When it comes to the great dynasties in NBA history, the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s are undoubtedly one of the best of all-time. Led by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, the Lakers made the NBA Finals nine times in 12 years between 1980 and 1991, winning five NBA Championships and becoming the first team to repeat as champions since the Boston Celtics of the 1960s.
Of course, the game today is much different than it was during that time, and that often leads many to feel like the teams of that time wouldn’t be able to hang in this era. And while Worthy doesn’t believe those Lakers would be dominant, he definitely feels they can keep up.
“The athlete today is a superior athlete. OK,” Worthy said in an appearance on the Road Trippin Show. “The approach, the stamina, the way they approach the game. But still, for me, if I got to pick a point guard to start my team, I’m going Magic every time. And he could play today. He’s got pace. He’s got size. I’m not going to say we would dominate. Kareem would have to guard some shooters, so it would be some disadvantages.”
The prevalence of the 3-point line is the biggest difference in today’s game and Worthy is right in pointing out how it would be difficult for someone like Abdul-Jabbar to have to guard the perimeter and stick with shooters. But as Worthy points out, Johnson remains almost universally considered as the greatest point guard of all-time and the Lakers did have some athletes on the perimeter such as Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper.
And while Abdul-Jabbar might struggle guarding shooters, most of today’s bigs would likely have just as many issues trying to defend him in the post with his patented skyhook. As Worthy said, they certainly wouldn’t dominate today’s game, but those Showtime Lakers definitely had more than enough talent to present a challenge to the best teams in the game today.
James Worthy discusses how Lakers should build roster around Luka Doncic
When it comes to today’s Lakers, this squad has its superstar in place in Luka Doncic and now the front office will need to build the proper roster around him and has the tools to do so this offseason. Worthy recently gave his thoughts on the ideal roster to put around Doncic and the types of players needed for this team to succeed at the highest level.
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