It's actually a sound point. Image is as important as talent for that position. And a stable home environment and wife/partner is good packaging and also lessens likelihood of certain scandals. The last two guys (Zion, Jah) the league had tapped to take the throne were young, immature and single . Antman is the next in line and recently had his own semi-scandal bubble up.
When Kobe caught his charge the first thing they did was make him shave his face and walk hand in hand to every photo opt with his wife ..
When the league and Nike invested in making MJ its face they encouraged him to settle down and get married for marketing purposes.
Promotion of family values and stability is absolutely part of marketing package.
Correlation is not proof of causation.
The youngest president was older than any NBA face of the league… Zion is not the face of the league because of Lil Debbie and Wendy’s, Moriah has nothing to do with it. And Ja’s bullshit could have happened if he was married— As with Kobe, marriage doesn’t guarantee stability. Steph and LeBron may have benefited personally from settling down early and avoiding drama but it was a non-factor in why people tuned in.
To use a non-NBA example, a lack of stability certainly hurt Tiger Woods, who sacrificed some of his greatness for great times… But when the greats are out there being great, nobody is checking for their relationship status as they do with Tim Scott and other presidential candidates.