Golden State Warriors picked as best NBA team of 21st century

In a hypothetical 21st century NBA team bracket, The Ringer picked the 2017 Golden State Warriors as the best team of the bunch.

Bill Simmons and The Ringer are always great at bringing creative ideas to basketball discussion. Most recently, Simmons sat down with Zach Lowe to discuss a hypothetical tournament between eight of the best 21st century NBA teams. The 2016-17 Golden State Warriors were featured as the one-seed in this bracket.

Competing against them were other title teams such as the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers, 2004 Detroit Pistons, 2008 Boston Celtics, 2009 Lakers, 2013 Miami Heat, 2014 San Antonio Spurs and the most recent champions, the 2020 Lakers.

The criteria for picking the winner of each matchup was simple – whoever Simmons and Lowe believed would win a best-of-seven series moved on. There wasn’t much more that went into the debate of who should advance to the next round as the two analysts mostly breezed through their picks with little disagreement.

In the end, the Warriors reigned victorious by beating the 2001 Lakers squad with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. While defending Shaq would be a nightmare, the versatility of the Dubs’ offense put them far over the top in this matchup. Of course, Lowe pointed out that granting the Lakers modern-day offensive techniques could help them steal a few games with streaky 3-point shooters like Bryant, Derrick Fisher and Robert Horry.

Nonetheless, few teams posed a chance of competing with the Warriors. The firepower of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green was too overwhelming. Remember, this team fell one game short of finishing with a perfect 16-0 postseason record.

Just as we assumed Durant’s signing with the Warriors in 2016 would be overkill, the Dubs rampaged their way to arguably the easiest championship in NBA history. So much so, that Lowe and Simmons agree that Durant’s legacy is heavily dependant on him winning another title under different circumstances.

Nonetheless, Durant is still adamant that he earned his titles. And, the history books won’t have an asterisk next to the Warriors’ 2017 run. We can confidently say the Warriors were the greatest of the 21st century thus far – and maybe all-time.