Back in the day, Rasheed Wallace was one of the most real ones on the basketball courts. Today, Wallace thinks players in the league now wouldn’t have hung with him back in the day, especially LeBron James.
Wallace touched on the differences between his era and the modern era, as well as how James may have fared back then.
“He probably would’ve done good with his physical stature, with him being bigger than the majority of the rest of the players,” said Wallace. “So he probably would’ve held his own. But I don’t think he would be as successful as he is now. It’s a whole different era back then. I couldn’t necessarily say that he would’ve been a beast. But I think he would’ve held his own.”
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Wallace, who played in the league from 1995 to 2013, actually had plenty of overlap with James, who entered in 2003. Ironically, James’ first real coming-of-age moment happened at the expense of Wallace and the Detroit Pistons when James scored 25 straight points to knock them out of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals.
Wallace won an NBA title with the Pistons in 2004, finished his career with 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. James is a beast and would’ve hanged with the toughest of players in any era. James is a student of the game and would’ve adapted to any era’s style of play. Nevertheless, it’s not going to stop folks from taking jabs at the king.