Lakers Legend Magic Johnson Explains Why Golden State Warriors Are Not Yet The ‘Greatest Team Of All Time’
All the Golden State Warriors’ patience and hard work paid off when they returned to the NBA Finals in 2015 and ended their decades of title drought. Since then, the Warriors continue to dominate the entire league and have succeeded to establish a dynasty. Despite the improvements made by other NBA teams, the Warriors remain as the heavy favorite to win the NBA championship title this season.
When they won back-to-back NBA championship titles, the Warriors didn’t only return their core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green, but they also managed to upgrade their roster with the acquisition of All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins in free agency. As of now, there is no doubt that the Warriors deserve to be considered as one of the greatest team in league history.
However, the Warriors are definitely aiming not just to be one of the best but to be the best NBA team the world has ever seen. Since establishing 73 wins in the 2015-16 NBA season to beat the regular-season record of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, there’s already an ongoing debate where the Warriors are already the “greatest team of all time.”
In a recent interview with Ben Golliver of the Washington Post, Lakers President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson said that winning 73 games is a huge achievement, but it doesn’t make the Warriors better than his Showtime Lakers and Jordan’s Bulls.
“It’s an achievement to win 73 games, no question,” Johnson said, referring to the record-setting 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. “But that doesn’t mean that [Michael] Jordan’s Bulls teams weren’t as good as that team or my [1980s Lakers teams] weren’t as good. The Warriors are in the discussion, but think about the runs we had — Jordan winning six [titles], us winning five. We dominated a whole decade. The Warriors haven’t done that yet. You have to do those type of things to be the greatest team of all time to me.”
Here's @billplaschke on the Anthony Davis situation: "Magic Johnson is back on the fast break and, this time, he has to finish." https://t.co/GwO4kK2h5X
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) January 29, 2019
Winning more than five or six NBA championship titles isn’t impossible for the Warriors, but they will be needing to keep their core intact to make it happen. When the 2018-19 NBA season is over, the Warriors will be needing to make a tough decision regarding three of their All-Stars, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and DeMarcus Cousins, who all expected to become unrestricted free agents next July.
As of now, several NBA teams are doing their best to put an end to the Warriors’ dynasty, including Magic Johnson’s Lakers. After the successful acquisition of LeBron James in free agency, the Lakers are currently emerging as the trade destination for New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis. If they succeed to acquire Davis, the Lakers are expected to chase their third superstar in the 2019 NBA free agency. Having James, Davis, and another established superstar will give the Lakers a strong chance of challenging the Warriors for the Western Conference supremacy.
