When you think of the term “Big Three” in today's NBA, two of the first trios that probably come to mind in recent memory are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who ruled the East and won a couple of titles with the Miami Heat from 2011 through 2014, and Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who went to five straight finals and won three titles with the Golden State Warriors from 2015 through 2019.
Of course, the Heat's triumvirate disbanded after being spanked by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 finals, and the Warriors are still going (something you may have forgotten).
Golden State and Miami will face off on Friday night, a matchup that conjures up mostly faded memories of what once was.
Obviously, Curry, Thompson and Green are still together, but with Curry sidelined with a broken hand and with Thompson possibly out for the season while recovering from a torn ACL, their dominance seems ages ago.
Regardless, the Dubs' Big Three is technically still in tact.
So let's compare the two trios for a second: Miami's vs. Golden State's.
The Heat's grouping was obviously done quite a bit differently.
Sure, Wade was already in South Beach at the time after having been drafted by the franchise seven years prior, but during the summer of 2010, James and Bosh joined Miami via free agency, putting together what many deemed a superteam.
To the delight of everyone outside of South Florida, the Dallas Mavericks thumped the Heat in a six-game finals victory during the trio's first season together, but the following year, Miami won its first of back-to-back titles before eventually seeing its run end in San Antonio in June 2014.
As for the Warriors? Curry, Thompson and Green were all drafted by the organization. To use one of the million fan cliches out there, Golden State did it “the right way,” which is kind of ironic seeing as how the Dubs ended up being every bit as hated as the LeBron-led Heat (if not moreso).
Miami's Big Three was unquestionably more talented. James and Wade were two top-five players in the NBA, and Bosh was probably around the top 15. LeBron was a physical freak while Wade was a cold-blooded assassin who already had a Finals MVP under his belt. Bosh was a do-it-all big man who was actually a pretty underrated defender.
Golden State's trio, on the other hand, was more about finesse and long-range bombing. Curry became the greatest shooter ever. Thompson was nearly as lethal. Green was the definition of a modern big, a guy who can space the floor (at least back then) and guard multiple positions on the defensive end.
While the Warriors won one more title than the Heat, a Kevin Durant-sized asterisk needs to be slapped on that, as Golden State signed Durant during the summer of 2016 after falling to James and the Cleveland Cavaliers during those finals.
It's a fun comparison, and it's a matchup that certainly would have been beyond entertaining. My thought is that the early Heat teams would have had the edge. There was just too much talent between LeBron, Wade and Bosh, talent I don't think the Dubs would have had an answer for.
Heck, even the 2014 Heat were insanely talented but lost to a much deeper, much better defensive squad in the Spurs.
Either way, the transition from the Heat to the Warriors was just another notch in the NBA's ever-changing landscape.
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