Before each season of the NBA, the draft brings fresh blood into the league. The best prospects from the United States and from around the world are chosen by the league’s 30 teams as they attempt to find the next great superstar. And while some draft classes are chock full of elite talent, like 1996 and 2003, other classes don’t necessarily have that many franchise-altering players available.
One of the more interesting debates that NBA fans indulge in is pitting the best of two draft classes together. And the question asked recently was about the 2016 class and the 2018 class. Players drafted in both those years have had the time to blossom into stars in the league, and both classes have produced some excellent players.
The 2018 class has the more attractive names, with the likes of Luka Doncic and Trae Young spearheading the team. Deandre Ayton, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are also no slouches. The 2016 team has some excellent balance, though, with Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, and Pascal Siakam all able to play both ways. Fans had a hard time choosing which of the two teams would win in a series.
Who wins the series?
2016 Draft Class:
G — Dejounte
G — Brown
F — Ingram
F — Siakam
C — Simmons
2018 Draft Class:
G — Trae
G — Luka
F — Shai
F — Jackson Jr.
C — Ayton pic.twitter.com/6bi9iDrDMQ
— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 29, 2022
“I probably go ‘18. and I barely wanna commit to that.”
“18 looks insane at first with Trae and Luka but man that team plays 0 perimeter defense while the 16 team is pretty good defensively.”
“Defensively 2016 is ridiculous. But ima go 2018.”
“Not biased the answer is 18 by alot.”
“2018 absolutely sweeps this one.”
“Says a lot about how much fans rate offense that a lot of these answers are picking 2018. Give me the ’16 class any day.”
“If the best player and second best player overall are on the same team, it’s a little unfair.”
“2018 gonna go down as one of the best draft classes ever. Right up there with 84, 96 & 03.”
“Luka alone puts 2018 over the edge.”
“Luka, Trae, and Shai would give even the best defenders fits.”
I gotta say, Jaylen, Ben, and Dejounte would clamp just about anyone.”
“This series would be so tough to call wtf.”
It seems that there isn’t much consensus from fans on this. However, it has to be said that the biggest stars in terms of both teams are part of the 2018 draft class. Hypotheticals like this are hard to judge objectively a lot of the time, but if the playoffs over the years have shown anything, it’s that, more often than not, the team with the best individual players wins the series.
