Era · 1980s

The Rivalry Years

1980–1991

Three consecutive decades worth of highlight-reel play compressed into one. Lakers against Celtics in three Finals, Bird against Magic for MVP award after MVP award, and Isiah Thomas building a third pole in Detroit. The 1980s are the era the league's marketing department still thinks about when it is trying to convince itself that the 2020s NBA has a problem.

The three-point line was introduced in 1979 but largely treated as a novelty through the mid-1980s. Video-cassette highlight compilations reached living rooms in meaningful numbers for the first time. Late in the decade, Michael Jordan began to suggest what the next ten years would look like.