NBA fans in Canada cannot lose in this year’s NBA Finals matchup of the Miami Heat vs. the Denver Nuggets. Either a Canadian who has proudly worn the Canada basketball jersey will win or the greatest Raptor ever will win his second championship.

There’s a lot to like about the NBA Finals this year, in addition to having a rooting interest. For starters, this will mark the 5th year in a row a different team has won the whole thing.

• 2021–22 NBA Finals Champions: Golden State Warriors.
• 2020–21 NBA Finals Champions: Milwaukee Bucks.
• 2019–20 NBA Finals Champions: Los Angeles Lakers.
• 2018–19 NBA Finals Champions: Toronto Raptors.

That’s incredible parity for a league that has been criticized for being built around “super-teams” in previous years. I’d even go as far as saying the “super-team” era is over. Brooklyn tried and failed. Phoenix tried and failed and, with the exception of Golden State, a super-team has only won once in the past five seasons AND you could argue their championship run was not as a result of a super team but by being well built from the ground up.

Also this year, you have the league MVP from two out of the past three seasons, playing a style of basketball quite possibly not seen in decades. Jokic is more Charles Barkley than Lebron James, but that hasn’t stopped him from steamrolling his way through elite opponents.

Finally, this match-up reminds me of another NBA Finals featuring the Miami Heat, only this time the roles are reversed. In 2014, it was the aging/veteran Spurs against the recently formed big three of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. The Spurs ended up winning that series quite easily, 4 games to 1. Here we are in 2023, and the Miami Heat are being led by three veteran players in Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love against two young kids in the middle of their prime Jokic and Murray.

Do I see history repeating itself and the veterans dominating the kids? I do not. The Spurs had one X-factor that nobody had really counted on, and that was Kawhi Leonard. With respect to the Miami roster, there is not a future hall-of-famer waiting in the wings to take over this series.

Denver in 6.