The NBA has changed a lot over the years. Players hold more power, the game itself is faster and higher-scoring, and there is an unprecedented depth to the overall talent of the league.
Of course, many ex-players and basketball legends also like to point out that today’s game is much less physical than before, and players are much softer than they used to be.
Ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday, Warriors star Draymond Green addressed that narrative and clapped back at all the old heads who complain about the lack of physicality in the modern NBA.
“One thing that baffles me about the 80s or 90s or whatever you wanna call it when basketball was ‘so much more physical’ is that some of the guys that be talking weren’t the ones punching people. They act like guys were just walking around the corner like ‘I’m hitting this guy.’ There were a few guys back then who would lay you out, that would knock you out, that would foul you and get thrown out the game. Bill Lambier, Rick Mahorn. But everybody running around acting like they were like that, they were getting bullied! So it baffles me when every guy, just because they played in the 80s, is like ‘if you played in our day you’d get knocked out.’ Like, nah not really, because it wouldn’t be you.”
An absolute masterclass by Draymond Green on players from the 80's and 90's talking trash about much more physical their eras of the NBA were 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ReW8etXS71
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 7, 2022
Comparing the different eras of NBA history is challenging, to put it lightly. While many things have changed, it’s hard to say how much harder or easier the game has become since guys like Magic, Jordan, and Iverson were doing their thing.
Either way, Draymond Green isn’t going to stand for role-players from the 90s trying to tell him how tough things were. The way he sees it, the NBA is as difficult now as it has ever been before.
