Former NBA players love to say that their teams would beat the Golden State Warriors. Even as the 73-win Warriors are two wins away from a second straight NBA championship, the comparisons are not stopping.
Shaquille O’Neal spoke to the Associated Press at an American Express event in New York on Monday, and guess what — he thinks his 2001 Lakers could also beat the Warriors.
Kobe and Shaq in their primes vs. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson? That would be some matchup. Too bad we’ll never see it.
Although NBA rules have changed to favor offenses, Shaq still had confidence in his 2001 Lakers team. He said via the AP:
“If you’re using those rules, we’d win. Now we use these rules these days, we’d still win, because you wouldn’t be allowed to touch me, you wouldn’t be allowed to touch Kobe. So yeah, that’s how I always look at it.”
The 2001 Lakers went 56-26, which would have put them 17 games back of the Warriors.