The current sports media landscape is so chock-full of hot takes that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with them all. But, occasionally, one is so flawed that it rises above the rest.
On FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” Thursday, former NBA player Chandler Parsons outlandishly claimed that Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic was already better than Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
As is usually the case in these situations, Parsons didn’t back up his absurd opinion with anything tangible. Instead, he belittled basketball fans who might have actually seen Bird play.
“And I understand the old guys are going to disagree, ‘Oh, it’s a different game, it’s too physical, Luka could never play back then,'” Parsons said. “He doesn’t have to, he plays now—and he’s just better.”
Admittedly, Parsons acknowledged that Doncic has yet to reach Bird’s heights as far as his resume is concerned. However, this concession is hardly a bold one, considering that arguing that point would be even more ridiculous than saying a 25-year-old has already surpassed arguably one of the best ever to play the game.
Doncic has accomplished a lot in a short time and may be considered among the greats once his career is over. Though, even when comparing his first six years in the league to Bird’s, he comes up well short of the mark.
Since entering the NBA in 2019, Doncic has earned Rookie of the Year honors and made five All-NBA first teams. However, third is the highest he’s finished in the MVP voting, and the Mavericks have yet to reach the NBA Finals during his time in Dallas.
Meanwhile, through his first six NBA seasons, Bird had already been named Rookie of the Year, made first-team All-NBA every year and won the league MVP award twice. Furthermore, he helped the Celtics in two Larry O’Brien trophies, earning Finals MVP in 1986.
