For the 2004/05 season, y-3 japan jersey the balance of power was more balanced than it had been for a long time. Commissioner Stern managed to popularize basketball around the world, thanks to which more and more foreign players moved to the NBA, such as Chinese center Yao Ming, French guard Tony Parker, Spaniard Pau Gasol, Serbian Peja Stojakovic or just the German power forward Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. The team around O'Neal and Dwyane Wade prevailed in the final against the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki. Another important figure during this period was young talent Kobe Bryant, who played with O'Neal for the Lakers. Beginning in the 1999-2000 season, Shaquille O'Neal was considered a central figure in the NBA, and while he never matched Jordan's popularity, he matched him in terms of dominance. Then began a period of widespread dominance for the Golden State Warriors, winning their first championship in 40 years with a Finals win over the Cavaliers. After Spurs won their third title in 2007, there was a brief resurgence of the Celtics-Lakers dominance of the '80s. The Lakers have meanwhile strengthened themselves with the Spaniard Pau Gasol. The Warriors were generally considered favorites, but had to do without their star player Kevin Durant.
The Celtics were able to put together a core of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce through clever transfers. In the 2015-16 season, the Warriors also broke the Chicago Bulls' winning record from 1995-96 and have since held the NBA record with 73 wins this season. In that series, the Cavaliers didn't have much to match the Warriors, earning the Warriors their second championship in three years and Durant being named Finals Series MVP. The Warriors then reinforced in the summer of 2016 with Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant and advanced to the Finals, where the Cavaliers and LeBron James reunited. After the first games were canceled, the players' union and the NBA agreed on a new collective agreement and they played a shortened NBA season 2011/12. The Heat again reached the finals and prevailed against the Oklahoma City Thunder around the star players Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. As part of the transfer deal, he moved to the Canadian metropolis with Joe Murphy, Adam Graves and Jeff Sharples, while Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and a fifth-round pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft went to Detroit. In 2004, the favored Lakers were clearly defeated by the Eastern champions, the Detroit Pistons, after which the team broke up. In the end, the San Antonio Spurs prevailed again and won the championship against the Detroit Pistons.
In the season shortened by the lockout, the San Antonio Spurs won their first championship with Tim Duncan. Negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) broke down, resulting in what owners described as a players' strike National Basketball Development League (NBDL), later renamed the NBA Development League (D-League) and started with eight teams The league originally started with eleven teams would expand to 30 teams by 2004. In the EHF Champions League dominated Spanish clubs (Barcelona, Teka Santander, Bidasoa Irun, San Antonio) with nine titles out of a possible eleven between 1991 and 2001. In the 2012/13 season James won his fourth MVP award and led the Heat against the San Antonio Spurs third championship. O'Neal and Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002, but narrowly lost to eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in 2003. In the 20/21 season, the Milwaukee Bucks became NBA champions by beating the Phoenix Suns. The 2000s are characterized by a strong internationalization of the NBA.
The 2000s were also characterized by team relocations, unlike anything since the 1980s. I just want to say: It is more than daring and frivolous to want to derive a tendency or even conclusions about the future from reaching a final, which country or which club currently has the power in football and sets the pace and rhythm. The hosts won the final 96-65, but the Spaniards' silver medal sparked basketball euphoria in the country. After losing to British Columbia in the final, Drouin won the silver medal with Team Québec. Sweden's Lennart Johansson was the first incumbent UEFA president to be voted out; he was defeated on January 26, 2007 by 23 votes to 27 (with 2 invalid) against challenger Michel Platini. In 2006, the Miami Heat won their first championship. For Cleveland, however, this meant the first championship in club history and the third for LeBron James. With the departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavaliers sank into insignificance in the east. The following year, the Warriors and Cavaliers met again in the finals. Unlike the Bulls, however, the Warriors were unable to defend the title against the Cavaliers in the final and lost that series after leading 3-1 at times.