The NBA has been around for 76 seasons at this point, so it has understandably undergone a significant amount of change over the years. The rules are different, the style of play is different and so are the athletes. This, in turn, would make it clear that comparisons of teams and players in different eras don’t make a whole lot of sense, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it all the time.
Kyle Kuzma was on the ‘Draymond Green Show’ where they discussed why players from different eras shouldn’t be compared, as you shouldn’t have to minimize the greatness of one individual to prop up another. Kuzma also spoke about how rule changes and style of play make it difficult to compare teams from different times but did shower praise on the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, as he said they would dominate in this era because of the way they played back then.
(starts at 4:40 mark):
“I believe that the Showtime Lakers, they would f*****g dominate this era. I was watching Magic in the 80s, just highlights like earlier in the summer. People don’t realize he was fast as s***. He was fast as hell like he was getting the rebound, up the court and three dribbles and that’s the NBA now.”
That style could translate sure, but the lack of outside shooting could be a problem when it comes to absolutely dominating this era. Would they be great? Sure. Any team with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would be a force to be reckoned with, but again, we will never know just how good they would have been, which makes it a never-ending conversation.
During this episode, Kuzma also spoke about the best advice he got from LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, two all-time greats who have had a big impact on him.
