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It’s no secret big men play less of a role in today’s NBA than they did a few decades ago, and one NBA scout even compared modern centers to NFL running backs, per ESPN’s Jeremy Woo.
“As long as there’s basketball, there’s always a place for those guys. But big men now more than ever, are role players,” the Eastern Conference scout said. “It’s like running backs in the NFL — they used to be what your offense featured, now they’re complementary by nature, outside of the two or three that are incredible. So if you’re going into it [from that perspective], who are the guys with the best complementary skills?”
The scout’s comparison comes ahead of Wednesday and Thursday’s NBA draft which is set to feature a class full of big men. The 2023 draft saw just one true center, Dereck Lively, off the board in the first round, but there could be significantly more this year.
Woo noted that up to eight centers could go in the first round this year. French star Alex Sarr and UConn big man Donovan Clingan are a pair of centers that could go in the lottery, as Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman projects them to be off the board with the No. 2 and No. 6 picks, respectively.
While their roles have become less important over the years, recent years have proved big men still play a valuable role in the league as centers Nikola Jokić and Joel Embiid have controlled the last four MVP trophies.
There’s no denying the league has changed drastically since the days of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other dominant bigs, but the next decade could bring a resurgence of the center position.