The debate over the greatest NBA team of all-time is beginning to pick up steam recently. The Kobe-Shaq era Los Angeles Lakers are often mentioned, but with this franchise there are multiple eras and teams who deserve to be brought up and the Showtime era of the 1980s led by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy is certainly one of those.
The Lakers won five NBA Championships and made eight NBA Finals appearances during that decade, including becoming the first team in more than 20 years to successfully defend their championship when they did so in 1988. And it is that team which Byron Scott believes was the best of the bunch and arguably the greatest ever.
Scott appeared on the “All Facts, No Brakes” podcast with Keyshawn Johnson and laid out why he feels the 1988 Lakers are the greatest NBA team ever:
.@official_bscott says the @Lakers 1987-1988 team was the BEST team of All-Time ? pic.twitter.com/f4ymK8cNyW
— All Facts No Brakes (@AllFactsPod) May 22, 2024
That version of the Lakers is undoubtedly worthy of mention. Obviously Magic, Kareem and Worthy led the way, but the role players were exceptional as well. Scott was actually the leading scorer on the 1988 squad, Michael Cooper was arguably the best defender in basketball, A.C. Green provided rebounding and energy and Mychal Thompson was one of the best bench scorers in all of basketball. This wasn’t a top-heavy team, the Lakers were a deep squad.
It is always difficult to compare those earlier era teams to the more modern squads, especially with how prevalent the 3-point shot has become in today’s game. That being said, the talent on those Lakers teams were undeniable and they were battle tested and unafraid of any situation.
Whether they are the best team ever is unclear and they may not even be the best Lakers team of all-time with the 2001 and 1972 squads also in that argument, but that says more about the greatness of the Lakers franchise over time than anything else. Scott is right in that, at the very least, this Lakers team deserves to be brought up in the discussion.
Shaquille O’Neal, Draymond Green debate 2000s Lakers vs. 2010s Warriors
Obviously other teams that get brought up in the greatest team discussion are the early 2000s Lakers led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and the Golden State Warriors of the 2010s led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Shaq and Green recently had a spirited debate over who would win in a hypothetical series between the two teams. Both made their points, though Shaq was utterly disgusted at the idea of Andrew Bogut and Klay Thompson trying to defend himself and Kobe.
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