Fans on Instagram are getting fierce over a hypothetical matchup between five legendary NBA stars and the five most accomplished current stars.
Team Current: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic
Team Legend: Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Shaquille O’Neal
With this being arguably the best past vs. current matchup we can dream of, let’s see what fans had to say.
“Magic > Curry. Kobe > Durant. Jordan > James. Bird > Antetekunmpo. O’Neal > Jokic. Team Legend Wins 5-0.”
“All I will say is this only way team legend wins is if they take away the 3-point line lmao. Stop acting like the current won’t shoot them out of the game.”
“Team Legend all day.”
“Current in 5.”
“Team legend easily.”
“Team current will beat the sh*t outta them legends.”
“Magic, Jordan, Bird, AND Kobe on the same squad?! They CAN’T lose!”
“Who’s guarding Giannis? Who’s guarding LeBron?”
“Team legends of course. They actually played defense back then and they didn’t cry if someone barely touched them and these are just the facts.”
“Legends ain’t guarding three 7 footers.”
“Bro, you got Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan on the same team bro. I don’t even have to say anything else.”
“At first, I thought team Legend would win with no problem, because they could defend the guards really easily, and they could score through Shaq and Mike. But then who’s stopping Jokic and Giannis? KD and LeBron? Kobe and Mike are great defenders, so is Magic, but they’re too small.”
“Just Jordan & Kobe will destroy them.”
“I think team current by just a tad because of 3pt shooting but it could go either way.”
“With everyone at their primes, Team Legend would beat even the original Dream Team.”
“Current team gonna beat them legends in the worst way.”
Who Would Win A 7-Game Series: Team Current Or Team Legend?
This would be a battle for the ages, as this would be a fascinating matchup that would take inarguably the five players that came to define each generation the most.
The backcourt battle may lean towards Team Legend in my opinion. The backcourt of LeBron James and Stephen Curry would be lethal, but Magic could play competitive defense on LeBron and not fall victim to a size mismatch. Curry, on the other hand, will have the swarming defense of Kobe Bryant, who will make his life very hard.
Similarly, Curry cannot guard Kobe’s varied offensive arsenal consistently enough to limit him, increasing the defensive load on LeBron. LeBron could be the X-Factor though, as his versatility means he’ll likely match up with everyone and try to get a bucket on everyone, whereas Curry is restricted to playing Kobe or Michael Jordan, but unfavorable matchups.
The frontcourt is very interesting, as Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are both seven-footers with very different skill sets. Team Legend does have Michael Jordan as one of their forwards, but it’s likely he also ends up having a multi-positional role like LeBron on Team Current.
Ideally, you have LeBron guard Jordan, as Durant and Giannis would struggle to keep up with him on the perimeter. However, they would take away a lot of Jordan’s rim-finishing abilities with sheer size. Even Larry Bird would struggle having to shoot over the likes of Giannis and Durant due to their size and mobility. Bird’s skills were unique in the 1980s but his slow-footed style could come to haunt him against these modern players.
The center battle goes to Shaquille O’Neal from a pure dominance perspective. Hakeem Olajuwon is the only center I believe can lock Shaq up one-on-one. Similarly, I don’t think Shaq’s defensive abilities will be of any use against Nikola Jokic, who would look to drag O’Neal out to the perimeter to open up the rim and hit dot passes to some of the greatest finishers in the league in LeBron and Giannis. The offensive versatility would be a great matchup for pure dominance, but I would lean Shaq to be overall more impactful given the styles of both teams.
I would also pick Team Current to win but that’s purely a compliment to the growth of basketball. The mid-range heavy offense of Kobe and Jordan would be taken away with three seven-footers constantly around them and looking to contest or block those shots.
Even if Shaq dominates the Jokic matchup, Jokic would be the perfect passing fulcrum that punishes opponents for leaving him open or invariably opens up lanes for him to exploit with a pass. Curry’s shooting is also notable, as he is by far the best shooter in this game. Larry Bird was great, but there’s nobody in history who can shoot like Curry.
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