5 reasons why the East has been worse than the West since 1998

#4 Drafts and Trades: Part I

Tim Duncan, another transcendental talent, was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in 1997

Let's start with where we left off, the 1996 NBA draft. The best player to come out of that draft class was Kobe Bryant. He was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets from the Eastern Conference and traded immediately for Vlade Divac to the Los Angeles Lakers. One month later, one of the biggest stars in the East, Orlando Magic's 24 years old Shaquille O'Neal, left the team to sign with the Lakers.

This led to the formation of one of the greatest NBA dynasties of all time, winning 3 championships from 2000-2002. Since Shaq signed as a free agent, Orlando Magic received absolutely nothing in return and the team which beat Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in 1995, stopped being a contender.

In the 1997 NBA draft, the biggest prize was the Power Forward from Wake Forest, Tim Duncan. The Boston Celtics had the highest odds of landing the #1 pick. However, the pick went to the San Antonio Spurs and they promptly drafted Tim Duncan, who went on to become the greatest power forward of all time, winning 5 championships on the way. After finishing his rookie contract, Duncan was pursued by the Orlando Magic.

He was very close to signing with them and forming a dynasty with Tracy McGrady. However, Magic coach Doc Rivers declined one of Duncan's requests, which was allowing his wife on the team plane. So Duncan re-signed with the Spurs and finished his career in San Antonio.

The 1998 offseason brought even more doom and gloom to the East. The Washington Bullets (now Wizards) traded their star power forward Chris Webber to the Sacramento Kings for Mitch Ritchmond and Otis Thorpe (both at the end of their careers). Webber would go on to transform the Kings into legitimate title contenders, while the Bullets missed the playoffs for 6 years straight.

In the 1998 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks managed to land the 9th pick, Dirk Nowitzki from the Milwaukee Bucks, in exchange for Robert Taylor. Nowitzki has gone on to become one of the greatest players of all time and sits 6th on the All-Time scoring list.The Bucks could've made a dynasty with Nowitzki and a young Ray Allen who they acquired from the Timberwolves via a draft day trade in 1996. However, even Ray Allen was traded to the Seattle Supersonics in 2003 for a past-his-prime Gary Payton and Desmond Mason.

As all these superstar draft picks of the 90s reached their primes, they started dominating the league. Oh, and let's not forget the 5th pick of the 1995 draft, Kevin Garnett. With KG, the Minnesota Timberwolves made the Playoffs for 8 straight seasons, and even though they usually lost in the 1st round, they were better than most top seeds in the east.

A great example of this disparity is the 2002-2003 season. The Detroit Pistons had a record of 50-32, which was good enough for the 1st seed in the East. In the West, the Portland Trailblazers also had a 50-32 record, which was only good enough for the 6th seed!