Where does the myth that “NBA players weren’t friends back in the day” come from?

Why do old heads and casual fan bases always say that “NBA is too friendly today” to slight today’s players when old heads were LITERALLY friends back in the day? I never understood this rhetoric since the 80s biggest player rivalry Bird and Magic were bet friends and Huston the 90s like MJ and Chuck were friends and would even golf together.

Never understood this, old heads and casuals act like you don’t go harder (pause) when you're playing your friends. You literally want to one up your friend more than anyone else when you hoop so I never understood this. Bird would literally talk about how he wanted to dismantle Bird in every way he could (pause) It’s completely hypocritical to say this since it’s clearly or true.