In 1996, the 72-10 Chicago Bulls completed their almost perfect season by winning the Finals against Seattle. To this day, that team is widely considered the greatest in NBA history.
According to Draymond Green, however, that title actually belongs to the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, who won the Championship after going 67-15 during the regular season.
In a one-on-one with his teammate and co-star Steph Curry, he dropped his take on that squad and insisted that nobody, not the Bulls or the 73-9 team from 2016, could beat them.
“To be quite frank with you, I still think we had the best team ever. Although we didn’t finish it and win a Championship, I still think that was the best team ever… until 2017. And then I think that team took over as the greatest team ever. So, I think we still accomplished it. People take numbers and they wanna put the numbers there and say the Bulls had 72 wins. We were the best team ever, I don’t care what no one says. I can’t see anyone beating that 2017 team. Not even our 2015-16. I can’t see anyone beating that 2017 team.”
Would @StephenCurry30 & @Money23Green trade two of their titles to complete the 73-9 season with a championship? pic.twitter.com/tdOY6pDdO0
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) April 14, 2022
The 2015-16 Warriors broke the regular-season record for wins in a season. They won 73 games and made it all the way to the Finals before losing a 3-1 lead to LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a truly insane meltdown and almost immediately discredited what they had done over the months before.
The next season, they came back even stronger. With a few moves, Golden State had a roster that included Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, David West, Shaun Livingston, and Matt Barnes. They only lost a single game in the playoffs.
While it’s hard to say how they would fare in a game against the 72-10 Bulls, that Warriors squad definitely deserves some consideration for being the greatest team the league has ever seen. At the very least, it’s the best team we’ve seen in over 20 years.
Draymond and Steph certainly seem to think so.
