The Deep 3 Podcast - Was The NBA Better In 2016 or 2026? | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

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You know, if you've been online this past week, a lot of nostalgia going on, a lot of talk about 2016 being 10 years ago. Let's talk about, was the NBA better in 2016 or now in 2026? We're going to talk about every facet of the league and you decide who, which era had it better? Okay, okay. So let's start this conversation by talking about the superstars of the league. Here I have the top five players in both years to my estimation, which I think is pretty much right, given consensus. Which era had the better superstars at the top of the league? We have LeBron, Curry, Durant, Hardin, and Kauai in 2016,

Yokic, Shea, Janice, Luca, Ant Man this year. I feel like... This is crazy, man. So I'm going to decide this, because even on both sides, like, for the... And it's like, overall, the superstars were great on both sides. But in 2016, we're looking at that general top five. For those top five guys have MVPs.

On the other side, three of the top five guys have MVPs. Is the gap between LeBron and Currin. or LeBron and KD bigger than the gap between Yokic and Shea or Yokin and Yonis. So you're saying was LeBron clearly the best point in the world more than Yokaches? Yeah. No. In 2016, no, this is when Curry had his unanimous MVP season. So this is the year where Curry was the closest you could possibly imagine to LeBron.

However, middle of 2016, we're just going calendar year. At the end of June, they blow a 3-1 lead and everyone kind of throws that off to the side. So once we like got back to Earth and July 1st hit and the new the new NBA season started, are we thinking like, oh yeah, Curry's not there? Like is he, is he so far behind? I remember very, very like, you know what I'm saying? That went out the window as soon as they lost. Yeah. Either way, we had a second player that like either way, the top three in 2016 is better than I think the 226.

Yeah, I agree. There was a first time ever in LeBron's not career, but in his like prime prime where people were actually considering like, yeah, I'd rather have some like Steph Curry on my team. over. It was a conversation to his point. It definitely was a conversation. Yeah, and that's never been a conversation

when it comes to Duran or any, obviously anyone else on this is Curry was the only guy who was able to, like, in some people's eyes and I will say, 2016 Hardin,

this is before Hardin was at his peak. He didn't, he didn't have an MVP yet at this point. He was just starting to thrive. He had second MVP in 2015, wasn't one of the MVP candidates, 2016, and 17, he was second again.

He didn't get his MVP 2018. Yeah, this was. So I don't even, I don't know if 2016 Hardin was like better than 20, 26, Luca. Janice and KD, I suppose that's close. Shea's having a second MVP level season after winning one.

Maybe that's comparable to Curry. 2016, LeBron is better than 2026 Yokic. Yeah. 2016, Kauai was third in MVP. He's better than that. Oh, yeah, he's better than that. That might be the difference maker. They might have had the best.

The top five in 2016 might be better. You also have the greatest player of all time at his peak. So it's pretty hard not to pick 2016. Yeah, we'll do that. But as a collective, even as a collective, I think the legends of LeBron Curry and Durant. Dude, my bad. Co, I was actually number two in MVP.

Yeah, he was number two. Damn. Well, who's number three? It wasn't even like a race. Number three was LeBron. Oh, yeah, it was unanimous. It wasn't even a race. Exactly.

I think the trio of LeBron Curry and Durant, he has more even more superstar aura. That felt more generation defining than Yokit Shee, Janus. Yeah, I agree. I think obviously, like the only thing about 2026 that might have over 2016 when it comes to start them is that the list is just longer in 2016. That's it. Okay, so the back half of this, if you extend the top 10,

you can the back half of the top 10 is better in 20. 26? Most definitely. I think in 2016, maybe a top 12 player that year, 13 players, DeMarcus cousins maybe or something like that. I don't know. But he, the guys we have now with smokes. Because after this, we have, we have Russ.

We have Chris Paul. What you said? Paul George. 2016, okay. Paul George is up there. Anthony Davis is killing it. Now, he made the leave in 2017. I was looking. 2016, the average 22 points per game. 2017 is when he started averaging 28 being like that top five guy.

Still like that. So it's pre him. But it's also pre-Wemby right. now. CP3. Yeah, CP3 is top 10. Some people

might say Russ was number six. I agree with that. I actually don't I don't know if you're right.

I think the top 10 maybe in 2016 still might be better. Well, it's tough right now too because Halliburton and Jason Tatum were injured.

Which is, I mean, it's fair, but like still. Tatum makes a difference, I think. Tatum, you know,

he should be in the top five over rant is this was last season. So I'm with you. The 2016 superstars top or more superstary so they get the point here but maybe the depth of star talent overall if we didn't do superstars and just it stars yeah like if we did the top 30 2016 versus 2026 it's a clear

disparity okay and we'll get to some categories that might take that into account next up storylines which decade had it better we had the 73 win warriors in 2016 lebron trying to win for cleveland kawai taking over the spurs kobe's retirement tour kd and rustle as a duo it's 2016 Take me back, man. The storyline category is why 2016 is so finally remember, this might be the greatest storyline year of the last, what, 40 NBA seasons? It's like, since Jordan. It's crazy too because 2016 is one of the last times, and it's the worst fault because they

didn't win, but 2016 is one of the last times where on a game by game basis, every single game is like must watch TV. Yeah. Where, you know, they lose and everyone's like, no, the regular. season doesn't matter anymore. But you have that, you have that, you have the fact that, like, LeBron is trying to win, that they brought in David Blatt, fired him on MLK Day because they got blown out by, by 30.

Like, Kobe retiring and the 73 win warriors, those two combined. And they happen on the same day. Yeah, those two combined smoke 2020s. 2026 is honestly kind of a weak storyline year. I think we're kind of going through a little bit of a drought as the air changes. OKC trying to become a next dynasty is the best storyline. people fucking hate O KC It's not even embraced

Like it was of the Warriors Curry had so much more fanfare Second best storyline Is Curry LeBron and KD Being unks that still got it There's kind of a drought In the in between Like Luca is a Laker

Not going well right now The roster is far away The Wemby Ascension is probably Up there too That's fun But he's also been In and out And because of all the injuries

We've missed weeks Of Wemby playing Come play out of time though Maybe that'll become Like a huge thing It's gonna have to carry 26 Damn.

Yeah, there's, wow, man. Like, what's another big story in 20206? The Knicks being good, but they're blowing it? The Knicks aren't good. You can see Detroit's good, but Kate's good,

it's like, ah. And the Knicks being, the Knicks being back is more of a 2024 storyline than 26. Yeah. Yeah, I put that because this is mostly the year

where they're the favorites with the Celtics being neutered a little bit and everything. And they're blown it. Yeah, they're not taking advantage. The Spurs and Kauai in 2016, the words are going for 73,

The Spurs got like 67 games. Yeah. They were what OKC was last year. And we're talking about OKC as a defining team. The Spurs were that. Wow. Yeah. 2016 sweepst-peak storyline year versus weak storyline year.

2016 gets a 2-0 lead in this series. Next up, let's do position by position to go through what you were talking about with the death of star talent. Which decade has better guards? My God. Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about. I put eight or so up here, but we can extend it if you can remember some. 2016, we got Curry, Hardin, Westbrook. CP3, Lillard before he made another jump, Isaiah Thomas,

De Marder Rosen, Kyle Lowry, throwing Kimball Walker, throwing Jeff Teague. Oh, good Lord. 2026, we got Shay, Luca, Still Curry, Kay, Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxie, you can throw Devin Booker in there, Austin Reeves in there.

I think there could be a real conversation between who would you rather have, 2016, Kyle Lary, or 2026, Tyrese Maxie. But outside of that, I'm just like, yeah, man, 2016 sweeps once again. Obviously, Isaiah Thomas. Sweep, I actually disagree. I don't know if 2016 sweeps.

I think the back three, I think Edwards, Mitchell, I meant to say 226. Yeah, Edwards, Mitchell, and Maxie pushes 2026 over the edge over Isaiah Thomas, DeMardo Rose, and Cowlis. Especially because this wasn't 2019 Hardin. Yeah. 2016 Hardin wasn't quite there yet. So, like, you could think Luke is better than him.

Curry's better than Shea, but obviously they're both all-time seasons. This version of Curry we have today smokes 2016 Westbrook still, I think. Ooh. that's a that's a good common maybe smoke maybe smoke is unfair but I'm still taking today's curry I think 2016 Westbrook is one of the few years where you can look at him

and say like he's he's putting it together like the the Westbrook essential we were so close to getting a perfect point guard and you know what's crazy I think that we are seeing Curry get sold so hard by his roster that I sound crazy if Curry had a good team around him I promise you would still consider him closer to Luca

so I think he's still firmly better than Westbrook, but it's probably a conversation. 2016 CP3 versus K. It's so interesting. Cp3 smokes. It's definitely Cp3 smokes. It's usually like I can even say that and not be looked at crazy. Yeah. And honestly, these aren't in order either.

These are just names. Yeah. So CPD I would take them over Westbrook, but I know it's debate for people. But I do think, I do think that like the back three is probably like 226 is kind of ranked about where you would have people. Obviously, I'm having breads it over cave, whatever. But those back three, I do think it's. probably the same level of Damar, Kyle, Isaiah Thomas.

Okay, so we'll say 2026 is a better guard talent because of depth. We give them that point. Exactly, yeah. Biggs! In 2016, we had to Marcus Cousins. Anthony Davis before he made the real, real, real, real superstar leap. Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan, all NBA. Andre Drummond, all NBA.

Stop the. Ford, Milsap, Brooke Lopez. No, no, no, no, no. Good God, man. Today we have Yokinjianis, Wemby. we can stop there. We got a slight. 2014 and 2015 were really, really like the dead, dead zone of the big man in 2016.

You see it coming back a little bit. But even here, there's Boogie and then AD who's a four at this time, Blake who's a four, the market who's a four, Al Horford. Like a lot of these guys are not bigs. They're not, they're not centers. Which is what like people think of. And you go down the list, obviously there's Janice, but like these, a majority of these guys are centers, and they are just better.

I include both positions, even with that. 2026 has so much more talent for the big man position. The positions evolved so much. The guys in the bottom of this list are so much more skilled than an Andre Drummond or DeAndre Jordan. Like, there was a huge evolution

in the last five to seven years of basketball, and this is the part that 2026 blows out of the water. God damn. Big men aren't just backed it to find the league. Like, who's the biggest? Because DeAndre Jordan is a top five big in 2016. That's so damning, right. Who's the big, who's the,

closest one to play style. I don't know, but I have 10 bigs on here, any or eight, any with Gobert? But that's such a sweet. Or Gobert. Yeah, Gobert. I can name four more in 2026 that are better than Drummond. That didn't list. Do it.

Let me hold the teams real quick. So I can look at him. Is Zubach better than Drummond? He's had an off year, but. I think I'd rather have like this version of Zubosh than Drummond, for sure. I didn't put cat. Again, have it an off year. So maybe you don't want to put him on there.

Joelle and B's playing well again. Joel and Bopper says there's back on this list. Obviously that. Yeah, I'm taking 2026, Joel Embed, over 2016, Audrey Drummond. Bam out of bio isn't on this list. Yeah. I say Hartstein is better than DeAndre Jordan. For sure.

I can see that. There's so many basic a name for Hardstein. 2026 blows him out of the water. Yeah. Wings. We have peak LeBron, peak Durant, peak Kauai, peak ball, George, 2016 is crazy. Yeah, concerning all the crazy peaks. And then you have a Jimmy Buller towards the bottom.

Yeah. Because they're in the best three in 2020, or the same three from 2016, just way worse. The wing slaughter from 2016. Now it sucks, Jason Tatum's hurt, so he's not part of this. But man, even then. I'd rather have,

Gordon Harry made his, was this the year he made his first all-star team? It's one of those years. It's something like that. Yeah, I think this was the year. He's on here because these are players that receive all NBA votes. So he received some votes.

Yeah, exactly. He sweeps Pollo, of course. I think he's probably a better player than Denny at that point. It could be up for debate. Yeah, we have Denny on this list. Like, we're getting smoked. Yeah.

Shout out Denny, great season. We have Hall of Famers up and down the 2016 list. Up and down, yeah. We have Palo Van Carrow in 2026. We're having a terrible year. Jalen Johnson said to have been here, me. What the hell? Ugh.

Even anything that would be losing. Yeah, whatever. Either way. He saw a list with Prime, LeBron, KD., Kauai. He's like, where's Jalen Johnson? Yeah. No, I saw Paul. I'm like, why is he here?

Yeah, but he's got a fine for. I think he's not doing anything. I think Powell's a big wing. He fit here more than he did. Biggs. So I put him on there. Yeah. Yeah. He does. This 2016 season is one of the best wing seasons, I think, in NBA history. Like, LeBron and Katie alone make it in that conversation. MVP level Kauai, young Paul George. Even Jimmy Butler was ascending at that point. Carmello was still around. Yeah. Dorosen was doing DeRosen things as well, solidifying.

He was like, yo, he can get a bucket. Exactly. Like 27 or whatever was. Getting belted by LeBron. Yeah. All time wing season. Yeah. Dare I say the goat. Insane gap. rookie class. These are the top five rookie the year finisters in 2016 and the top five in odds right now

from 2026. Okay, so obviously you just got to think about them as rookies. Rookie yokech. Can't even think of him at all. He was fun. He was like,

oh, this guy's passing. Okay, look at this chubby guy making a name. Where do you come from? Rookie cat. Special. Rookie Porsingas. Pretty special.

That was the time. That was the time. Rookie Jalililufor. Kind of disappointing. He was getting buckets He was all rookie team He was getting buckets a singular year For as a rookie it was promising

And then it fell off after that Yeah he's exactly like what everyone Advertise him to be I think he was like 18 as a rookie Like it was pretty What it didn't get you anywhere Yeah But he was getting them post buckets for sure

Now we'll say we have a great class Another side Con revelation Flag future superstar Edgecombe future all star Queen Solid Coward solid

Solid flag flag looks every piece as advertised and he looks like a guy that

legitimately is all star I think yeah I think flag or like all NBA I think flag and Kahn are having better

rookie years than what Kat had yeah so maybe 2026 I will say Kat was thought to be this next superstar

he was supposed to be like the guy you want to put your team around for the decade and he was living up to it as a rookie

and Porzingas bred so much life into New York basketball that it was It was a pretty cool moment. He revived these guys because everyone thought he was ass, right? Yeah.

I'll never forget. Tingis, pingis. That was a sentiment. Stephen Nes-Pitt was mad on TV. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's 2026. That was a crazy guy.

Or the super solid as well. That was such a crazy night. Who the fuck is tangus pinguish? That was. So we're in 2026, better class? Most definitely. Yes. 1026.

Now we got teams. In 2016, we had the 73 win warriors. The 67 win spurs, the Cavs, the Raptors, and the Thunder, all 55 plus. They sure have got the Thunder trying to go back to back. Yeah. And then Pist in Spurs, Nuggets, Timberwolves as the top five teams right now and wins. Outside of the Raptors, if every single one of these teams in 2016 was to play these teams in 20206. And I think excluding the Thunder, too, it's a conversation.

They get smoked. Smoked. Okay. The Thunder would be the Thunder and the Raptors on the other side. But yeah, Warriors, Spurs, and Cavs in 2016, all might be the championship thunders. Yeah, smoking them. The Pistons mean number two is rough in comparison. That's such a huge drop off.

Pretty rough. The Pistons have nothing for any of these teams. Shout out the Pistons. Compared to the 67 winspurs with MVP level Kauai. Yeah. We're kind of a weird year right now with not a lot of top-end teams. The Easton holding it up, man, at all. Yeah.

The Pistons like, listen, Jen Duren, shout out to everything that you're doing. Ron Holland, shout to y'all. What are you doing when LeBron and Kyrie walked in? Nothing. 2016 easily had better teams. that defined NBA history than 2026. Yeah, they never seen monsters like this, bro. We're not getting a lot of wins of 2026 so far.

Kind of getting belted by 2016. Listen, nostalgia wins. It always does. Vives. Oh, man, listen. Which decade had better vibes. Now, this can mean a lot of things. I don't know exactly how we quantify this.

2016, we had the sleeve jerseys. It was a three-point evolution. LeBron versus Curry was at its peak. We were 17. 26. We got the NBA Cup. That's around now. city jerseys that's around now

changes the aesthetic of the game Nike jerseys and now we're in the parody era there's no super teams no Titans battling it out anybody can win any given year how does that affect the vibes The 2016 dunk contest was absolutely insane Oh I forgot about that

That helps the vibes a lot It's over with it's over with The All Star game was entertaining to It was Kobe's last Allstar game You got super iconic pictures I don't know how many iconic pictures we have from 26, 2026 just yet either Pictures

Well the big moments haven't happened yet So that's hard to do it's over with yeah we haven't seen what if we're going to get a blocked by james yeah i'm gonna give 2026 the the nod though even as much as i hate the volume of city jerseys i'm taking city jerseys over sleep jerseys all the time easily they get that vibe right you have you have that i think parody era probably helps with the the one the usually thing parody era is good for the league is it but the superstar titans battling it every year was pretty good vibes it was pretty cool and that's my point that's that's my exact point when i push back on on this parody stuff is like yeah it's

cool, but then we get into a situation where we're halfway through the year. And you do still want some of the top in talent. Like, you do still want to see like great teams and, and great basketball. And obviously, like, we're getting that, but not to the level of, here's the guy who can be a top 10 player all time on a all time team going up against potentially the greatest player of all time. And the three point evolution stuff can't be under talked about. We were watching the start of a new era in the NBA and it felt like that. Like watching the Warriors usher in this jump shot revolution, that helped the vibes a lot. It felt special at that time.

Especially with the goat, LeBron being at his peak of its powers. The league felt special. The coverage around the league felt special. The attention was there. I don't know if we capture that right now. For 60 years, people said jump shooting teams can't win a championship. And then the Warriors came through and blew all of that out the water. Yeah, like the whole entire what we thought, our conception of what wins in basketball was flipped on his head.

Yeah. There's no phenomenon like that happening in 2026 at all. But the vibes The vibes of 26 It is It is crazy though because Is it good right now? 2026?

Yes The start of 2025 And once we get to the end Of the 2425 NBA year And then once post Post media rights deal The vibes are better NBC is fixing the vibes

NBC and Amazon is restoring the vibes The vibes are much better in the last four months than what they were in 2020. You know what? So I'll give them that. That, going into a playoff run with the new coverage we have, depending on how they market the games and hoping we get some good legendary matchups, the vibes could be brought back forever now.

In 2016, it's 2016 the end of like the final peak of when everyone was still like super intrigued by like the first take stuff? Like when did that stuff super, super become annoying? I didn't know. This was at his peak though. because we were still having the Goat debate in 2016. Like it was at its peak. We can't discount that in the vibes.

Skip Billings was still on first take as well. He was. Or maybe he just left. He just got to. Undisputed. Yeah. Which both shows were driving at that time because we had Max Kellerman on first take at this point. But yeah, this is the peak of the goat debate where like it was alive and well.

Everybody was talking about it and every school around the nation. Nowadays, I mean, you still do it. But everyone chose their side of decade. Yeah, you have you people. Everybody could be convinced still in 2016 when LeBron won the champion. ship. Yeah, 2016 was special, man. The Unks in 2016 are interesting. It was Vince Carter, Tim Duncan. They weren't off the fucking whim. The best umks was Derek. I said Derek. Dirk Nowitzky. Yeah, the general, that generation before didn't quite carry over like this one. Yeah, they didn't. Kobe's retiring. That's the only thing they got.

2016 has vibes, I think. It's really not close. Lou Zoozy was in his prime too. Oh, man. losing his prime now. And the going in 2017, the vibes also got even crazier whenever Katie left and Russ had to year. Yeah. If we got in 2017, ultimate vibe year, I'll never forget the commercial of him dancing, Hindu folks in a really awkward way with Lou Uzi. Now I do what I do what I do in the background.

No, the original was going like this. He was like, I don't know what he was. It wasn't like a normal hymn folks. He was like putting his arms like a square like this. Yeah. He was like, now I do what I want. I think there was a time where like a couple of days after Katie left in July, 2016.

He was in the car and Russell recorded himself, singing the song as well. Now I do what I want. He had the entire franchise to himself. Yeah. And he went on to win the MVP. You'd be 2016, 2017 smokes too, man. They gotta call it so old. But y'all wasn't there.

Yeah. Y'all wasn't in these... We were 16, not 30. Of course, we liked it. Some of y'all were eight. Y'all don't know nothing. They weren't there. So any more categories, that's the after vibes. Any more categories who's compare between the two years.

I'm forgetting about. Uh, man, what else is there? I think that may be it. NBA Twitter? Ah, undercooked, underdeveloped. It was better, 2016. in really in 2016 26 is too toxic now

back then it was way funnier back then everybody was trying to get jokes off and there wasn't well I mean now we're getting into a bigger discussion about Twitter being a dead platform because it prioritizes clickbait prioritizes rage bait because you get paid by the view

and the Twitter algorithm promotes everything to get interactions so you do interaction bait back then there was no idea of making money on Twitter which is getting jokes off having fun now it's a toxic platform and the NBA Twitter is matched

but I wasn't able to to so easily call somebody a CDO driver in 2016. I'm not like the jokes are good in 2016. They were. There's some good jokes today. Like some of the jokes today are still Alzheimer's. And I do think with some of the media accompaniment,

it really just hammers, hammers the point home. Some of the best jokes that they had in 2016, like for Katie specifically, they, oh yeah, that's when I think around that time, that's when they first birth to my next chapter thing, which is hilarious. It's a top 10 meme of all time. There was great beans back then.

2016. We've already entered Meen Prime in 2016 during now. But the nicknames were asked so back in 2016 they called Katie Cupcake. What are we doing, man? That's not good.

It's not funny. Didn't Russ? That was about Russ, right? Because like, Russ didn't call him a Cupcake but maybe somebody called Katie Cupcake to his face and he acknowledged it.

Yeah, I think Russ may have called him one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It was like an indirect shot of like a, of him saying something about a cupcake. So I don't remember the exact idea, but that was based on Russ. So like, it was kind of funny.

Yeah Sounds like 2016 is better NBA year Sounds like we can't argue for 2026 very hard Yeah