Vlade Divac says that Michael Jordan would certainly put up at least 80 points a game if he were to play in today’s NBA due to rule changes.
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Michael Jordan went down as perhaps the greatest scorer in NBA history. Of course, fans and media alike can make the argument in favor of guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant and that is completely fair.
However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that Jordan was in the uppermost echelon of players who could simply, get you a bucket. Michael Jordan owns countless scoring records and won the scoring title a record 10 times during his total 15 years in the NBA.
In his six NBA Finals, Jordan averaged less than 30 points, once, and that was against the Seattle Supersonics in 1996. It’s safe to say that he put up all these numbers in an era that allowed grittier, grimier defenses.
Vlade Divac certainly believes the differences in eras in terms of how defenses are set up nowadays would lead to Jordan putting up unprecedented numbers.
Michael Jordan would average 80 points in today’s NBA, according to Vlade Divac.
It’s quite difficult to compare players from eras and how they would hold up in another player’s time due to the way the game was and is played. Hypotheticals such as, ‘Would Jerry West hold up in today’s NBA?’ are ones that are quite interesting to ponder over and yet, equally as strenuous to evaluate.
Vlade Divac believes Michael Jordan would have no problem in adapting to the NBA in 2021 and says that he would actually play better in this era than the one he played in.
“If you have Michael Jordan in today’s NBA, he would be averaging 80 points per game because of the rules. Then you can compare who’s the best. The rules have changed; there is no physical contact, no hard game, no focused defense. They play for the fans and score more points, which is nice. But the game loses competition, so it’s impossible to compare one generation to another.”
One of the biggest rule changes that occurred not long after 6x champ retired was the hand checking rule. This restricted defenders from checking the player on offense and led to quicker guards taking advantage of it. There is no doubt that Jordan would exploit this to his advantage if given the opportunity.
