Former Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors guard Nick Young shared who he believes would win a series between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s Lakers and the 2018 Warriors.
I love the Lakers but the shaq and Kobe team is not beating 2017-18 warriors …. all this shaq is the most dominant big ever stuff they lost to Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace 4-1 respectfully warriors in 5 on both teams ..
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) September 8, 2024
Young was a part of the 2017-18 Warriors team that won the NBA Finals, appearing in 80 games and making eight starts in the regular season for a team that featured Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.
During that season, Young averaged 7.3 points per game while shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from 3-point range.
There may be a little bias from Young since he was on that Golden State team, but his argument is worthy of consideration.
The Warriors – when healthy – dominated with Curry, Durant, Thompson and Green, winning back-to-back titles before losing in the 2019 NBA Finals after Durant and Thompson went down with injuries.
The Lakers did win three titles in a row with Bryant and O’Neal leading the way, but Golden State might have featured more top-line talent on its roster.
Unfortunately, there is no way to truly turn back the clock and see how the two teams would have fared against each other.
O’Neal would have been a matchup nightmare for the Warriors, as they lacked a dominant big man on their roster. An eventual four-time NBA champion and the 1999-00 league MVP, O’Neal was one of the greatest players of his generation – and arguably of all time – during his NBA career.
Meanwhile, Bryant, another all-time great, certainly would have presented problems for the Warriors. The late icon had a huge hand in L.A.’s three-peat and went on to have a long and legendary career.
On the Golden State side, Curry, Durant and Thompson were an elite shooting trio, with their 3-point prowess being something that the O’Neal and Bryant Lakers would not have run into during their era. It would be interesting to see how O’Neal would fare defensively if the Warriors decided to play five players that could space the floor.
That makes it really tough to compare who would match up better.
It’s obviously interesting to get the opinion of Young, a former NBA player, but players from either squad likely would advocate for their side to win.
