Lebron. Prior to 2018 I thought nothing much of him aside from him obviously being the best player in the league but I didn’t see him on MJs level and barely above Kobe’s.

His 2018 run was the kind of stuff you’ll be telling your grandkids about a few decades from now, just like the oldheads love to do about Magic, Bird, Robertson etc.

I’m ashamed to say it was only then that I acknowledged that he was in fact, that dude.

This is unironically how he hurt himself against the Lakers a few years ago; exaggerated contact and contorted himself mid-air.

Exaggerating contact is also how he ended up hurting Green as well. Not malicious by any means but hell, he is so reckless.

Yup.

A lot of people in this thread showing they don’t watch the NBA or know its history, even the last twenty years.

The 73-9 Warriors couldn’t repeat. Let that sink in. It took them breaking the league in order to do so and even then you always gave those Cavs teams a snowball’s chance in hell (the '17 Cavs were a historically great offensive team but just did not have the personnel to cover Curry, Klay and KD).

For Jokic and Giannis, they’ll definitely win again by my estimation but thats a safe bet; they’re two of the best players in the game at the moment. Whether or not they win at least 3 or more is a very, very low chance.

Kyrie is easily one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen but he isn’t better than Luka.

Better shooter and ball handler? Yes. Arguably better finisher. Thats where the comparison ends though.

Luka is an entire offense by himself and is no slouch in any of the categories listed above. And he still has A LOT to improve on as well.

Is there a timeline where Kyrie fucking takes his job as a professional basketball player seriously and not be on some weird shit 70% of the time? Who knows but if there is, then maybe in that timeline this is a legitimate topic. Maybe. Like I said, Kyrie’s obvious talent vs what he has actually achieved just doesn’t line up.

Anyway, Kenyon knows hoop better than me and better than most of the people on this board but his take is bad. Rather than comparing the two players against one another, why not focus on the actual damage that duo can do? If Kyrie can just fucking play a full season without injury and off court drama, I see the Mavs exceeding current expectations.