Shaq: “Kobe and I would have swept Curry and Durant’s Warriors”
Shaquille O’Neal is convinced his Lakers would have destroyed Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant’s Warriors. His comments are sparking debate
The hypothetical debate over which team was the most dominant in NBA history has taken another turn, with one of the most unstoppable centers of all time weighing in.
Appearing on the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, comedian Aries Spears sparked a series of hypothetical matchups with host Shaquille O’Neal, testing how the 2017-2018 Golden State Warriors, led by Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, would have fared against some of the greatest teams in NBA history.
When the conversation turned to the Los Angeles Lakers’ three-peat (2000-2002), led on the court by O’Neal alongside Kobe Bryant, the former center left absolutely no room for interpretation or nuance.
It would be a sweep. Four-zero for us, no question
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq’s confidence is nothing new (he had previously responded to Stephen Curry by claiming that the 2001 Lakers were superior to the 2017 Warriors), but the passing years seem to have only strengthened his conviction.
In Spears’ hypothetical comparisons, the two were also in complete agreement about the 72-10 Chicago Bulls (1995-96 season): both the comedian and the Hall of Famer believed that the core of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman would have prevailed over the Golden State dynasty.
The first disagreement came when Spears tried to bring Larry Bird’s 1980s Boston Celtics, featuring Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, into the conversation.
This time, O’Neal rejected Spears’ argument, pointing to athleticism as the key factor that would have allowed the Warriors to survive against Boston, unlike what he believed would have happened against the Lakers.
What would have given me and Kobe the win was athletic ability. Bird and McHale were stiff in that regard. They were still great players, but they were too stiff. See, I had some of it, and Kobe had all of it
Shaquille O’Neal
The biggest surprise of the discussion, however, came with the final matchup Spears proposed. He went so far as to suggest that even the mid-1990s Orlando Magic, led by Shaq himself and Penny Hardaway, a talented team featuring Horace Grant, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson that came close to winning a championship but ultimately suffered sweeps at the hands of the Rockets in the 1995 Finals and the Bulls in 1996, would have defeated Kerr’s Warriors.
Very easily
Shaquille O’Neal
It’s an assessment that clashes with the on-court reality of a Golden State team that featured Draymond Green and Klay Thompson alongside Curry and Durant. But it also confirms that, even after all these years, Shaq’s confidence remains the one force no opponent could ever contain on the court.