RealGM

Who wins in a 7 game series? LeBron replaces himself obviously.

The 2018 Warriors had more flaws than the 2017 team, which I believe to be the best team ever, but I still believe the 2018 team was a juggernaut. I would say slight edge, Warriors in 7. I know the Rockets gave them a great run, but they were designed to face the Warriors. I don't think we could hang with them offensively. Our defense was made to leave guys like Draymond & Gary Payton II open to take shots. That would not work in any sort of way against the KD Warriors. 2018 LeBron was peak LeBron, but someone like Reaves would probably be less effective as peak LeBron has the ball in his hands all of the possessions (and rightfully so).

Curry + KD is almost unbeatable

Harden
CP3
solid group of role players: Ariza, Tucker, Gordon, Capela
weak rotation on 7-9 spots

had 3-2 lead, and quite close game 7 despite lack of CP3.

Now, LeBron 2018 is a better and much more resilient player in the playoffs than Harden, Davis is more impactful than CP3 - and Lakers have decent depth with Russell, Reaves, Hachimura, Schroder, Walker.

Rockets were -2,5 rDRTG team that year, Lakers are -4 rDRTG since trade deadline in RS and - 5,7 rDRTG in the playoffs.

Obviously, Rockets were definitely a championship-level team and you may argue that under pressure Warriors had more upside to react, but I'd also say Dubs '18 are overrated, Curry, Klay and Green were after 3-straight finals and such series would've been definitely winnable. If there was a year where you could claim that Durant was more valuable to Warriors than Steph, it was 2018, and I'm fine in playing Warriors with KD/Curry being 1a/1b options (esp since they had some chemistry issues on court in that year's playoff run).

2017s Warriors are the best team of alltime, 2018s Warriors are beatable. I'd still give them an advantage here probably, but not by a significant margin.

You may argue that Rockets matched up better on a perimeter against Warriors, and this is strue, but I don't think they are overall a better defensive team in comparison to Lakers 2023.