Sports analyst Marcellus Wiley recently claimed that the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers would beat the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors in a seven-game series.
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Wiley explained that the Warriors weren’t physical enough to hypothetically beat the Lakers team that was led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Wiley claimed that the 2016-17 Warriors played in a “softer league.”
It’s really hard to compare the two teams across different eras. Both teams had tons of star power. The Warriors were loaded with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.
Warriors forward Draymond Green recently chimed in on Wiley’s take and claimed that the former NFL player doesn’t have the basketball knowledge needed to make a logical pick.
The Warriors shouldn’t worry about Wiley’s take, especially since they just won the NBA Finals in the 2021-22 season against the Boston Celtics. Golden State has gone to six NBA Finals in the past eight seasons and won four.
The 2000-01 Lakers were dominant during their run with O’Neal and Bryant, but the difference in eras makes the hypothetical Lakers-Warriors matchup hard to predict. In this era, the Warriors certainly lean on the 3-point shot much more than the 2000-01 Lakers did.
It would have been an amazing matchup to watch between the two teams, but fans will have to settle for hypotheticals. Wiley’s pick will excite Lakers fans, but Green seems to think that he is way off.
