I played with Magic and Kareem on ‘showtime’ Lakers – NBA has more parity now and seven teams can win title

A former Lakers legend shares his thoughts on the NBA season.

JAMES Worthy is an NBA star who played with two of the game’s biggest legends, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson — but he believes today’s game has a more competitive balance.

The 62-year-old ex-member of the Los Angeles “Showtime” Lakers won three championships with the team and thinks the NBA has more “parity” and “small market” teams flourishing than ever before.

James Worthy expressed it’s more parity in the NBA now than when he playedCredit: Getty

Worthy believes the Lakers can win the title this seasonCredit: Getty

The U.S. Sun spoke to former seven-time NBA All-star, now an analyst for the Lakers on Spectrum Sports, at Metta World Peace’s inaugural golf charity event about his thoughts on the NBA season and how the players now compare to other generations.

Worthy played 12 seasons with the Lakers and was a vital member of their championship core as he built a hall-of-fame career, averaging 17.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and three assists in 936 games.

However, when he played, the NBA was not nearly as global, and small markets struggled to compete with teams like the Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Boston Celtics.

And Worthy expressed that this is no longer the case in the present NBA because the talent has grown and changed the league’s landscape.

“The NBA is, is thriving. You know, it’s a different game than where I come from, but it has grown exponentially over the years, so it’s exciting.

“I think the parity is really good in the conferences.

“I think some of the small towns like Memphis and Denver teams like that, some of the smaller markets are emerging globally.

“It’s expanded beyond what I ever could think of. Competition is good. So, the NBA is good right now. It is early,” Worth said to The U.S Sun.

He went on to detail that it’s about seven teams with a legitimate shot at winning a championship this season but stayed true to his Lakers legion.

“I believe in what we [Lakers] have. Okay.If we’re healthy. I think we can play with anybody if we’re healthy.

“But Boston’s is really good. Denver’s good. Milwaukee is soon to be good. The Phoenix Suns. There are a lot of good teams that are out there.

“So I could name seven or eight teams.

“But I think when you get down to playoffs, you have a team for seven games, and you’re not traveling all over the place, and you’re healthy. That’s when the rubber meets the road. For me,” Worthy said.

However, Worthy does believe the NBA could benefit from bringing back hand-checking on defense and having players stay in college longer. He used Lakers guard Austin Reaves as an example.

Reaves played all four years at the University of Oklahoma and came into the NBA ready to contribute.

“The game had so many aspects to it for so long. When I started watching the game, I was watching Oscar Robinson and Kareem and the game didn’t change from the fifties, sixties, seventies to the eighties.

“It didn’t change, in my opinion, until players started to come outta school more often, And they weren’t getting the skillset set that Austin Reaves has. Who had four years.

“So that started to change the game up a little bit to make it more entertaining. Now you can’t even breathe on anybody.

“The hand checks was good defense. And it was taught since I was in grade school. So I don’t know what happened to it. I don’t know what happened,” Worthy stated.

The NBA season just passed its quarter mark, with the Eastern Conference jammed back with competition.

The Celtics have the best record but are just three games ahead of the fifth-place Indiana pacer and five games ahead of the eighth-place Cleveland Cavaliers.

And the Western Conference is similar, with the Minnesota Timberwolves fighting to stay atop the conference as several teams are just in the recent game of the No.1 spot.

Nikola Jokic plays for the Denver NuggetsCredit: Getty

Worthy won three NBA titles with the LakersCredit: Getty