Every basketball fan should be excited about tonight’s NBA draft.

It’s not a great draft class, but I can guarantee you some major moves will take place tonight and over the next week, and that’s important to the league’s future.

The NBA just came off its most intriguing season since 1998 and its most drama-filled offseason of all time. Tonight it will ride that wave as Oscar-worthy storylines begin to take shape.

First, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, still smarting over the loss of LeBron James, will attempt to convince Cavs fans that Duke point guard Kyrie Irving and a player to be named will have what it takes to replace King James.

Then, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard might find his name in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers.

If the Lakers do get Howard, it will spark a frenzy as teams out West try to stack their lineups in order to compete. If he doesn’t go to the Lakers, prepare for a Dwight Howard version of the Carmelo Anthony saga from last season.

Either way, great drama.

But it will all be for nothing if the NBA fumbles its collective bargaining agreement with players, ala the National Football League.
NBA Commissioner David Stern and company have until July 1 to get a deal in place. After that, it may get ugly and remain that way for some time.

In 1998, the NBA was on top of the world on the back of Michael Jordan. Then it locked out the players. Twelve seasons passed — some pretty good, others quite forgettable, including a few NBA Finals I don’t even remember. It took LeBron’s “decision” for the NBA to fully recover from that lockout. Now it’s face to face with another one.

The league cannot afford to flub this.

Pro basketball is different than football. Not to be graphic, but huge, muscular men in tight clothing knocking the crap out of each other is attractive to men and women (though not necessarily in the same ways). And with gambling, the Super Bowl, and wider demographics than any other American professional sport, the NFL will never lose fans, even the ones who can’t tell a first down from a touchdown.

The NBA simply doesn’t have such luxuries. It appeals to a far smaller audience, and with officials cracking down on the physicality, it just doesn’t satisfy our American lust for violence.

The NBA is a league that lives off star power and storylines -- Magic vs. Larry, the Jordan era, the Heatles. And with the NFL possibly out of commission, now is the time for professional basketball to pick up a few new fans.

A word of wisdom to the NBA: Get a deal done now. Meet in the middle, cut what needs to be cut, add what needs to be added — just get it done.

But we all know that probably won’t happen.

Players are not going to want to give up anything. That’s understandable, after all, because they are the show. And owners are going to try to take whatever they can get their hands on, just like their NFL cohorts.

Basically in this C.R.E.A.M. (cash rules everything around me) driven society, a deal by July 1 is a fantasy, and so is the league’s attempt at sports supremacy.

Basketball fans, enjoy tonight, because we may not see excitement like the last 12 months for some years to come.

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Michael Gentry is a regular contributor to Qcitymetro.com. He writes most frequently about Charlotte's faith community, but he's also an avid sports fan.

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