For many, the idea these Golden State Warriors are the greatest of all time isn’t so outlandish.
For NBA experts it’s a tad more complicated.
The Warriors just breezed through LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, the addition of Kevin Durant alongside Stephen Curry and others redefining what we classify as a superteams.
But according to a panel of NBA experts gathered by Carl Steward of the Mercury News, which includes Howard Beck, Scott Howard-Cooper, Tim Kawakami, Jackie MacMullan, Marc Spears and others, this isn’t such an easy thing to decide. In fact, the panel ranked the Warriors as the third-greatest team of all time behind the ’96 Chicago Bulls and ’85 Los Angeles Lakers.
MacMullan, for instance, didn’t even list these Warriors as one of her top five: “I was so tempted to put the Warriors in the number 5 spot, but Kobe and Shaq nudged out Steph and KD. Different styles, different times. This was a difficult exercise!”
Beck, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to list the Warriors at No. 1: “I’m comfortable ranking the Warriors as the greatest of all time. They won 67 games, compiled the greatest playoff record in history (16-1) and beat the best player of his generation (LeBron). Kevin Durant will go down as one of the greatest scorers of all time, and Stephen Curry as perhaps the greatest shooter ever. Klay Thompson’s shooting and Draymond Green’s all-around skills will probably put them in the Hall of Fame, as well.”
The reality is probably somewhere closer to the middle, though it’s no easy task to compare teams across eras. These experts attempted to do so, even knowing there is no pleasing everyone with such a list.
No matter what one thinks of the list, it’s always an interesting debate to have, especially after witnessing the sheer greatness of the last two champions.
So it begs the question—which team do you think is the best of all time?
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