Many people say that basketball players of today "have evolved" and thus are vastly superior to the players of 40, 30, 20 and even 10 years ago. Improvements in technology as well as the NBA's income have provided several advantages to todays players over those of the past, but these advantages make life easier for current players:
Travel
Thanks to increased revenues all of the current NBA teams have chartered jets. Chartered jets and subsequent stays in first class hotels allow players more rest between games and save the players the headaches of airport travel. Years ago players took red-eye flights and stayed in cheaper hotels because teams could not afford anything better. Now the league schedule is more spread out so players can rest between games.
Sports medicine
Advances in sports medicine allow players to heal faster from their injuries. Many types of injuries that ended careers years ago now only cost players a single season or less. Some teams even have a hyperbaric chamber to help heal injuries faster.
T.V.
Television coverage provides modern era players with the opportunity to display their talents to the public and make more money for the league. Just 20 years ago NBA games would be pre-empted by local stations to show 30 year old movies. Fans used to be lucky to see their local teams in 20 road games per year. Now every game is at least shown on pay-per-view cable T.V. creating revenue. The extra revenue from television allows teams to spend more money on faster travel and top of the line sports medicine, this -combined with the more spread out schedule- helps players recover more between games.
Marketing
David Stern is a marketing genius, that is why modern players are treated as bigger than the teams they play for. current NBA ads go something like this "Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers take on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers". People think modern players are better than those of the past because they are more familiar with those players of today. Wilt Chamberlain stated in a 1998 Interview: "Every mother's crow thinks her child is white snow. Everyone believes that what is theirs is the best there has ever been"
Even if "human evolution" were true the players of today would be so superior to those of 7 years ago such that the current top teams such as the mega superstar loaded L.A. Lakers would be able to defeat the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. Evolution makes life easier, 120 years ago there was no need for sports because daily living and survival took up nearly all of the people's time. There is no scientific proof that we as people are improving now and we all came from a rock 400 million years ago. However that debate takes us off topic, if you want to pursue it click & go here