Examine all the talent in the NBA. All of it.

Now, examine where the superstars are, and how many of them are on each team.

Now, examine the fact that out of those superstars, there are some seriously elite, cut above, and those are like the rarest of gems, and only a couple of teams have those at all.

Now, remember the NBA has expanded from where it was when it was the likes of the Lakers and Celtics going back and forth with the championship, which dilutes the pool available for all the teams overall.

When THE superstar of the league (Michael Jordan, Lebron James) is on a team, THAT team is going to win. It just is.

Because even though the rest of those team sports really does have to have a team of people. It helps to have a Tom Brady, for example, on your football team, but even he can't win a Superbowl by himself.

Basketball is very much different, in that ONE person can take a team higher by being there than it would be without him, and take a team that's pretty decent all the way to the promised land. Not many team sports can have this be a consistent thing like basketball. Michael Jordan is the epitome of this phenomena, and Lebron James is the latest iteration.

It's not to say that basketball isn't a team sport, nor that other team sports can't have THAT guy propel a team to a championship... it is to say that basketball is uniquely suited for a one man unlocking things, unlike the others.