The Los Angeles Lakers have had some of the greatest players of all time play for their franchise, including Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who have all suited up in purple and gold. More specifically, the superstars of the Lakers have all dominated the NBA and won titles as members of the iconic franchise. In fact, the Lakers are tied with the Boston Celtics franchise with the most NBA championships won with 17, the most recent one coming in the 2020 covid-shortened season.
What if we only took the best Lakers players over the past 10 years? The Los Angeles Lakers have had their ups and downs over the past decade, especially since a starting five will need to be collected. D’Angelo Russell, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis are all current Lakers players who will make up the team of the decade alongside former superstar Kobe Bryant and former swingman Brandon Ingram. Dating back to the 2013-14 season, the lineup is D’Angelo Russell, Kobe Bryant, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors have also had tremendous success over the past decade, winning four NBA championships thanks to the superstar core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, with Kevin Durant and Andrew Wiggins helping out in separate stints as well. The all-decade lineup, therefore, becomes Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green. No doubt, this starting lineup can take any top team throughout NBA history.
Which 10-year team would win between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors? Factors such as superstar firepower, defensive versatility, and clutch moments will determine the winner. In an all-time great matchup, here is how a best-of-7 series goes down, and it will certainly go down to the wire.
D’Angelo Russell vs. Stephen Curry
D’Angelo Russell has been a Los Angeles Laker over two different stints, the first being between 2016 and 2017 in the player’s first two years and the second one coming in the 2023 season. Russell is an elite playmaker and scorer when he has a rhythm, although he tends to go cold at times. As great as he can be on the offensive end, he will not be able to stop Stephen Curry from getting his own buckets consistently.
Meanwhile, Curry’s movement off the ball and deep-range shooting will put pressure on Russell throughout the series. The Golden State Warriors star will always be a threat from three when pairing up with other all-time great players, so the Lakers will have a handful on their hands as well. Even if both stars are different, their impacts cannot be ignored when the point guards have other elite offensive players beside them.
Kobe Bryant vs. Klay Thompson
The marquee matchup comes down to two of the best shooting guards of their generations: Kobe Bryant and Klay Thompson. Kobe is easily the second-greatest shooting guard ever behind the GOAT, Michael Jordan, and brings it on both ends of the court. The Black Mamba, Bryant loves going one-on-one, and he normally always wins the matchup. Kobe will take the game to Klay as much as possible and will try his best to defend the opponent and also Stephen Curry as much as possible to help out Russell.
Klay Thompson is arguably the greatest stand-still shooter ever because he has a quick release and can get steaming hot from the perimeter. Thompson is averaging a career 41.6% from deep and will get his shots off as he comes off picks and also benefits from the attention that Curry and Durant attract. Klay Thompson will need to defend Kobe effectively, and while he will try, it won’t end that well.
Brandon Ingram vs. Andrew Wiggins
Brandon Ingram started the first three years of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming a legitimate star player in his final year with the franchise as he posted 18.3 PPG and 5.1 RPG. The swingman is built similarly to Kevin Durant because he is 6’8” with extremely long arms and will be required to defend the wing alongside Kobe Bryant and LeBron James while also scoring the ball from three.
Andrew Wiggins has been a spectacular pickup for the Golden State Warriors since the 2020 season, and his true value came last year with the franchise. Wiggins’ defense, rebounding, and perimeter scoring have made the Warriors a tough team to handle, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson alongside him, and he will be required to do the same in this series.
LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant
Another iconic matchup will come between rivals LeBron James and Kevin Durant. James historically had the edge over Durant in postseason showdowns, but once Durant got a superteam behind him, The King struggled to gain wins. Overall, this matchup will be extremely close in every facet since James is a much better floor general and passer and will make the right play for his superstar teammates. Meanwhile, James is also much stronger than Durant and more physical.
However, to his credit, KD will hold his own as a sharpshooter and will put a ton of pressure on the Lakers stars with spacing, especially against The King. Durant is a career 49.9% shooter from the field and 38.5% from three, so this will be a very intriguing matchup when the game slows down in one-on-one situations.
Anthony Davis vs. Draymond Green
Anthony Davis is one of the most uniquely skilled big men of all time because he can score inside and outside while also dominating on defense. The only person that can truly stand in the way of Davis is himself because his mentality prevents him from truly dominating all the time. At 6’10” and 253 lbs, Davis has the size to dominate the paint but also suffocate players on defense. Alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis won the NBA title during the 2019-20 season and will aim to have similar success in the series against the All-Decade Warriors.
Draymond Green is mainly a defensive specialist because he can defend all five positions as required but will need to use his irritating style of play to bother Davis. Draymond does not have Davis’ talent, but he has a stronger mentality on defense. Not to mention, Green is an elite playmaker who will be able to set up Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant as much as possible on the offensive end.
Los Angeles Lakers Advantages
The Lakers work well together in all areas, but their outstanding playmaking and scoring are their biggest assets. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are the two best players on the team because of their leadership, offense, and experience. The two most effective passers on the court will also be James and Bryant, more so than Stephen Curry or Draymond Green. Even if Bryant is known as a score-first player, he is a tremendous passer.
Pairing two all-time great passers with dominant scorers in Kobe Bryant and LeBron James with D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and Anthony Davis means the all-time Lakers will get the perfect shot on the floor every time. Unlike the opposition, this team can rely on two superstars to lead the offense in many ways instead of aimlessly trying to find any offense.
Golden State Warriors Advantages
The Golden State Warriors have an advantage thanks to their historically excellent floor spacing. Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson are three of the top ten shooters in NBA history, with Stephen Curry being by far the best. When paired with two defensive-minded players, these three accurate shooters will thrive from the outside because each one of them will draw the majority of the defense’s attention.
Wiggins and Green are known for their defense and hustle style of play, but their presence on offense will allow Durant, Curry, and Thompson to heat up from the perimeter even more. When the Warriors shoot the ball at an elite level, they will generate a ton of points but will struggle to do so when the shots aren’t falling.
Who Wins A Best-Of-7 Series?
Game 1 of the series goes to the Los Angeles Lakers, led by a 35-point showing by Kobe Bryant. Bryant proves to be completely unstoppable, owning every player on the floor and ending the game with a spectacular step-back jumper over the outstretched Klay Thompson. Kobe Bryant, with his unstoppable mid-range fadeaway and his explosives around the rim, proves why he is one of the greatest players ever in the first game. With the game tied 95-95, Kobe attacks and steps back to drain the game-winner to take Game 1.
Game 2 goes to the Warriors superteam. Three players managed to score over 22 points, as Draymond Green grabs a triple-double. Stephen Curry puts up 29 points and 10 assists to give his team an edge in every way. Durant leads all scorers with 34 points on 20 shots, outdueling LeBron James who ends up with 30 points on 19 shots but faces consistent double teams. Bryant chips in 26 points but the rest of the Lakers struggle to score as they go a combined 30% from the field, and the bigs cancel each other out on both ends. The shooting of Curry and Durant leads the way, with Klay chipping in 22 points as well.
In Game 3, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry combine for 10-22 shooting from deep, with 7 of the makes coming in the first half alone. With this type of shooting, the Warriors superteam gets out to a convincing 77-62 lead in the half. LeBron James has another big game, scoring 20 in the second half, but he can’t do enough to overcome the shooting. The Lakers make a late run in the fourth quarter thanks to 15 points in the period by Kobe Bryant, but Kevin Durant nails back-to-back three-pointers to take a 2-1 series lead.
In Game 4, Anthony Davis responds with a big-time performance. The game heads down to the wire, thanks to multiple clutch shots on both sides in the fourth quarter. In the most hotly contested game of the series so far, the difference comes in the play of Bryant and James as each player nails shots with a minute left in the game. LeBron scores 25 points and dishes out 13 assists, one of which fell to a Bryant And-1 over Andrew Wiggins. But it was Anthony Davis who led the way the entire game as he drops 35 points over a helpless Draymond Green, who is undersized.
Game 5 goes to the Lakers again because LeBron James and Kobe Bryant each drop 30 points. Throughout the game, the Lakers simply ride on the back of their two superstars who take over the game. Curry tries his best with 32 points and Klay contributes 28 of his own (7-12 from three), but the rest of the team has pedestrian games in comparison to James and Bryant. The game ends 110-93, and the tone is set heading into Game 6 because the Lakers have taken a 3-2 series lead.
Luckily for the Warriors, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry respond in Game 6. In the biggest blowout in the series, the Warriors superteam keeps the series alive with fantastic performances across the board. Durant drops 35 points and 8 rebounds, Steph goes 6-12 from three, Klay chips in 25 points, and Draymond Green does enough to throw off Anthony Davis who only manages 17 points to go along with his 15 rebounds. The Lakers have no answer for the opposition, scoring 95 total points in the game. With a shocking score of 112-95, the Lakers were not ready to get the job done and can’t avoid a Game 7.
The stage is set for an iconic Game 7. The first half ends 63-63, and all players show up by sharing the ball and competing. The third quarter ends 92-91 thanks to a Kobe Bryant fadeaway jumper at the buzzer. Heading into the 4th quarter and skipping to the 2-minute mark, the Lakers superteam holds a 3-point lead thanks to a LeBron James dunk to tie and Brandon Ingram’s three-pointer. After Durant scores over LeBron, D’Angelo Russell runs the offense and finds a running Davis with a massive And-1 opportunity which he ends up surprisingly making thanks to a pick-n-roll opportunity.
Durant is forced to take over, nailing a contested jumper over Kobe with 40 seconds remaining and later drawing a foul from the three-point line for three shots against D’Angelo Russell. With the Warriors up one, Kobe Bryant draws a double-team in the post before swinging the ball around and LeBron ends up at the rim with two easy points and an And-1. The Lakers get a stop, and Bryant and James swing the ball around before Ingram drains a mid-range jumper with 15 seconds left to give the side a 4-point lead. Curry’s three-pointer comes at the buzzer, which means the Warriors only lose by one point and lose the series. The contenders for the Finals MVP are LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, but the former edges out Bryant because of his elite playmaking stats.
