Twitter Gold: Could Larry Bird Play Today? There’s No Doubt

AUBURN HILLS, MI - 1990: Larry Bird #33 of the Boston Celtics looks to pass during a game circa 1990 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1990 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images

People who never saw great athletes play frequently can’t believe the claims about them. We’ve seen this recently with some who doubt that Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single NBA game, apparently because there’s no video. In 1962, though, not only was the NBA not on TV a lot, TV cameras looked like this (he did score 100, by the way, as his teammate, Al Attles, attested).

More recently, there is a bizarre theory that Babe Ruth didn’t actually exist because, again, there’s not much video. Well, of course there wasn’t much video in the 1920s.

This is what those sorts of cameras looked like about 100 or so years ago. You had to advance the film manually, there was a lot of technical expertise involved, the film wasn’t necessarily cheap, and you also had to have a certain level of expertise to develop it.

And of course you had to get lucky to an extent because it’s not like they filmed every minute of every game.

Which brings us to a more recent misunderstanding: could Larry Bird play in today’s game?

Which is a really dumb question.

The argument is that Bird was too slow and too unathletic to play in today’s game, which is just foolish. People had the same concerns when he came into the league in 1979. There were plenty of freak athletes in the NBA in the 1980s – Clyde Drexler, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Michael Jordan, to name a few. All of those guys have talked about what a nightmare it was to play against Bird.

Beyond that, though, today, Luka Doncic and Kon Knueppel are slow, unathletic players, and they’re thriving.

Also, in the 1980s, guys like Bill Laimbeer and Charles Oakley made their living essentially mugging opponents. In today’s game, you can’t do that.

But that’s not the main reason Bird would thrive.

It’s true that he wasn’t fast or athletic by the normal definition of those things, but his hands and his mind were extraordinary.

He made decisions incredibly quickly and ruthlessly, and he moved the ball like no one else has ever done.

Look at this collection of some of his best assists, and ask yourself: could he do this in today’s game?

And the only answer, with the rules favoring the offense, is yes.

You’ll never get tired of watching these 🔥

50 Amazing Assists by Larry Bird! pic.twitter.com/VWEDhDWbVq

— Larry Legend☘️ (@LarryBirdDaily) August 31, 2026

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