“Any team with Michael Jordan on it, I’m picking” – Andre Iguodala admits 1996 Bulls would easily beat his 2016 Warriors in a fantasy matchup originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Perhaps the greatest dynasty the NBA has ever seen has been debated for decades: the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls or the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors. They are the only two teams in NBA history to win over 70 games in a single regular season. That alone binds them forever in conversations about perfection.
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But when nostalgia meets statistics and when eye tests go head-to-head with win totals, opinions start to split. Still, even the fiercest competitors can recognize greatness when it stands before them.
Bulls to win
Andre Iguodala, a core part of the Warriors’ historic 73–9 run, has offered his own take on this eternal debate about who would come out on top in a fantasy matchup between both dynasties. His verdict tilted towards the Windy City.
“I’m picking the Bulls, I’m not even arguing with you,” Iguodala said. “Any team with Michael Jordan on it, I’m picking, except for 2012 versus the ’92 Dream Team.”
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In many ways, Iguodala’s admission says more about his basketball IQ than any stat line could. The 2015–16 Warriors may hold the regular-season wins record, but they didn’t finish the job. They dominated the league with a high-octane offense, ball movement that resembled jazz improvisation and the historic shooting tandem of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
They won 73 games. But they lost the Finals.
That year, Golden State sprinted through the regular season like a video game glitch, shattering records, boasting a +10.8 point differential (second all-time) and thrilling fans with fourth-quarter flurries.
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Curry won his second straight MVP. Unanimously. Draymond Green was doing everything, and Iguodala, the 2015 Finals MVP, was the glue, the veteran wing who defended LeBron James, steadied the second unit and embodied the team’s commitment to selflessness.
But when the Finals came, Cleveland answered with a storybook ending.
The Warriors blew a 3–1 lead — the first time that had ever happened in the NBA Finals. It added a wrinkle to an otherwise near-perfect narrative. Meanwhile, the 1995–96 Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, steamrolled the league after Jordan’s first retirement, posting a then-unthinkable 72–10 record and sealed the deal with a championship over the Seattle SuperSonics.
The numbers paint a clear picture. The Bulls had the league’s best offensive rating (115.2) and best defensive rating (101.8) that year. They won their final three playoff series 4–1, 4–0 and 4–2, respectively.
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Legacy always favors the finishers
What separates Chicago from Golden State isn’t just the Jordan factor. It’s the air of finality that came with its greatness. The Bulls weren’t here to rewrite the game with flair, they were here to end it. There was nothing hypothetical about the Bulls’ greatness. Every loose ball was theirs. Every possession was a war they refused to lose. And when the lights were brightest, they closed.
Jordan averaged 30.4 points per game that season, en route to winning MVP, All-Star MVP and Finals MVP — a trifecta that speaks to a relentless will. Pippen continued to be the league’s best two-way wing not named Jordan, and Rodman, the league’s rebounding champion, gave them a bruising physical presence that modern small-ball lineups would’ve struggled to contain.
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The Warriors, brilliant as they were, built their run on pace, spacing, 3s and concepts that evolved the game, but might’ve bent under the Bulls’ physicality. Steve Kerr, who played on that ’96 Bulls squad before coaching the Warriors, once remarked that his Chicago team “would’ve smothered” the Warriors’ pick-and-rolls and run Curry through “a grinder” of screens and contact.
And Iguodala knows this. His respect comes from understanding what it takes to win when it matters most. He saw Jordan’s impact up close through hours of film and cultural osmosis.
It doesn’t erase the brilliance of the 2015–16 Warriors. That team made history, thrilled millions and reshaped the sport. But even the architects of greatness know when to defer to legends.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared.