The NBA today is littered with some of the greatest pure scorers the league has ever seen. Kevin Durant, James Harden and Stephen Curry are the cream of the crop and many would put them with the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in terms of their ability to score the ball. Former Los Angeles Lakers wing Metta World Peace is one of the few players to have played through all those eras.
World Peace is someone who can truly give that perspective as he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1999 and played against Jordan during his Washington Wizards stint. His career didn’t end until 2017, meaning he was able to face off with the Kobes, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady’s of the world and also on to this current era with Harden, Durant and Curry.
But for Metta, there is no doubt about how good of a scorer Jordan was and he spoke about it on his appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast with Shannon Sharpe. World Peace made it clear that he believes Jordan would average 50 points in today’s NBA if he wanted to:
World Peace is universally considered one of the best perimeter defenders in NBA history. Since 1990, Metta is one of just four perimeter players to take home the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award so he is absolutely qualified to speak on this topic, especially since he has matched up with so many all-time greats.
For him to just be in awe at how powerless he was at stopping Jordan says a lot about just how good Jordan was and why so many believe he is the greatest player to ever play the game. Metta also made the distinction about Jordan being able to average 50 if he wants to while adding that Harden would like to, but simply can’t.
It is always difficult to compare eras as the game is always evolving and certain things that worked in the 1980s and 90s simply won’t work today. But the confidence with which Metta made this statement shows there is no doubt in his mind that Jordan would be just as dominant now, if not more, than he was in his time.
Kuzma believes ‘Showtime’ Lakers would dominate today’s NBA
The same struggles in comparing players throughout eras apply to teams as well. Hypothetical debates between Jordan’s Bulls, the Kobe-Shaq Lakers, the Curry-Durant Warriors, and the Showtime Lakers are always being argued amongst NBA fans.
While he didn’t go into team versus team matchups, former Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma made it clear that he believes the Magic Johnson-led Showtime Lakers would ‘dominate’ in today’s NBA, noting how fast Magic was and how that would thrive in the game today.
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