‘Heroes of Past vs Modern Day Players’ is a never-settling debate in the NBA community. Some believe that the ex-NBA players from ’90s and ’00s would have faced difficulty in today’s cutthroat competition. Meanwhile, some believe that legends like Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson would have absolutely killed it in this era of softer NBA rules. And stand-up comedian Aries Spears is among the latter ones.

He believes today’s athletes being bigger, stronger, and faster is an overrated argument. “Bigger, stronger, faster, but get hurt more often. Bigger, stronger, faster. But do rest management. Bigger, stronger, faster. But team up like the Avengers and make super teams,” Spears said on an episode of VLADTV. This came during a discussion on the show on Allen Iverson’s recent claim that he would have averaged up to 43 points in a season in the present scenario.

The claim by Iverson came on a podcast with Shaquille O’Neal. The 11x All-Star recollected the 2005-06 season when he had averaged 33 points per game. “If I was to play in this era with it wide open, If I can average 33 in a season, I’m gonna take it up to 43. I know 10 more points,” Iverson stated.

Aries agreed to Iverson’s claim. In fact, he lashed out at the section of this generation who believes that the veterans cannot dominate in the current era. He backed his words by stating how the NBA rules have gone softer now. “Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, who scored in an era that was extremely tough to score in. If you put them in this era they couldn’t score?” 

While there is no concrete ground for comparison, there is no denying that the NBA has undergone a major transformation in the last two decades.

How has the game changed from the 90s?

The most common argument against modern-day players is that the NBA rules have now gone softer from what they were in 90s. And this argument is not completely false. The league did implement rules favoring offensive play. The hand-checking ban was the most significant one among these.

Read More: Even if LeBron James Scores 80,000 Points, Michael Jordan Will Still Be Greatest, Claims Comedian

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The ban on hand-checking was placed before the 2004-05 season in order to reduce physical play and, in turn, it led to increased scoring. Yet another change that has occurred is that present day basketball prioritizes faster play and spreading the court. This practice has led to more opportunities for three-point attempts.

Notably, Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game through his career, and 37.1 points per game in 1986-87 season. So it is only up to one’s imagination what Mike could have done in this era of no hand checking.

Read More: Allen Iverson Wears His Heart on His Sleeve as LeBron James’ Praise Receives Emotional Response