5 years from now: Are Zion and Luka the 2020s Magic-Bird rivalry reincarnation?

[JN61]

Ive always thought of Steph and LeBron as Bird and Magic 2.0

-East vs. West
-One is an athletic phenom, while the other dominates with finesse
-Met 4 times in a row in the Finals— it felt like an inevitability every year for a time

Etc.

Random fact: they were both born in the same hospital in Ohio

LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.

[rtiff68]

Ive always thought of Steph and LeBron as Bird and Magic 2.0

-East vs. West
-One is an athletic phenom, while the other dominates with finesse
-Met 4 times in a row in the Finals— it felt like an inevitability every year for a time

Etc.

Random fact: they were both born in the same hospital in Ohio

LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.

<yawn>

[GYK]

Ive always thought of Steph and LeBron as Bird and Magic 2.0

-East vs. West
-One is an athletic phenom, while the other dominates with finesse
-Met 4 times in a row in the Finals— it felt like an inevitability every year for a time

Etc.

Random fact: they were both born in the same hospital in Ohio

LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.

I don’t care to get into who was better or not but agree Durant was more Lebron’s narrative rival than Curry was. Especially for how long they were pitted against each other. Couple of 2nd place finishes(mostly Lebron). 10, 12, 13, and 14. The 2012 Finals. Then the Dubs era. Now possibly more.
More MVP races than others and just as many Finals matches already.

[Jon1798]

Luka might be that level, Zion isn't sorry.

Zion is an absolute wrecking ball coming down the lane but with his free throw shooting and general shot mechanics I'm not trusting him to make big play after big play in crunch time in the Playoffs?! Right now definitely not. While I see a once a generation ATHLETE (physically haven't seen something like him), I don't see the SKILLSET of a once a generation player.

Magic and Bird were near equals, imagine giving Luka that Pelicans roster...he'd destroy and New Orleans would be one of the best teams in the league, not just praying to make a Playoffs. So again sorry but they're not comparable, at least not yet, Zion still has to level up before this is a serious conversation and unfortunately for Luka, he needs a better supporting cast before he gets his chance to really run the league too.

I’m blown away with how opinions are formed. Zion is 70% from FT, and Luka is 73%. Lukas a career 33% from three so far.

I can’t imagine how anyone has watched Zion and questioned a skill set. The guy is like nothing we have ever seen.

[rtiff68]

Ive always thought of Steph and LeBron as Bird and Magic 2.0

-East vs. West
-One is an athletic phenom, while the other dominates with finesse
-Met 4 times in a row in the Finals— it felt like an inevitability every year for a time

Etc.

Random fact: they were both born in the same hospital in Ohio

LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.

I don’t care to get into who was better or not but agree Durant was more Lebron’s narrative rival than Curry was. Especially for how long they were pitted against each other. Couple of 2nd place finishes(mostly Lebron). 10, 12, 13, and 14. The 2012 Finals. Then the Dubs era. Now possibly more.
More MVP races than others and just as many Finals matches already.

I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.

The players most associated with those teams are as follows...

Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron

Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.

There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.

[BoatsNZones]

Was Magic-Bird rivalry because of that?

Watch on YouTube

Watch brother.

You will understand why old heads shake their head and laugh at your comparison.

I'm sure that question doesn't need a 1:25 h video to be replied.

Well to be fair you’re clueless and it’s an awesome video on them.

[GYK]

LeBron vs Durant you mean? Curry was never the best player on the court. It was always LeBron or Durant.

I don’t care to get into who was better or not but agree Durant was more Lebron’s narrative rival than Curry was. Especially for how long they were pitted against each other. Couple of 2nd place finishes(mostly Lebron). 10, 12, 13, and 14. The 2012 Finals. Then the Dubs era. Now possibly more.
More MVP races than others and just as many Finals matches already.

I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.

The players most associated with those teams are as follows...

Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron

Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.

There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.

But half those did however involve Durant. Finals it was Durant vs Lebron and billed, played out and performed as such. Then add another four years of a Durant and Lebron MVP race when they come out as literally first and second.
It just more years of Durant vs Lebron than any other player.

I agree the biggest rivalry was Warriors vs Cavs. But that doesn’t mean Curry vs Lebron was the rivalry.

[User_friendly]

Watch on YouTube

Watch brother.

You will understand why old heads shake their head and laugh at your comparison.

I'm sure that question doesn't need a 1:25 h video to be replied.

Well to be fair you’re clueless and it’s an awesome video on them.

To be fair, I had already seen it, and to be more fair, you actually seem to be more clueless, as you are only able to answer that simple question ("Was Magic-Bird rivalry based on that"?) by stonewalling.

[JRoy]

Good grief.

No.

Magic and Bird came in as rivals from their NCAA days.

[User_friendly]

I mean, the similarity of the situation is quite there.

What similarities do you see?

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

1- Both generational talents.
2- Both probably best players of their generation
3- Black vs White (Not that I consider it relevant for the game, but media and many people see it that way)
4- Both very skilled, but one longer range shooter than the other one much more inside game.
5- They both have good chances of being dominant as they improve (they are 20 and 22), and when their teams finish to build around
(Yes it's not happened yet, but we aretalking about projections, but reporting the facts. They are already impacting and elevating quite ordinary rosters, though.)

[pontius]

What will their beef be? Who's the friendliest guy in the league?

[rtiff68]

I don’t care to get into who was better or not but agree Durant was more Lebron’s narrative rival than Curry was. Especially for how long they were pitted against each other. Couple of 2nd place finishes(mostly Lebron). 10, 12, 13, and 14. The 2012 Finals. Then the Dubs era. Now possibly more.
More MVP races than others and just as many Finals matches already.

I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.

The players most associated with those teams are as follows...

Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron

Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.

There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.

But half those did however involve Durant. Finals it was Durant vs Lebron and billed, played out and performed as such. Then add another four years of a Durant and Lebron MVP race when they come out as literally first and second.
It just more years of Durant vs Lebron than any other player.

I agree the biggest rivalry was Warriors vs Cavs. But that doesn’t mean Curry vs Lebron was the rivalry.

With your first statement all you did was repeat what I said and reinforce my point: Durant was only a part of half those teams.

Your second statement is heavily subjective, and far from some kind of obvious, overwhelming narrative like you’re making it out to be. If those series were billed as anything other than “Cavaliers vs. Warriors,” then I’d argue they were billed as “LeBron vs. the Warriors,” and I’d argue that “Curry vs. LeBron” was more of a narrative than “Durant vs. LeBron.”

If you want to claim that Durant is and was better than Curry, a strong case can certainly be made. That said, an equally strong case can be made in the opposite direction, so you and another poster in this thread acting like “Durant > Curry” is some kind of obvious, widely accepted fact simply isn’t true.

[NADALalot]

I mean, the similarity of the situation is quite there.

Well, they've started off very poorly.
Both are losers so far, no chance of winning a championship anytime soon.
The opposite to rookie Magic Johnson.
I guess they are the loser version of Magic-Bird.

[User_friendly]

I mean, the similarity of the situation is quite there.

Well, they've started off very poorly.
Both are losers so far, no chance of winning a championship anytime soon.

How do you have to start to have a chance?

[SNPA]

I mean, the similarity of the situation is quite there.

Well, they've started off very poorly.
Both are losers so far, no chance of winning a championship anytime soon.

How do you have to start to have a chance?

Go look at the win total of the Celtics the year before Bird. Then look at it after his rookie year. You have to start like that.

[rtiff68]

I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.

The players most associated with those teams are as follows...

Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron

Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.

There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.

But half those did however involve Durant. Finals it was Durant vs Lebron and billed, played out and performed as such. Then add another four years of a Durant and Lebron MVP race when they come out as literally first and second.
It just more years of Durant vs Lebron than any other player.

I agree the biggest rivalry was Warriors vs Cavs. But that doesn’t mean Curry vs Lebron was the rivalry.

With your first statement all you did was repeat what I said and reinforce my point: Durant was only a part of half those teams.

Your second statement is heavily subjective, and far from some kind of obvious, overwhelming narrative like you’re making it out to be. If those series were billed as anything other than “Cavaliers vs. Warriors,” then I’d argue they were billed as “LeBron vs. the Warriors,” and I’d argue that “Curry vs. LeBron” was more of a narrative than “Durant vs. LeBron.”

If you want to claim that Durant is and was better than Curry, a strong case can certainly be made. That said, an equally strong case can be made in the opposite direction, so you and another poster in this thread acting like “Durant > Curry” is some kind of obvious, widely accepted fact simply isn’t true.

Watch on YouTube

[slick_watts]

living people cannot be reincarnated.

[GYK]

I’d counter with this: the rivalry of the ‘10’s was Warriors/Cavaliers, just like the rivalry of the ‘80’s was Lakers/Celtics.

The players most associated with those teams are as follows...

Lakers: Magic
Celtics: Bird
Warriors: Curry
Cavaliers: LeBron

Magic had Kareem. Curry had Durant. Kareem and Worthy won Finals MVPs for Showtime. Durant and Iguodala (which was a joke, but I digress) won Finals MVPs for GS. Cedric Maxwell won a Finals MVP for BOS, and McHale lead the Celtics in scoring during one Finals. Cooper won DPOY for the Lakers. Draymond won DPOY for GS. Kyrie played out of his mind in the 2016 Finals, almost averaged as many points as LeBron, and made the most important shot of the series.

There were lots of great players on all of those teams, and lots of guys who stepped up in big moments, but at the end of the day it was Steph vs. LeBron 4 straight times in the Finals— Durant was only involved in half of those series, and might not even be remembered most as a Warrior.

But half those did however involve Durant. Finals it was Durant vs Lebron and billed, played out and performed as such. Then add another four years of a Durant and Lebron MVP race when they come out as literally first and second.
It just more years of Durant vs Lebron than any other player.

I agree the biggest rivalry was Warriors vs Cavs. But that doesn’t mean Curry vs Lebron was the rivalry.

With your first statement all you did was repeat what I said and reinforce my point: Durant was only a part of half those teams.

Your second statement is heavily subjective, and far from some kind of obvious, overwhelming narrative like you’re making it out to be. If those series were billed as anything other than “Cavaliers vs. Warriors,” then I’d argue they were billed as “LeBron vs. the Warriors,” and I’d argue that “Curry vs. LeBron” was more of a narrative than “Durant vs. LeBron.”

If you want to claim that Durant is and was better than Curry, a strong case can certainly be made. That said, an equally strong case can be made in the opposite direction, so you and another poster in this thread acting like “Durant > Curry” is some kind of obvious, widely accepted fact simply isn’t true.

Yes I know. But it was half. Continuing the rivalry that was already years of history. It’s not as if the previous history doesn’t get carried over because of a new team.
So 2 Warriors years and 4 Thunder years of being leagues battling for the MVP. It’s just more than 4 seasons.

Fair enough it’s subjective.

No my claim was never who was better. I never cared who was better. Obviously a Nets fan I want KD and Harden to win. But even before that I would defend Durant because I hated how he was being shafted for favoritism or said to not be needed when my analysis has it as only an equal level talent or much better squad could replace him.

This was not about better but who was the Lebron rival. And again my entire point is that Durant has more seasons directly battling Lebron in one way or another than anyone else.

If asking who’s better I have Durant/Curry/Harden on par with each other. Peaks differ(but Curry). Primes differ. Careers differ(but Durant due to day one dominance).

[Hellcrooner]

League tried to artificially replicate the bird magic thing with lebron and melo, didnt work out one of them didnt hold his end of the stick.

Then tried to force the most valuable puppets thingy but also backfired the king was not yet ready to claim the throne and for when he was the other dude was already too old with a breaking body.


you can not replicate a rivarly out of thin air and have it work.

You can do a 30 years long megacampaign for one player if he lives up to it ( see Michael Jeffrey).

But a rivarly no.

[rtiff68]

But half those did however involve Durant. Finals it was Durant vs Lebron and billed, played out and performed as such. Then add another four years of a Durant and Lebron MVP race when they come out as literally first and second.
It just more years of Durant vs Lebron than any other player.

I agree the biggest rivalry was Warriors vs Cavs. But that doesn’t mean Curry vs Lebron was the rivalry.

With your first statement all you did was repeat what I said and reinforce my point: Durant was only a part of half those teams.

Your second statement is heavily subjective, and far from some kind of obvious, overwhelming narrative like you’re making it out to be. If those series were billed as anything other than “Cavaliers vs. Warriors,” then I’d argue they were billed as “LeBron vs. the Warriors,” and I’d argue that “Curry vs. LeBron” was more of a narrative than “Durant vs. LeBron.”

If you want to claim that Durant is and was better than Curry, a strong case can certainly be made. That said, an equally strong case can be made in the opposite direction, so you and another poster in this thread acting like “Durant > Curry” is some kind of obvious, widely accepted fact simply isn’t true.

Yes I know. But it was half. Continuing the rivalry that was already years of history. It’s not as if the previous history doesn’t get carried over because of a new team.
So 2 Warriors years and 4 Thunder years of being leagues battling for the MVP. It’s just more than 4 seasons.

Fair enough it’s subjective.

No my claim was never who was better. I never cared who was better. Obviously a Nets fan I want KD and Harden to win. But even before that I would defend Durant because I hated how he was being shafted for favoritism or said to not be needed when my analysis has it as only an equal level talent or much better squad could replace him.

This was not about better but who was the Lebron rival. And again my entire point is that Durant has more seasons directly battling Lebron in one way or another than anyone else.

If asking who’s better I have Durant/Curry/Harden on par with each other. Peaks differ(but Curry). Primes differ. Careers differ(but Durant due to day one dominance).

Hmmm.

I understand what you’re saying, I just don’t agree.

If we’re talking MVPs, then Steph has one more than Durant does, with all of them coming during LeBron’s dominance.

Also remember, the presence of Steph was the biggest reason Durant joined the Warriors— LeBron’s biggest rival— not the other way around.