Former and current basketball players tend to talk about which players they would be able to dominate in one-on-one battles if they were both in their prime at the same time. Since we’ll never actually have a way to settle these debates, it’s pretty much all talk.
When you’re the best player in the history of the game, people are always going to be coming for you. Recently, Lonzo Ball’s father, LaVar, claimed he would be able to “kill Michael Jordan one-one-one” back in his prime in an interview with Josh Peter of USA Today.
"I would just back (Jordan) in and lift him off the ground and call a foul every time he fouls me when I do a jump hook to the right or the left," Ball said. "He cannot stop me one-on-one. He better make every shot ’cause he can't go around me. He's not fast enough. And he can only make so many shots outside before I make every bucket under the rim."
Obviously he wouldn’t be able to take Jordan one-on-one, considering he averaged 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1 assist per game over 26 games in his one season with Washington State.
Another player came out recently and said he would be able to take Michael Jordan one-on-one, only he was talking about a different kind of competition and could probably actually put up a real fight in it.
Vince Carter joined The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday and had some interesting comments, especially when asked if he would be able to beat Michel Jordan in a Slam Dunk Contest if both players were 24-years-old.
“I like me in the Dunk Contest, I can’t step down from that one. Greatest player of all time, I give it to Michael.”
It’s obviously tough to compare Jordan to any player, but when it comes to the Slam Dunk Contest, Vince Carter would definitely put up one of the best fights against him. After all, Carter is 40-years-old and still throwing down massive dunks.
(H/T YouTube/Dan Patrick)
