Edit: I’m aware most things are this way but meritocracy an often like a spectrum and basketball is moving farther away every year
An underrated part of the Bronny James discourse i've noticed is that the NBA is no longer a league of “getting it out the mud” that whole idea of the poor kid going to the local blacktop court to work on his game and getting his family out of a rough situation is no longer as prevalent. Most NBA prospects these days are sons of upper class parents more so than before. Half of team USA u17 team is full of NBA players' sons.
Lower-income and regular-income kids can't compete with the kid who's getting pro trainers, afford to go to top AAU programs, travel around the world, go to top prestigious highschools and such. With this the talent level has gone up as this is the natural progression of all sports like hockey and baseball. Does the idea of basketball becoming a rich kids' sport concern y'all or is it a fair tradeoff for a better basketball product