"I still get nostalgic" - John Starks named his pick for the greatest NBA era - Ubirata Online News

What’s a favorite pastime of those around the game? Comparing eras.

None of them is alike. The league has, after all, never lacked evolution. Yet every era carries its own flavor. Sometimes one flavor pulls harder than the others, and that is exactly the point if you ask John Starks.

Shaped by the bruising intensity of the late 1980s through the early 2000s, it’s no surprise those traits shaped his stance. Nowhere were they more visible than in his playing era, and for Starksy, that was enough to make his case.

Bruising old-school ball

Say your thing is long-range shooting and pace-and-space basketball — then this current generation is probably your pick. But if you, like Starks, prefer bruising intensity, you have to go back a few decades.

The former 6’5″ guard made that clear in a “Players’ Tribune” piece, where he named the five toughest players he’d ever defended. Before getting to the list, though, he set the tone: back then, you weren’t just matched up against an opponent. It was a war — a real battle.

“The way we played the game was incredible. Even if you were watching the game on TV, you could feel the passion on the court,” he wrote. “Players were getting after it every night. Pro basketball used to be a contact sport.”

Sounds stressful, but for a competitor like Starksy, that was the appeal — and it’s exactly what fuels his conviction that “my generation was the best.”

To pinpoint that generation, you have to remember that the one-time All-Star joined the league in 1988 as an undrafted player. He retired in 2002 after a stint with the Utah Jazz.

It still gets brought up today

Starks isn’t alone on this. People still walk up to him and tell him they miss that game — the physicality, the way it used to feel.

Starksy misses it too.

“I still get nostalgic,” the 1997 Sixth Man of the Year emphasized.

He misses the tougher, more physical style. Teams had real anchors in the paint back then. Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon. Everything was just harder than what you see today.

Still, the former New York Knicks player wasn’t taking shots at the modern game. The skill level of today’s players is “incredible,” he remarked, from the ball-handling to the pace. The TV ratings, the league’s reputation and the global attention all speak to the modern league’s success, he added.

But even with all that, it matters to Starks that people don’t forget “just how good the NBA was back when I was playing and how hard we competed with one another.”

He’s not the only one saying it. At least two more legends from that era have made the same point.

Gary Payton put it plainly, saying their era wasn’t about scoring like today. It was about “defense, being rough, getting out there, and getting it done.”

The Hall of Fame point guard left little doubt about where he stood, too, stating,” I think the ’90s was the best era ever.”

Shaquille O’Neal once took it a step further. What separated that era, the basketball legend said, was that teams had “real rivalries.”

In the end, today’s game is right where it should be. But a little more of what those guys mentioned — the aggression, the pride in defense, the genuine dislike between teams — wouldn’t hurt, would it?

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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