class. Although Luca Doncic of the same class has more best teams, he has not won the MVP---It's only a matter of time before Alexander won the MVP this season. Edwards is the best player in the 2020 class. He ranked No. 1 in the draft, won the Best Rookie in the rookie season, and now he has led the Timberwolves into a team for two consecutive years.

Therefore, the showdown between the Thunder and the Timberwolves can also be regarded as a showdown between the two teams' top cards representing their respective draft classes. It is worth mentioning that beside Edwards, the Timberwolves' defensive champion McDaniels also comes from the 2020 draft. This season's playoffs, McDaniels made significant progress on the offensive end, becoming the key to the Timberwolves' entry into the Western Conference Finals.

The Eastern Conference Finals also played against the 2018 VS 2020. Knicks star Jaylen Bronson was a rookie in 2018. He only had 33 picks in the draft, but he gradually made his mark in the Mavericks and broke out completely after coming to the Knicks. In the past three years of playoffs, Bronson has played 35+ in a single game and helped the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Final this season. In addition, in this Knicks, the starting lineup Bridges also comes from the 2018 class.

Pacers' top card Halliburton was the 2020 rookie Halliburton. At that time, his draft pick was the 12th pick in the first round. Halliburton, who was first in the league, was just a backup guard for the Kings, but after coming to the Pacers, Halliburton broke out completely. This season's playoffs, Halliburton has repeatedly contributed great performances, and his direct competition with Bronson will undoubtedly become the key to deciding this round of series.

In addition to Halliburton, the Pacers also have two players from the 2020 class, Toppin, the 8th pick in the first round and Nesmith, the 14th pick in the first round, which undoubtedly aggravates the color of this group of matches in the 2018 PK2020 class.

Last season, Tatum and Brown led the team to win the championship as representatives of the 2017 and 2016 respectively. This season's NBA is destined to have new draft classes standing at the highest podium of the NBA, either in the 2018 or in the 2020 class. Interestingly, the 2019 class among them was originally regarded as a draft year. However, the No. 1 pick (Zion) and No. 2 pick (Morant) who were highly anticipated in this rookie were unable to fully realize their talents due to their respective reasons, and were eventually overtaken by their two rookies in the past and subsequent times. This also reflects the general characteristics of the players in 2018 and 2020, that is, the ability to accumulate strength. Except for Edwards, the other three leading players were not players who were originally favored, but they finally ushered in their own stage with their own efforts.