While it's impossible to have LeBron James travel back in time and play in the same era as Michael Jordan, that hasn't stopped chatbots from giving it a try. We've already asked ChatGPT in the past to answer questions we never thought we could find answers to when we had it rank the top 25 NBA players of all time, create the most average and unstoppable player in NBA history, and even predict the team to win Super Bowl 58.
But as you can see from the Super Bowl prediction article, the software isn't 100 percent reliable. Instead of asking the media for their biased opinion of how James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant would perform if they played in the NBA during the 1990s, let's see what AI thinks they can do in what's been dubbed as a more “physical” era of basketball.
How good would LeBron James be if he played in the 90s?
For this test, we used Bard since it's more capable of doing predictions and simulations. Bard's verdict on LeBron James? Still the same king, but even better. After simulating a random season in the 90s, Bard predicts James' averages to be the following: 30 points, ten rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and two blocks per game.
Side by side with his actual numbers over his career, James' points and assists are accurate since he has averaged those on multiple occasions in the past. It's his rebounds, blocks, and steals per game that have gotten even better. For reference, even in his best seasons, he’s never averaged ten rebounds per game, and he's only finished one season with more than two steals per game.
The only knock-on LeBron Bard could think of was the slower pace of the 90s, which would limit his transition opportunities, but he would more than make up for it with his aggressiveness on both ends of the court in a more physical era.
How good would Stephen Curry be if he played in the 90s?
Running the same command we gave James, Bard simulated that if Curry played a random season in the 90s, these would be his averages: 25 points, 4.5 rebounds, and seven assists per game on 45 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from three.
Most people forget that the 3-point line was only 22 feet in the 90s, and the slightly closer range would favor Curry. Still, his scoring and percentages are all lower than his career averages, which is expected since Bard assumes the physicality would negatively impact Curry's play. One thing we can't deny in any era is that Curry would still be an elite shooter and playmaker.
How good would Kevin Durant be if he played in the 90s?
As someone who openly criticized the play style of the 80s and 90s, here's how Durant would fair if he played a season in the NBA 30 years ago: 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists, one steal, and 1.5 blocks per game.
In all of the simulations, Bard called Durant the only modern player of the three who would thrive playing in the 90s. Why? Because it was an era in which players shot a lot of midrange jumpers. And as we all know, Durant is one of the greatest midrange shooters of all time.
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