24istheLAW wrote:azee2890 wrote:MagicBagley18 wrote:giannis luka and zion. that's it. those are the 3 that you don't immediately hang up the phone on in tatum trade talks
Who do you think will end with the best career. Given their current circumstances and what they've shown so far.
Luka, Zion, or Tatum?
IMO this comes down way more to randomness/luck/how life goes than anything we can see right now and it's kind of pointless to think about.
If you saw KG and Duncan's 22 year old selves, you'd probably think KG will have the "greater" career. But Duncan is the more legendary of the two, he won more, was on better teams, had better longevity, etc.
Antoine Walker and Pierce are like that too. Walker was more prodigious for his age statistically at the beginning. But due to various factors you can't see or predict (as a fan), Pierce eclipsed him.
Also Kobe/McGrady/Iverson/Carter.... how dominant a player is at this early/breakout juncture of their career, doesn't correlate that strongly to who finishes ahead of who in the end. Comes down to who stays in one piece, who's team gets good, who's makeup is right in ways we don't know about yet.
Of course a lot can play a factor. The history of the franchise for instance gives Tatum and Luka an immediate advantage over Zion. Duncan was the number 1 pick paired with an MVP caliber player in David Robinson, a perennial all star in Sean Elliot and of course Pop. If history teaches us anything between the the careers of Garnett and Duncan is that you need to consider other factors outside of talent. Is Hayward, Brown, Kemba, and Stevens Tatum’s Robinson, Elliott, and Pop? Is Lonzo and Ingram Zion’s Marbury and Sprewell?
With that said, some players transcend bad situations. Like LeBron, who carried horrible cavs teams to the finals. Is Zion that good?
I personally think It’s going to be Luka’s league for the next decade. I’ve never seen a player dominate so early at such a prolific rate in my life. Tatum will be the better two way player but Luka is a generational in the same way Bird and Lebron were.
It’s definitely far to early to make any determinations about Zion, especially given his situation. Which means Luka and Tatum are currently set up to have better careers, given what we know now.