“There’s Magic Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Michael Ray Richardson…”: Isiah Thomas fact-checks Kevin Durant after the Nets superstar hints that NBA defenders today are taller than the 80s

Isiah Thomas was able to fact-check Kevin Durant and walk back his take about defenders being smaller back in the 1980s, compared to today.

There’s a significant chunk of modern NBA fans who think the game today is better than before in every single way. These people are mainly those who didn’t bother looking in the annals of the history of the league.

For one thing, NBA defenses aren’t allowed to play anything like what they could back in the day. For another, the advent of more analytics and ML-guided tape sessions have made defensive strategies way more informed.

But the other angle to it is that physicality in the NBA has been toned down mightily. The types of players in the NBA today are also vastly different than what was prevalent in the 80s and 90s.

Players were specialists in the positions that they played before, but generalists in their skillset. Today, the converse is happening. NBA head coaches and GMs are opting to go for players who’re clearly not complete in terms of skillset, but have a few NBA-level skills which they contribute.

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As a result, a lot of old heads – including Isiah Thomas – are viewing it in inferior light to their own generation. Now how much of it is accurate and based on real info and stats remains to be seen. But it’s always a fascinating conversation between 2 different generations.

Kevin Durant and Isiah Thomas have a great conversation about how NBA defenders are bigger today

Isiah Thomas was a guest with Kevin Durant on his Boardroom podcast recently. The Bad Boy Pistons’ eternal leader exuded the same charm and humor that he’s always been famous for on the podcast appearance.

One of the topics that both Hall of Famers couldn’t agree upon was the nature and physicality of the defenders they faced. Kevin Durant posed a question to Isiah, asking how he’d take the challenge of being guarded by a lengthy, switchable defender like Mikal Bridges.

It was at this point that Isiah Thomas pulled out a really relevant fact-check for Kevin Durant:

“So let’s keep it real and let’s be accurate, right? In the 80s, you’ve gotta remember, I came in the era when the point guards had all sized up. Everybody was Magic size.”

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“Everybody was 6’6″, 6’7″, 6’8″. So, you know, there’s Magic Johnson, Reggie Pierce, Michael Ray Richardson, Sidney Moncrief, Dennis Johnson. So they were the guys I was playing. Timeout, right?”