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What the NBA (and world) looked like before Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan won a combined 10 NBA championships. Noah Graham/Getty Images

What the NBA (and world) looked like before Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan

June 14, 1995: The Houston Rockets just finished off a sweep of the mighty Orlando Magic and repeated as NBA champions. That was the night of Rudy Tomjanovich's famous "never underestimate the heart of a champion" speech. The Houston Rockets walked off the floor at the Summit as back-to-back champions while the young Orlando Magic walked off as a probable dynasty in the making.

That was the last NBA game played before Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan entered the league. Garnett broke the mold and became the first player in 20 years to be drafted directly out of high school when he was the fifth pick in the 1995 NBA Draft. Bryant would also make the leap as the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. Duncan went a different route, playing four years of college ball at Wake Forest before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.

All three became champions. All three will be no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famers. And all three retired this offseason.

When the NBA season starts next month, Garnett, Bryant and Duncan will not suit up. No more Big Ticket, Black Mamba or Big Fundamental. Those three combined for 11 NBA championships and 15 NBA Finals during their reign and defined the post-Jordan/pre-LeBron era. Kobe and KG faced off four times in the postseason, including two NBA Finals that reignited the Lakers-Celtics rivalry. Kobe's Lakers and Duncan's Spurs had epic postseason battles during the 2000s, and from 1999 to 2014, the Lakers or Spurs won the West 13 out of 16 years.

We all know their greatness, but just think about how much the NBA and even the world have changed in the last 21 years.

Let's look back at that 1994-1995 season, the one before Garnett was drafted. The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies hadn't played in the league yet. Neither had the New Orleans Pelicans. Shaquille O'Neal just led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in just his third season and was certain to create a dynasty alongside all-everything point guard Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. Seattle still had a team, while Oklahoma City didn't. Michael Jordan wore jersey No. 45. The NBA was on NBC.

That's not all. Christian Laettner was the starting power forward for the Timberwolves. Eddie Jones was the starting shooting guard for the Lakers. Dennis Rodman, becoming a pariah, and J.R. Reid split time at the power forward spot for the Spurs. Current head coaches Fred Hoiberg (Pacers), Steve Kerr (Bulls), Doc Rivers (Spurs), Scott Brooks (Mavericks), Jeff Hornacek (Jazz), Nate McMillan (Sonics) and Jason Kidd (Mavericks) were still playing in the league. Other coaches like Luke Walton, Earl Watson and Tyronn Lue hadn't even begun their NBA careers yet. Talk about staying power.

There have been 21 new NBA arenas built during the Garnett/Kobe/Duncan era. Arenas like the Boston Garden, Capital Centre, Great Western Forum, the Omni, Reunion Arena and the Spectrum have gone away.

Last time this triumvirate wasn't in the league, Bill Clinton was president. The summer songs were  "Kiss From a Rose," "Waterfalls," "You Are Not Alone," "Boombastic," "Gangsta's Paradise," and anything from Hootie and the Blowfish. Jagged Little Pill just came out, and Tupac and Biggie were still alive. Clueless, Batman Forever, Waterworld, The Usual Suspects, Seven and Showgirls were the hits ... or misses ... at the box office. Dallas Cowboys rookie Ezekiel Elliot and socialite Kendall Jenner were born that summer. So was the "Macarena."

Something called the O.J. murder trial owned the summer. So did Pogs. The first season of Friends ended. Windows 95 and eBay debuted ... while we lost Full House and Jerry Garcia. We got the Unabomber's manifesto. Mississippi finally ratified the 13th Amendment — you know, the one that abolished slavery. We didn't know what a selfie was. Or Monica Lewinsky. Or the War on Terror. Oh, and Apple sucked.

Me? Well, I was walking around wearing my Nick Van Exel Lakers jersey with my Sony Discman attached to my belt loop on one side and my pager in the other. I was probably going to Blockbuster to return a few VHS tapes, then meeting my friends at Chi-Chi's for dinner. Then at night, I would come home and check my answering machine, hit *69 on my phone to check if anyone called me, make sure no one was using the phone, go to my desktop computer and log on to AOL ... but just for a little bit since you pay by the minute.

Then I'd get on my Super Nintendo and play some NBA Live '95 for a little bit, turn on ESPN (there's ESPN2 now) and actually watch game highlights on SportsCenter until I fell asleep.

Of course, the world has changed a lot since then, as has the NBA, and a large part of that was due to this trio of greats. Kobe was the most singularly polarizing player of his day, Duncan the most understated and Garnett the most emotional. They all helped bring us from Jordan to LeBron and Steph, molding the NBA as the Internet began to shape the world.

It's been more than 20 years since the NBA had no Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan, and it may take another 20 years or more to find a trio of outgoing superstars who witnessed both the world and the league evolve so much.

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