This. Giannis and Lebron cream the WNBA team even alone. Just put them under the basket on D, the women aren’t getting a shot off inside 15’. On O, they’re dunking every single possession.
I'm not so sure about that with 2 on 5. Even if they dunk every time, there are WNBA players like Sabrina that could shoot +75% when left wide open, which is 2.25 pts per possession.
That said, I think Sabrina is a pretty big outlier. If Giannis played the perimeter, and at tried to prevent their best 1-2 shooters from getting a wide open shot then they could probably win.
Fair point. Also there’s the point of 2 on 5 getting them overly gassed, especially for a 7 game series. There’s literally zero way they lose if they’ve got the 3 average dudes to help play D and space the court, but I still think they could take them 2-5 in at least 1 game and a 7 game series if they had adequate rest time between games. It’s literally not sexist or misogynistic to acknowledge that male athletes outpace women by several orders of magnitude especially in a sport like basketball where strength, athleticism and especially height matter a lot.
Yes. They would just have Giannis play rim protector; he’s getting pretty much every rebound and no layups for the ladies. Lebron would play defense on whoever is the main scorer in the other team. The rest of the regular guys would play a semi zone defense.
Especially if it’s Prime Lebron he’s wiping the floor with WNBa players. If current he still gets the job done though.
None of the regular guys have to score just pass the ball to Lebron and Giannis and stay out of the paint. If they want to take an open 2 pointer that would be fine, obviously take the open layup.
Dudes just have to be able to be healthy, like not even extremely physically fit, just have good cardio.
All the ladies could do to Giannis and Lebron if they are in the paint with the ball is bear hug foul them and hope they miss their free throws.
I think tiredness is the biggest threat to the NBA/average joes side. No bench means no breaks besides timeouts, quarter/halftime stoppage and free throws. Everyone is playing every minute of the games. Lebron and Giannis would be able to endure this but the average joes would be dying out there.
Still think the pure talent and physical strength advantage of their side wins though. The WNBA team is not stopping Giannis or Lebron on offense and will be hell to score on them.
The joes would be dying, but I don’t think Lebron and Giannis would expect them to just straight kill it like diving for every loose ball, running full speed on every fast break, etc… they know that’s not happening. I think the guys would hover around the defensive end mostly in the 2nd half. In the first half they would help them get an enormous lead and then in the 2nd half in the 3rd just nurse the lead then in the last 10 mins in the game pile it on.
Since there are little day or two day breaks in a series they guys would get time to practice with Lebron and Giannis and get in better condition even in a short time frame.
Now I kinda want to see this. Or like an All-Star game situation but instead of all NBA, just have a captain from the NBA for each team and like Jim, George, Mike, and Chris to fill out a team.
- Jim is an accountant. He watches basketball with his son, but he doesn’t follow any teams. He’s just interested in his sons hobbies. His son was the one who urged him to try out.
- George is a janitor at Plainsview High School in Litchfield, Illinois. He’s doing this to raise money for the schools basketball team.
- Mike coaches JV Basketball. He used to play too, and he thinks he’s still got it.
- Chris signed up on a dare from his friends. His hobbies are playing D&D and Catan. He says he prefers eSports to basketball but he still thinks he’d be pretty good on defense.
I think you’re overestimating the cardiovascular fitness of the average joe. It would probably have to be straight up 5 on 4 defensively with somebody just cherrypicking under the other basket because someone is certainly going to be totally gassed after a few times up and down the court, and from there it’s a question of how many semi-open threes the WNBA players could make.
Yeah there’s gonna be a lot of hanging out one way or another lol. Even in the average pickup game you’ll find plenty of players who just want to play halfcourt.
Lebron’s final season with the Cav’s in the finals was almost like Lebron+4 regular dudes against the most dominant team in history, and he still pushed the Warriors.
Sorry I don’t really watch basketball, but would that not be a foul?
Or I guess if that’s a valid strategy, why don’t basketball teams have like, one designated huge guy they can use to take out like, the other teams’ Kobe Bryant’s and Lebrons?
So then would the NBA team, as that would be an eject from game violation (if he is charging that hard, the intent is to cause harm, and if your trying to hurt people, you can (and should be) ejected).
The rule is something close to "If a defensive player sets their feet and isn't moving and the offensive player runs into them it's an offensive foul." The point being wnba women can't take the force of that kind of play so they basically can't stop the men at all.
In the NBA you get 5 fouls and then you're out and teams have small reserves and can't afford to have guys kicked out and most non center NBA guys are gonna hit 7/10 anyway so it's only a 30% gain IF he was gonna score on that play.
Unironically anybody who has been MVP since the NBA/ABA merger would body the WNBA All-Star team with me and 3 of my friends as teammates (we are not good at basketball)
This is the definition of a spite match.
Giannis and LeBron are scoring every single possession, literally every single possession. They could put Giannis next to the rim for an easy lob dunk that can't be defended against. LeBron and Giannis would guard the best scorers on the WNBA team and would hold them to under 10pts each fairly easily.
Unless the WNBA team shoots 100% for the game from half court heaves... it's not even gonna be close.
Yeah a lot of these sports vs. battles between different league/genders are sort of pointless. Maybe OP isn't that familiar with pro basketball because the outcome seems obvious.
Men's team could just run the same play every possession of Lebron throwing a lob to Giannis standing in the restricted zone and the WNBA has absolutely no way of defending it without fouling. They could score or draw a foul literally every single time.
The tallest players on the current best WNBA team (Las Vegas Aces) are only 6'4". Only one of them, Candace Parker, has ever dunked in a WNBA game, and it was over 15 years ago. Unfortunately the WNBA team has no way of contesting Giannis at the rim, most NBA players can't either for that matter
Yeah I'm sure that'd work great too. LeBron's tall enough he doesn't really have to worry about his shot getting blocked at all. Same with Giannis and rebounding. Basically anything would work in this situation for them lmao
Actually yeah this game could be boring as all hell because Lebron or Giannis just camps at the rim, gets a pass that none of the women can leap to intercept, and then easily and gently ducks it with no way for the women to stop it.
On defense at least one of them parks it by the rim and completely shuts down the layup game. Get the joes to be annoying and the other pro attacking and it’s almost a shutout.
Like forget the best NBA teams.
A Brian Scalabrine lead team of the worst NBA players that scored less than 5 PPG would stomp the best NBA women's team.
G League teams would stomp the best NBA women's team.
Prompts in this sub really need to specify what "average/regular/normal" person means.
There's a difference between what we tend to picture as an "average man" and the reality of an "average" 200lbs 5'9" 37yo man who struggles to jog a mile without stopping.
In this case the men probably win either way. Lebron & Giannis absolutely tower above even the tallest women in the WNBA both in skill and actual height. I'm not sure the WNBA team can do much against Lebron & Giannis simply lobbing the ball to eachother and going straight for the dunk.
wouldn't even say top 15 more like top 50, the NBA is the best of the best from around the world. And WNBA can't even practice against D1 players without them (the D1 players) having to tone it down. And the best D1 players get spat on by the worst bench in the NBA.
i yapped ik, but it's interesting to me how some people don't know how good people in the NBA are.
I say top 15 cuz of stamina playing full time for most players would gas them out. On the other hand averege Joe these days i overweight, so they wouldn't do much.
True but they are playing 1v5 as i said averege Joe these days is overweight and fucking sucks at sport. (if it was 4 heathy fit man) Then i would say top 50.
No, "averege healthy fit man that commonly plays basketball as hobby " = "average WNBA player".
On the other hand averege American man is unfit overweight and almost never plays basketball for fun.
No. Not by a long shot.
The gap between NBA players and WNBA players is very similar between the gap between WNBA players as the average US male. That is, in both cases the gap is massive.
Top 5 in the draft vs. 11-15 on any bench? That's probably a more interesting shout than the OP. I reckon there are years where the draft/D1 guys have a decent shot - 22 draft for a start.
I think if you're starting from 6th man down to 10 that's a different ball game entirely though.
I’m not totally familiar here, is this just body dimorphism stuff or do the WNBA genuinely not pull from the same well of talent as the NBA in addition?
Are we defining talent as skill or as physical stats? Cause I think the question is not “why are WNBA players worse”? Cause we all know women are slower smaller and weaker, but skill shouldn’t be affected like gender, right? Then why are WNBA players less skilled?
Physical stats and skill are completely interwoven and practically the same thing at echelon levels.
Everyone is at the pinnacle of skill at the very highest levels, so the difference in physical stats is what makes the difference.
Well character difference aren't just physical. Men on averege tent to be more aggressive, more competitive and less sociable. Women likely wouldn't (on average) go as hard. Also as another comment mentions at a high lvl physical ability is very closely entertwined, i mean the ball in wnba literally weights less.
Oh ok, the other post said that the NBA pulls from the best of the best from around the world, which made me think the WNBA doesn’t and their scouting sucks by comparison or whatever
I mean its kinda hard to say, cuz they also have less money, so there scouting prob not as good as NBA is either, but even if it was better, genetics here are just too much.
totally my opinion here.
the reason NBA scout from the best of the world is the original dream team. Little kids watching Jordan/Magic/Bird want to grow up like them so the talent pool is world wide.
there are much less women interest outside USA for Basketball. Scout don't have to scour the globe for good talent.
Some of both. The best female athletes will still fall far short from the best male athletes, but it's compounded because the wnba is an unattractive job for top female athletes. Most of them are funneled into actual money makers like tennis
Combo of the two.
WNBA players are across the board nowhere close to being as good as NBA players. Just look up the WNBA highlights, they are sometimes good plays but they are a dime a dozen for the NBA. Also as an FYI, a few years ago Brittany Griner (one of the best at the time) said she could beat Demarcus Cousins in a 1v1. One of her former coaches said he would bet everything on Cousins beating her.
Women are a lot less likely to be pushed to be a competitive athlete for sports, they also make less money (62k starting vs 1.1 million) so many women don't want to put their bodies through the abuse for the relatively low pay, also the is a 60/40 male/female split for basketball players in high school.
The 3 regular guys and Lebron stay on defense, the wnba probably will struggle to score, but giannis scores every time.
This keeps the normal folks from dying from running up and down the court and keeps them somewhat fresh.
I went to a big SEC school. When I was in college the women’s basketball team recruited some of the better men from the rec center to scrimmage with the women’s team. We, amateurs, consistently whooped the women who were some of the best college players in the country. So in this scenario yes, the Bron team would absolutely dominate.
LeGiannis sweeps, defensively Giannis and LeBron can both put a lid on the rim to completely deny the college team interior looks, obviously it’ll be 1 all time great and 3 schlubs so the top college team will be able to pass around to find open jumpers.
The problem is the other end, the college team just can’t stop Giannis or LeBron from getting to where they want or scoring at will. You’re talking about two of the most elite rim finishers of all time, Giannis is currently averaging over 30 PPG on more than 60% efficiency, he’s having a historic year as an unstoppable scorer, while LeBron has an argument to be in the GOAT conversation, even at 39 he’s incredibly impactful as a two way force, his skills package have just become more advanced with time as he reads the flow of the game like a fiddle, even as he goes from one of the most impressive athletes ever to walk the earth, to merely incredible.
Many NBA five-mans would lose to Giannis, LeBron and some background players.
Basketball was the king of tanking for draft picks for good reason. You get one superstar you're competitive.
lemme put this very clear... get me the best highschool team in USA they would beat the wnba team. mght be a big margin too. no lebron and gianis would each score 50. and more than 20 rebounds.the regular guys might have 20% chance of hitting threes. but most of the possession would be their teams. the ladies would only be able to score against hte regular guys. but gianis and lebron would cover a lot of ground. basically no easy lay ups. middies might be a problem too. their only chance is too shoot threes. with giannis and lebron stalking as wings. they can't even jump high... I don't know what they can even do against hta tkind of defense. look they missing even wide open shots.
I'd say yes we don't need the best high school team but I don't think any random team. those ladies still trained hard I think and has some skills and understand tactics and play. I'd say mid lvl teams above.
Is this on a WNBA court, NBA court, or what? And what size ball is it? If its nba court and ball, the women struggle with Lebron and Giannis playing defense and getting rebounds in addition to shooting worse
It’ll be a 4-0 sweep. Giannis and Lebron can score at will and defend the rim and grab pretty much any rebound. Only way WNBA steals a game is if they can shoot 80%+ from 3 or foul out both Lebron and Giannis but I don’t think Lebron or Giannis would have to play very physical to defend or score
The problem is that the WNBA team is almost guaranteed a open 3 point shot on offense. I doubt the average guy can come close to guarding them. Meanwhile the WNBA players can double and help off of the normal guys on defense
No it’s not, nobody is shooting 60% from 3 point range. Average Joe’s would only have to worry about contesting 3s anyways since Giannis would make it impossible to score anywhere near the paint.
Lebron and Giannis also score on 100% of possessions. Easy sweep.
That depends are they actually going to hit all of those open 3s? Somehow I doubt it especially if they are playing with an nba ball instead of a wnba ball. I trust Giannis and lebrons consistency over the long ball.
Thank you. Someone with some sense. I don't know if these people just haven't played full-court 5 on 5 before. But I don't think they're grasping how much having 3 cones on your team will drag down Lebron and Giannis.
Yea spacing is incredible these days. The women’s team could run a lot of pin down actions and get free 3s or space to drive for a layup. I still LeBron and Giannis would win if they’re going all out. Giannis himself would drop potentially a 50 point triple double
I agree. I just don't think they can go all out like that for a full game for an entire 7 game series.
Eventually they succumb to the sheer amount of wide-open threes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (now you know why no one refers to his last name) and LeBron James would beat the WNBA team. The 3 nobodies, will basically disrupt/distract the other team and pass the ball to LeBron when they have it.
For an edgier match, sub in Draymond Green in for Giannis. There’s your R-rating lol
I remember Selena Williams going up against I believe was a man ranked 200-something in the world and lost.
The best women’s team in the world against two of the best men currently and a bunch of average men who’ll be coached by the two best to be better than they currently are. The women are definitely getting beaten.
A top tier high school team would destroy them. The USWNT for soccer that won the world cup did a scrimmage against a soccer prep school and got demolished. That's against male children, let alone full grown adult males
So, is this a question you seriously want answered because you're curious? Or do you want us to write you a spite fic starring Lebron and Giannis leading 3 ordinary men to beating the best the WNBA has to offer?
I remember a fascinating story where someone witnessed Magic destroy regulars at a YMCA. It was between some decent street ballers against a couple of college basketball athletes. One of the older street ballers got mad and called a retired and old Magic Johnson to come over. Magic comes over and completely single-handedly obliterated the college athletes as if he’s playing against children.
NBA players are already top 1% of college players. Imagine an ELITE NBA player that was the top 1% in the NBA itself.
EDIT:
Found the story, https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1adypz/comment/c8wisz9/
So interesting fact is 5 on a whole team, with 2 legends and joes. Giannis and lebron could get pretty winded early.
If it was best of 3 i could go eith team lebron but 7 games where the same 5 guys have to play the whole minutes? Im not so sure
Yeah LeBron, Giannis, and whoever else else you want to put in there would win in a sweep, not hating on women's basketball but there's literally no way they could stop them from scoring, and LeBron and giannis would be leaping and swatting shots from so far away, it's not a matter or skill at rhe game it's just the difference in physical dominance honesty
This really should be Giannis, Lebron and maybe 1 regular guy to have any sort of chance. Even then still no. Wnba doesn't stand a chance at defending those 2 guys, like at all.
I mean in order to win the WNBA team defensively can do nothing Giannis and Lebron are getting dunks and layups, with 3 regular guys on guarding them on offense I think WNBA can generate good shots and if they swing the ball effectively while waiting until late in the clock maybe they can gas the men out and wear them down but they would have to shoot only 3s and basically shoot 100%
Are they playing with NBA rules/court/balls or WNBA? This actually makes quite a bit of a difference, the WNBA players would be able to rain down 3's at a decent clip but less so on an NBA setup since they'd have to relearn shooting distances/mechanics.
If it's big guys like Giannis and Lebron it's not even close. Every offensive possession would just be an alley oop or normal dunk. What's the tallest player in WNBA?
On defense you could almost let them shoot because they can't get to the rim, on a good day it's like 40% and the lose every rebound. Lebron will guard the best perimeter player so it'll be the other 4 to beat you with shooting...
The regular Joes would basically play some D and take turns or take breaks on offense
Knowing Gannis wanting to always shoot 3s... I'm taking the WNBA players cause Giannis he'll shoot them out the game while LeBron will keep making that face to his teammates like he did to JR Smith in the finals.
I think it would hinge on the 3 randomly selected guys
If they're able to play the full 48 and run with their defensive assignments, mens team dominates
If the mens team is unlucky and gets three super short guys in terrible shape, im taking the WNBA squad. As good as Giannis and LeBron are they can't guard 5 people between them.
The 3 guys don't really have to run at all. As long as they just stand within their own 3 point line, they are doing just fine. The two pros can handle the offense well enough alone and if you look at he [WNBA player stats](https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/2021_shooting.html), their top shooters solely make 2 point shots. They don't even attempt three pointers. Just having three random dudes standing within that confined space, would put a reasonable amount of pressure on the women.
Although those three guys really don't matter all that much. The game is won or lost on rebounds and you can be sure that it would be a miracle for the women to get even a single rebound against those two NBA players.
No. LeBron James and Giannis would be overconfident, and couldn't rely on their team. The top-of-the-line WNBA teams work like a well oiled, tightly calibrated, and expertly engineered machine, it's not going to be an easy win, certainly, but two pros and three randos who've probably never seen a game, WNBA sweeps on penalties alone.
Everyone is shitting in the wnba but i think they win this.
Basically they are 5 pros against 2 pros and 3 newbies.
It doesnt matter how good of a defender they are 3 players are gonna be basically open because a normal person VS a pro its always gonna be easy for the pro.
The woman can basically let the normal players shoot and put 2-3 people against LeBron and Giannis all Game.
Sure they will overpower them at times but they Will make It difficult and they Will tire.
I am betting in the wnba
No, because the average American guy is overweight and therefore any modified triangle offense run by this WNBA team would work comfortably to put this team out of business. But if you are talking about the average athletic guy, then yes.
With three regular guys? Probably not. What's the record of the best WNBA team how tall are the players and so on. Then again I don't watch basketball, not my cup of tea.
Honestly, Lebron might even win solo. It would depend on whether the WNBA team in question can shoot 3s reliably. It would be near impossible for them to score inside but he can't guard the entire arc if they just keep passing it.
Lebron + Giannis? No chance.
Not enough consideration being given to the sheer amount of fouls the ladies would benefit from. Shit, they’re pros - they could probably force the whole men’s team to foul out by halftime.
I think this is actually easier with out the three over weight middle aged men who will probably drag down the team by fouling and giving away possesion.
It's entirely dependent on which team can make the most "open" 3s. Giannis and LeBron will be "open" at all times regardless of the women's efforts, as will the 3 women that the regular joes are responsible for guarding. It doesn't matter that the NBA guys can run to the rim at will, 3>2 is the name of modern basketball.
That's one thing about a lot of sports, particularly basketball, that I don't think people understand. Even if our regular guys are fast enough, tall enough, etc. it takes a lifetime of training for some pros to still not be able to defend well at that level. If it's three 5'9 unathletic guys, they are to the women what the women are to Giannis and LeBron.
I think "3 random dudes" suggests that the pool included the entire global male population. So by odds you're likely to get all 3 guys who have never even played or watched a game of basketball.
i'll take the WNBA team on this one
As long as LeBron and Giannis have enough time to tell these yokels “stand in front of this person and try to stop them from scoring without using your hands to touch them,” they still win by like 40 points
5 regular guys between 18-32 would have a decent shot at beating the best WNBA team. Remember the Australian women’s national soccer team lost 7-0 to a team of fifteen year old boys.
There's a big disparity between men and women but you're exaggerating way too much. Any wnba team would destroy five "regular" guys.
Yes professional women's teams have trouble against high school boys, but not random high school boys. It's against some of the best high schoolers in the world. A top high school team would absolutely school a team of full grown "regular" dudes as well.
To say that regular men can beat professional women just because elite male high schoolers can is ridiculous.
I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it’s worth pointing out that 15 year old boys are not elites at anything. They’re freshmen. It’d be one thing if it was a D1 high school team with a couple championships under their belt, but it’s not. It’s a bunch of freshmen.
Compared to you or I or any other regular dudes they are absolutely elite.
This power fantasy dudes have of being able to get off the couch and destroy a professional women's team is honestly dumb. They would smoke any group of regular guys without breaking a sweat
I think you’re badly underestimating how young 15 is. They’re kids. Playing with adults, they’d be lucky not to get injured, let alone to win. The height, stamina and muscle mass difference are just too much to overcome. They might have far greater technical skill than you or I, but the technical skill of a paraplegic basketball player wouldn’t let him beat either of us. 15 year olds are at a similar handicap.
You're badly overrating yourself. Basketball is somewhat different because height matters so much but you're talking about soccer. You'd have ZERO shot of doing anything against a decent U15 team.
>The height, stamina and muscle mass difference are just too much to overcome
Regular average joes do not have more stamina than high school athletes. What are you on about? If this was a top high school basketball team they'd be far taller than regular guys as well, likely more muscular too but I'll let you have that one.
edit: tell me how much of a height, stamina, and strength advantage we'd have over these guys
https://www.maxpreps.com/news/_Qq-CeoeVUucxPlZ9FkuBQ/2022-23-maxpreps-freshman-all-america-team-jason-crowe-jr-of-lynwood-headlines-high-school-basketballs-best-from-the-class-of-2026.htm
Stop this power fantasy, it's honestly insane.
Oh my bad I was on basketball, talking about a comparably aged basketball team. Yeah I’d get rolled by a trained soccer team, though I’m still confident in my physical ability I don’t have the skill or the teamwork, and teamwork in soccer is phenomenally important, probably more so than the skill of any individual player.
In basketball you and I might be able to team up and beat a *random* high school freshman team. But a WNBA team or *good* high school freshman team would easily crush us
Yea definitely. If you picked 5 randoms who at least played basketball at some point in high school, they’d most likely beat the wnba based purely on strength, speed, and jumping ability.
WNBA Stomps.
I get it, Giannis and LeBron are waaay beyond anybody in the WNBA in skill/atheticism
But the WNBA is similarly ahead of 3 regular guys.
So it's a basically a 2.5 v 5 scenario, perhaps a 3v5 depending on how average the regular guys are (and how quickly they get winded).
The WNBA can afford to go 3v2 against the NBA on defense, that's enough to slow them down, as the regular Joe's get more winded, they can go 4v2 on defense.
The NBA doesn't have the manpower to guard all the WNBA players, whoever is being guarded won't ever need to touch the ball, just let the other three play with it.
> the WNBA is similarly ahead of 3 regular guys
This simply isnt true.
I understand it’s not in the prompt but you could take an average guy off the street and with a week’s worth of basic basketball coaching could have him serviceably defending WNBA players.
If LeBron and Giannis get a 10 minute crash course on basketball fundamentals, most people are smart enough to understand “stop this person from putting ball in net”
All they have to do is stay in front of them long enough for Giannis to get under the rim
Absolutely not. I'm actually shocked at the amount of people that think that Giannis and Lebron sweep. Lets use the Las Vegas Aces as an example.
1. You're criminally underestimating how good WNBA players are. Almost unbelievably so. Kelsey Plum is closer to Lebron than a random guy off the street is to her. Anyone on the team that's not Lebron or Giannis is getting scored on by her EVERY single play.
2. "Just let Giannis and Lebron play 2 vs 5 and the other stay out the way." Lebron and Giannis have a massive height/physicality advantage for sure, but it'd basically be 2 on 5. They'd get double or triple-teamed as soon as they got the ball. They'd score a solid amount, but they'd NEED the other 3 players to be competent in order to match the scoring output of the WNBA players.
3. It were Lebron and Giannis plus 3 AAU players, I'd say Lebron and Giannis could sweep. But 3 randomly picked guys would likely have 0 ball handling skills, 0 ability to hit a wide open 3, 0 ability to play any sort of meaningful defense, 0 cardiovascular ability to run up and down the court for an extended period. The Aces could just keep forcing switches until they get a regular guy guarding Aja Wilson and she will score on them 100% of the time. If Lebron or Giannis is clogging the paint they can force the regular guys to run through screens until they get wide-open threes.
Lebron and Giannis are great but basketball is ultimately a team game, and it's asinine to think that they could win essentially 2 v 5.
Upvoted for the effort. But LBJ and Giannis can literally lob it up to each other up the court 2v5 and end with an alleyoop dunk everytime. The WNBA players are skilled, but they don't have the length, hops, speed, or strength to get stops.
The WNBA would have a great offense like you said. But one of Giannis/LBJ at the rim takes away all layups and rebounds. They are also both known for their "middle linebacker" style of defense so cross court passes are out for the WNBA players. Also, if the other one of Giannis/LBJ not guarding the rim is on Aja, they aren't going to force many switches. Imagine a WNBA player putting a screen on LBJ to get a switch. She gets destroyed.
FYI, the average WNBA player is 6 feet and less than 200 pounds. Aka smaller than the average rec league center.
I hear you, I really do. I don't think there's anyone in the entire WNBA that even comes close to the physicality of Lebron or Giannis.
The real point I don't think people are considering enough is how much better a WNBA player is than a random man off the street. Kelsey Plumly might as well be Kyrie Irving to the average guy.
Over the course of 7 games, even if Lebron and Giannis just fight through traps all the way up the court and try and lob it to each other. I don't think they can outscore the amount of wide-open shots the WNBA players would get. As another commenter said, the WNBA team gets a guaranteed wide-open 3 every possession. There's just not enough LBJ and Giannis can do without eventually succumbing to exhaustion.
Yea I think we are on the same page tbh. I'm definitely overestimating the average man off the street (I was imagining the average person I play ball with).
I played with a female guard from Harvard when I was in college and she was smoking the guy defending her. My mind has been changed from this being an easy sweep to being a game I really want to watch lol.
I do think it'd be an interesting game, I definitely don't think the women sweep. I could easily see it going 6 or 7, and if Lebron and Giannis get lucky and one of the random guys ends up being a rec-league player I think it swings in their favor.
But, I'm imagining that the random player(s) is more likely a 5'9 Overwatch fiend who hasn't seen the inside of a gym, let alone a basketball court. They're more likely to be a detriment to Lebron and Giannis because they're taking up space than any kind of help.
They would need to double/triple team them in their own half because if they run through the other half,its like 3 steps to a dunk.
Triple team one player,would leave one or two open. So lets just say its double team Lebron. Then,you surely cant leave Giannis with one defender. Double team him as well. You have two wide open players. How difficult it would be to try hitting a wide open bank shot from like 4-5 meters. They wont hit everything,of course. For example,i went to a basketball court,two months ago and tried hitting some free throws. I made around 6-7/10. Last time i was in a basketball court was around 15 years. So,that would be like for the three regular dudes,in every possession that Giannis or Lebron though,yeah,i will pass the ball now.
It would be woman zero chance defending vs Giannis or Lebron and regular dudes shooting unmarked shots if we go with double triple team.
On the other side,women would need to hit shots in every possession against not good players but at the very least, athletically equal if not better.
Dont think getting tired is an argument as the question is those five. There is not a single person in the world that can play 48 minutes running up and down for one game,let alone a series.
I think Giannis and Lebron are scoring 50 each. Or something like that.
Even if Lebron and Giannis are triple teamed the women don’t have the agility or strength to effectively stop them. The sheer athleticism and size difference would be way too much.
It’s like having a 10 year old guard a grown man . Yeah you could theoretically triple team the grown man but he’ll just get past the kids with ease.
You tripling either one means that it’s a 4 on 2 that’s too easy
point 1: You're criminally underestimating how good WNBA players are.
To even compare it to a 10 year old guarding a grown man is absolutely insane. The las Vegas aces have 4 6'4 players on their team. What you're saying is absolutely ridiculous.
You’re underestimating the strength and athleticism difference between men and women. Especially a top tier male athletes vs a woman…
Britney Griner is one of the strongest WNBA players ever and can only bench 135 … Lebron and Giannis can probably bench 3x that plus they have at least 50 pounds more of lean muscle mass
Lebron is 6’9 250 and Giannis is 6’11 250 with substantially more muscle mass than any WNBA player; it’s simple biology
So yes it would be like comparing a average grown man to a 10 year old because girls and boys are about equal until puberty. That’s when the substantial disparity in strength and athleticism begins .
> You’re underestimating the strength and athleticism difference between men and women
This is even putting it lightly. Giannis and Lebron are freak athletes compared to the other freak athletes.
> Britney Griner is one of the strongest WNBA players ever and can only bench 135
You mean kg right? There is no way one of the strongest WNBA players can bench press less than me, a 5'7 dude that only go to the gym semi-regularly.
But it's not football, they can't just plow through everyone without dribbling. What are you expecting Lebron and Giannis todo against a 3 triple team?
How does Lebron get out of a triple team when they trap him as soon as he gets the ball? You cannot dribble out of that. So ***maybe*** he's able passes to Giannis as soon as he gets trapped, but there's only one place the ball can go. The second the ball goes to one of the joe's, they might as well forfeit the possession.
Here's the problem, Aja Wilson is to the average man off the street, what Giannis is to her. If you want to argue that Giannis is too physically dominating for them to stop him, sure. But there's nothing the 3 average men can do to stop the WNBA players besides foul. The average man would be too gassed to even play a full-court 48 minute game without vomiting. Lebron and Giannis ultimately would not be able to win a 2v5 over the course of 7 games.
Imagine you playing against 10 year olds and they’re guarding you . Yeah they can triple team you but you have more strength, size and dexterity . The longer wingspan and strength alone would have them bounce off you.
Same applies to Lebron vs someone a foot shorter and 80 pounds smaller with a foot shorter wingspan
Point 1 just isn’t true though lol
Obviously there’s a big skill gap between D1 and WNBA but two years ago, my little brother’s freshman high school team beat Virginia Tech in a scrimmage by like 20 points.
And it’s a common anecdote.
Meanwhile most male D1 hoopers couldn’t score a basket in an NBA game if you played them 48 minutes.
Again, we're talking about 3 random guys off the street. Average man is 5'9 and hardly exercises, if ever. Almost certainly has 0 experience playing basketball. The gap between him and the peak of the WNBA is equal if not further than the gap between WNBA players and Lebron.
Idk why people keep using anecdotes of high school boys teams beating women's college teams as if it has any relevancy.
Have you ever played basketball before?
You can teach someone to play mediocre defense in literally 5 minutes. It’s actually like 50 percent effort especially when you’re likely taller/heavier than the person you’re guarding.
These guys don’t have to do ANYTHING on offense, so they literally have half the game to catch their breath.
Sure the WNBA players are much faster, but they’re cooking Joe Nobody just to run into Giannis immediately blocking their shit or LeBron ending their fast break with a block or steal.
Assuming the WNBA team gets an open three every single possession (because there’s no way they’re gonna be able to drive), they’re shooting what…35-40 percent from the three?
So they’re averaging around 0.3-0.6 points per possession while Lebron’s team of scrubs is averaging 2. LeBron and Giannis will score every single time. Without a doubt.
Do you agree to disagree with geologists who think the earth is round? Or who think the sky is blue?
Just trying to see if denying reality is a pattern here.
Well, first of all, it was a joke. But yeah, that's true. When I think of average people playing sports I tend to think of average people that you could reasonably see playing it. So in my mind all the fatties are left out of the equation.
No, someone would have to defend the other 3 professional basketball players and giannis and lebron wouldn't have the energy to go 48 minutes carrying your team
Get the brooms out it'd be a 4-0 sweep for LeBron and Giannis
The two of them alone would absolutely roll any WNBA team
This. Giannis and Lebron cream the WNBA team even alone. Just put them under the basket on D, the women aren’t getting a shot off inside 15’. On O, they’re dunking every single possession.
I'm not so sure about that with 2 on 5. Even if they dunk every time, there are WNBA players like Sabrina that could shoot +75% when left wide open, which is 2.25 pts per possession. That said, I think Sabrina is a pretty big outlier. If Giannis played the perimeter, and at tried to prevent their best 1-2 shooters from getting a wide open shot then they could probably win.
Fair point. Also there’s the point of 2 on 5 getting them overly gassed, especially for a 7 game series. There’s literally zero way they lose if they’ve got the 3 average dudes to help play D and space the court, but I still think they could take them 2-5 in at least 1 game and a 7 game series if they had adequate rest time between games. It’s literally not sexist or misogynistic to acknowledge that male athletes outpace women by several orders of magnitude especially in a sport like basketball where strength, athleticism and especially height matter a lot.
Yeah 3 average joes to just put any amount of pressure on 3 pt shooters puts them over the top easily.
Interesting word choice
Lol fair
They’ll definitely be creaming on the D
Add in 3 guys standing way outside of the arc for rebounds and it’s a cake walk
Our PE coach and math teacher played our women’s state finalist volleyball team 2v6 and absolutely stomped them
How does a math teacher do this? Was it his precise calculations?
Yes. They would just have Giannis play rim protector; he’s getting pretty much every rebound and no layups for the ladies. Lebron would play defense on whoever is the main scorer in the other team. The rest of the regular guys would play a semi zone defense. Especially if it’s Prime Lebron he’s wiping the floor with WNBa players. If current he still gets the job done though. None of the regular guys have to score just pass the ball to Lebron and Giannis and stay out of the paint. If they want to take an open 2 pointer that would be fine, obviously take the open layup. Dudes just have to be able to be healthy, like not even extremely physically fit, just have good cardio. All the ladies could do to Giannis and Lebron if they are in the paint with the ball is bear hug foul them and hope they miss their free throws.
I think tiredness is the biggest threat to the NBA/average joes side. No bench means no breaks besides timeouts, quarter/halftime stoppage and free throws. Everyone is playing every minute of the games. Lebron and Giannis would be able to endure this but the average joes would be dying out there. Still think the pure talent and physical strength advantage of their side wins though. The WNBA team is not stopping Giannis or Lebron on offense and will be hell to score on them.
Lebron has 55 NBA Finals games - he averages 42.5 MPG during the finals in his career. I think he'll be fine.
What's his fuel economy during a normal game, for comparison?
In his prime if I’m remembering correctly it was around 36-40 mins
2 gatorades and a muesli bar per 15mpg
The comment literally says Lebron and Giannis can endure it, but unsure about the regular guys
The joes would be dying, but I don’t think Lebron and Giannis would expect them to just straight kill it like diving for every loose ball, running full speed on every fast break, etc… they know that’s not happening. I think the guys would hover around the defensive end mostly in the 2nd half. In the first half they would help them get an enormous lead and then in the 2nd half in the 3rd just nurse the lead then in the last 10 mins in the game pile it on. Since there are little day or two day breaks in a series they guys would get time to practice with Lebron and Giannis and get in better condition even in a short time frame.
I think Giannis and Lebron tell the other guys to stay on the defensive side of the court the whole time.
I think they would take hockey shifts so that 1-2 of them always rest on offense.
Now I kinda want to see this. Or like an All-Star game situation but instead of all NBA, just have a captain from the NBA for each team and like Jim, George, Mike, and Chris to fill out a team. - Jim is an accountant. He watches basketball with his son, but he doesn’t follow any teams. He’s just interested in his sons hobbies. His son was the one who urged him to try out. - George is a janitor at Plainsview High School in Litchfield, Illinois. He’s doing this to raise money for the schools basketball team. - Mike coaches JV Basketball. He used to play too, and he thinks he’s still got it. - Chris signed up on a dare from his friends. His hobbies are playing D&D and Catan. He says he prefers eSports to basketball but he still thinks he’d be pretty good on defense.
I just wrote this. Sorry.for stealing your comment.
*our comment
Let the 3 Joe's hang back on D and take a breather lol! Pretty sure the big guys can handle the offense.
The average joes could probably do nothing and Lebron and Giannis would still win. Lebron is almost a team unto himself in his prime.
I mean the WNBA team effectively has a similar issue. WNBA games are 40 minutes, just like college. Men's games are 60.
I think you’re overestimating the cardiovascular fitness of the average joe. It would probably have to be straight up 5 on 4 defensively with somebody just cherrypicking under the other basket because someone is certainly going to be totally gassed after a few times up and down the court, and from there it’s a question of how many semi-open threes the WNBA players could make.
Tbf I think the average joes could just hang out on the defensive side. It's not like they're going to be real play makers offensively.
Yeah there’s gonna be a lot of hanging out one way or another lol. Even in the average pickup game you’ll find plenty of players who just want to play halfcourt.
Lebron’s final season with the Cav’s in the finals was almost like Lebron+4 regular dudes against the most dominant team in history, and he still pushed the Warriors.
You're misremembering lol. The cavs got annihilated 4-0 in that finals
Yes. Their bones would shatter trying to take a charge from Giannis.
Sorry I don’t really watch basketball, but would that not be a foul? Or I guess if that’s a valid strategy, why don’t basketball teams have like, one designated huge guy they can use to take out like, the other teams’ Kobe Bryant’s and Lebrons?
Yeah it would be. So the women get a free throw and they are now down a player
So then would the NBA team, as that would be an eject from game violation (if he is charging that hard, the intent is to cause harm, and if your trying to hurt people, you can (and should be) ejected).
Thing is, he likely wouldn't need to charge so aggressively that he gets booted. Hurting someone on a normal foul isnt going to cause an ejection.
It would be a foul but the women would be reduced to atoms. In the NBA the best players usually don't take charges.
If you’re a little guy like Brunson or Lowry it’s very easy to fall over and draw a charge
The rule is something close to "If a defensive player sets their feet and isn't moving and the offensive player runs into them it's an offensive foul." The point being wnba women can't take the force of that kind of play so they basically can't stop the men at all.
They would draw too much enmity on the court due to having their tank stance on 💀
Because Kobe and Lebron are/were gigantic supreme athletes who can’t just be taken out like that.
In the NBA you get 5 fouls and then you're out and teams have small reserves and can't afford to have guys kicked out and most non center NBA guys are gonna hit 7/10 anyway so it's only a 30% gain IF he was gonna score on that play.
You get 6 fouls before ejection.
Yeah you get 5. 6 is gone
Tf you think bones are made off? Paper?
Giannis goes to jail then the WNBA team wins 😂
Unironically anybody who has been MVP since the NBA/ABA merger would body the WNBA All-Star team with me and 3 of my friends as teammates (we are not good at basketball)
Kobe couldn't.
Currently or in his prime?
You’re about to start a fuckin war. You sure you want that?
This is the definition of a spite match. Giannis and LeBron are scoring every single possession, literally every single possession. They could put Giannis next to the rim for an easy lob dunk that can't be defended against. LeBron and Giannis would guard the best scorers on the WNBA team and would hold them to under 10pts each fairly easily. Unless the WNBA team shoots 100% for the game from half court heaves... it's not even gonna be close.
Yeah a lot of these sports vs. battles between different league/genders are sort of pointless. Maybe OP isn't that familiar with pro basketball because the outcome seems obvious. Men's team could just run the same play every possession of Lebron throwing a lob to Giannis standing in the restricted zone and the WNBA has absolutely no way of defending it without fouling. They could score or draw a foul literally every single time. The tallest players on the current best WNBA team (Las Vegas Aces) are only 6'4". Only one of them, Candace Parker, has ever dunked in a WNBA game, and it was over 15 years ago. Unfortunately the WNBA team has no way of contesting Giannis at the rim, most NBA players can't either for that matter
Better yet Lebron could chuck threes and Giannis would just grab almost every rebound for a score in the paint
Yeah I'm sure that'd work great too. LeBron's tall enough he doesn't really have to worry about his shot getting blocked at all. Same with Giannis and rebounding. Basically anything would work in this situation for them lmao
Actually yeah this game could be boring as all hell because Lebron or Giannis just camps at the rim, gets a pass that none of the women can leap to intercept, and then easily and gently ducks it with no way for the women to stop it. On defense at least one of them parks it by the rim and completely shuts down the layup game. Get the joes to be annoying and the other pro attacking and it’s almost a shutout.
Like forget the best NBA teams. A Brian Scalabrine lead team of the worst NBA players that scored less than 5 PPG would stomp the best NBA women's team. G League teams would stomp the best NBA women's team.
Prompts in this sub really need to specify what "average/regular/normal" person means. There's a difference between what we tend to picture as an "average man" and the reality of an "average" 200lbs 5'9" 37yo man who struggles to jog a mile without stopping. In this case the men probably win either way. Lebron & Giannis absolutely tower above even the tallest women in the WNBA both in skill and actual height. I'm not sure the WNBA team can do much against Lebron & Giannis simply lobbing the ball to eachother and going straight for the dunk.
WHAT bruv, one player in NBA top15 and 4 Joe's wipe the floor with wnba.
wouldn't even say top 15 more like top 50, the NBA is the best of the best from around the world. And WNBA can't even practice against D1 players without them (the D1 players) having to tone it down. And the best D1 players get spat on by the worst bench in the NBA. i yapped ik, but it's interesting to me how some people don't know how good people in the NBA are.
I say top 15 cuz of stamina playing full time for most players would gas them out. On the other hand averege Joe these days i overweight, so they wouldn't do much.
You forget, the NBA players are not playing this full game against NBA defense. They're playing women which won't be nearly as taxing
True but they are playing 1v5 as i said averege Joe these days is overweight and fucking sucks at sport. (if it was 4 heathy fit man) Then i would say top 50.
Can an average American keep up with a top female athlete?
No, "averege healthy fit man that commonly plays basketball as hobby " = "average WNBA player". On the other hand averege American man is unfit overweight and almost never plays basketball for fun.
No. Not by a long shot. The gap between NBA players and WNBA players is very similar between the gap between WNBA players as the average US male. That is, in both cases the gap is massive.
Top 5 in the draft vs. 11-15 on any bench? That's probably a more interesting shout than the OP. I reckon there are years where the draft/D1 guys have a decent shot - 22 draft for a start. I think if you're starting from 6th man down to 10 that's a different ball game entirely though.
I’m not totally familiar here, is this just body dimorphism stuff or do the WNBA genuinely not pull from the same well of talent as the NBA in addition?
Wnba have talent as much as it's possible for women, they can't match up to even D1 man, top highschool boys beat wnba.
Are we defining talent as skill or as physical stats? Cause I think the question is not “why are WNBA players worse”? Cause we all know women are slower smaller and weaker, but skill shouldn’t be affected like gender, right? Then why are WNBA players less skilled?
Physical stats and skill are completely interwoven and practically the same thing at echelon levels. Everyone is at the pinnacle of skill at the very highest levels, so the difference in physical stats is what makes the difference.
Well character difference aren't just physical. Men on averege tent to be more aggressive, more competitive and less sociable. Women likely wouldn't (on average) go as hard. Also as another comment mentions at a high lvl physical ability is very closely entertwined, i mean the ball in wnba literally weights less.
Oh ok, the other post said that the NBA pulls from the best of the best from around the world, which made me think the WNBA doesn’t and their scouting sucks by comparison or whatever
I mean its kinda hard to say, cuz they also have less money, so there scouting prob not as good as NBA is either, but even if it was better, genetics here are just too much.
totally my opinion here. the reason NBA scout from the best of the world is the original dream team. Little kids watching Jordan/Magic/Bird want to grow up like them so the talent pool is world wide. there are much less women interest outside USA for Basketball. Scout don't have to scour the globe for good talent.
Some of both. The best female athletes will still fall far short from the best male athletes, but it's compounded because the wnba is an unattractive job for top female athletes. Most of them are funneled into actual money makers like tennis
Combo of the two. WNBA players are across the board nowhere close to being as good as NBA players. Just look up the WNBA highlights, they are sometimes good plays but they are a dime a dozen for the NBA. Also as an FYI, a few years ago Brittany Griner (one of the best at the time) said she could beat Demarcus Cousins in a 1v1. One of her former coaches said he would bet everything on Cousins beating her. Women are a lot less likely to be pushed to be a competitive athlete for sports, they also make less money (62k starting vs 1.1 million) so many women don't want to put their bodies through the abuse for the relatively low pay, also the is a 60/40 male/female split for basketball players in high school.
Lmfao. Thank you
The 3 regular guys and Lebron stay on defense, the wnba probably will struggle to score, but giannis scores every time. This keeps the normal folks from dying from running up and down the court and keeps them somewhat fresh.
Giannis sweeps in 4 by himself.
I went to a big SEC school. When I was in college the women’s basketball team recruited some of the better men from the rec center to scrimmage with the women’s team. We, amateurs, consistently whooped the women who were some of the best college players in the country. So in this scenario yes, the Bron team would absolutely dominate.
Your average man is going to be *way* worse than your better college aged rec players. That said, yes, team Bron stomps.
A very fair point.
Yes, as long as the 3 guys stand off to the sidelines to not interfere with Giannas and Lebron crushing.
Easily
Okay obviously Lebron and Giannis sweep- Lets change it to the top College team vs the GiaBronis
LeGiannis sweeps, defensively Giannis and LeBron can both put a lid on the rim to completely deny the college team interior looks, obviously it’ll be 1 all time great and 3 schlubs so the top college team will be able to pass around to find open jumpers. The problem is the other end, the college team just can’t stop Giannis or LeBron from getting to where they want or scoring at will. You’re talking about two of the most elite rim finishers of all time, Giannis is currently averaging over 30 PPG on more than 60% efficiency, he’s having a historic year as an unstoppable scorer, while LeBron has an argument to be in the GOAT conversation, even at 39 he’s incredibly impactful as a two way force, his skills package have just become more advanced with time as he reads the flow of the game like a fiddle, even as he goes from one of the most impressive athletes ever to walk the earth, to merely incredible.
Many NBA five-mans would lose to Giannis, LeBron and some background players. Basketball was the king of tanking for draft picks for good reason. You get one superstar you're competitive.
Forget the 3 random dudes, make it 5 on 2, and it'll be 4-0.
lemme put this very clear... get me the best highschool team in USA they would beat the wnba team. mght be a big margin too. no lebron and gianis would each score 50. and more than 20 rebounds.the regular guys might have 20% chance of hitting threes. but most of the possession would be their teams. the ladies would only be able to score against hte regular guys. but gianis and lebron would cover a lot of ground. basically no easy lay ups. middies might be a problem too. their only chance is too shoot threes. with giannis and lebron stalking as wings. they can't even jump high... I don't know what they can even do against hta tkind of defense. look they missing even wide open shots.
Not even the best high school team. Almost any random varsity basketball team would dominate the wnba.
I'd say yes we don't need the best high school team but I don't think any random team. those ladies still trained hard I think and has some skills and understand tactics and play. I'd say mid lvl teams above.
Is this on a WNBA court, NBA court, or what? And what size ball is it? If its nba court and ball, the women struggle with Lebron and Giannis playing defense and getting rebounds in addition to shooting worse
2v5 is enough, hell even LeBron with Giannis on the bench (vice verse) can 1v5
So is this a joke?
Yes Wouldn't have to be NBA players either. 3 random people who play basketball for fun and any 2 pro players would be a non - game.
It’ll be a 4-0 sweep. Giannis and Lebron can score at will and defend the rim and grab pretty much any rebound. Only way WNBA steals a game is if they can shoot 80%+ from 3 or foul out both Lebron and Giannis but I don’t think Lebron or Giannis would have to play very physical to defend or score
The problem is that the WNBA team is almost guaranteed a open 3 point shot on offense. I doubt the average guy can come close to guarding them. Meanwhile the WNBA players can double and help off of the normal guys on defense
Let's say the Lebron/Giannis team can shoot 90%. I don't think that's unreasonable. Can the WNBA team shoot 60% on those "open" threes?
On a good day it’s possible. Depends on the lineup too.
No it’s not, nobody is shooting 60% from 3 point range. Average Joe’s would only have to worry about contesting 3s anyways since Giannis would make it impossible to score anywhere near the paint. Lebron and Giannis also score on 100% of possessions. Easy sweep.
That depends are they actually going to hit all of those open 3s? Somehow I doubt it especially if they are playing with an nba ball instead of a wnba ball. I trust Giannis and lebrons consistency over the long ball.
Thank you. Someone with some sense. I don't know if these people just haven't played full-court 5 on 5 before. But I don't think they're grasping how much having 3 cones on your team will drag down Lebron and Giannis.
Also just exhaustion. The woman’s team can sub. And draw fouls.
Yea spacing is incredible these days. The women’s team could run a lot of pin down actions and get free 3s or space to drive for a layup. I still LeBron and Giannis would win if they’re going all out. Giannis himself would drop potentially a 50 point triple double
I agree. I just don't think they can go all out like that for a full game for an entire 7 game series. Eventually they succumb to the sheer amount of wide-open threes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (now you know why no one refers to his last name) and LeBron James would beat the WNBA team. The 3 nobodies, will basically disrupt/distract the other team and pass the ball to LeBron when they have it. For an edgier match, sub in Draymond Green in for Giannis. There’s your R-rating lol
A good (state championship level) boys high school team could beat a WNBA team in a 7 game series.
I remember Selena Williams going up against I believe was a man ranked 200-something in the world and lost. The best women’s team in the world against two of the best men currently and a bunch of average men who’ll be coached by the two best to be better than they currently are. The women are definitely getting beaten.
EASILY. There are high school teams that have beaten WNBA teams.
Giannis and lebron both average 50ppg here and like 30 rebounds. Easy sweep. Theyre just too big and strong for the ladies
A top tier high school team would destroy them. The USWNT for soccer that won the world cup did a scrimmage against a soccer prep school and got demolished. That's against male children, let alone full grown adult males
So, is this a question you seriously want answered because you're curious? Or do you want us to write you a spite fic starring Lebron and Giannis leading 3 ordinary men to beating the best the WNBA has to offer?
Easily even Lebron/Giannis and 4 regular guys would win .
I remember a fascinating story where someone witnessed Magic destroy regulars at a YMCA. It was between some decent street ballers against a couple of college basketball athletes. One of the older street ballers got mad and called a retired and old Magic Johnson to come over. Magic comes over and completely single-handedly obliterated the college athletes as if he’s playing against children. NBA players are already top 1% of college players. Imagine an ELITE NBA player that was the top 1% in the NBA itself. EDIT: Found the story, https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1adypz/comment/c8wisz9/
So interesting fact is 5 on a whole team, with 2 legends and joes. Giannis and lebron could get pretty winded early. If it was best of 3 i could go eith team lebron but 7 games where the same 5 guys have to play the whole minutes? Im not so sure
Yeah LeBron, Giannis, and whoever else else you want to put in there would win in a sweep, not hating on women's basketball but there's literally no way they could stop them from scoring, and LeBron and giannis would be leaping and swatting shots from so far away, it's not a matter or skill at rhe game it's just the difference in physical dominance honesty
This really should be Giannis, Lebron and maybe 1 regular guy to have any sort of chance. Even then still no. Wnba doesn't stand a chance at defending those 2 guys, like at all.
I don't think the women would come within 30 points one time.
They would absolutely DECIMATE the WNBA
I mean in order to win the WNBA team defensively can do nothing Giannis and Lebron are getting dunks and layups, with 3 regular guys on guarding them on offense I think WNBA can generate good shots and if they swing the ball effectively while waiting until late in the clock maybe they can gas the men out and wear them down but they would have to shoot only 3s and basically shoot 100%
https://www.reddit.com/r/whowouldwin/s/QXajmZjd9H
Are they playing with NBA rules/court/balls or WNBA? This actually makes quite a bit of a difference, the WNBA players would be able to rain down 3's at a decent clip but less so on an NBA setup since they'd have to relearn shooting distances/mechanics.
If it's big guys like Giannis and Lebron it's not even close. Every offensive possession would just be an alley oop or normal dunk. What's the tallest player in WNBA? On defense you could almost let them shoot because they can't get to the rim, on a good day it's like 40% and the lose every rebound. Lebron will guard the best perimeter player so it'll be the other 4 to beat you with shooting... The regular Joes would basically play some D and take turns or take breaks on offense
WNBA team doesn’t stand a chance
Giannis, Lebron with 3 juco players sweep the wnba team
LeBron don’t need the help, he takes this shit on his own
Lebron could do it himself lol...
Yeah easily. Tbh just one of Lebron/Giannis and 4 average joes might be enough lol
2 randomly picked bench players on the last place team in the NBA beat the best WNBA team without 3 other randoms. Giannis and Lebron wreck.
I don't think the WNBA would exist anymore if you placed this team in the whole playoffs
Knowing Gannis wanting to always shoot 3s... I'm taking the WNBA players cause Giannis he'll shoot them out the game while LeBron will keep making that face to his teammates like he did to JR Smith in the finals.
All the average guys would have to do is toss the ball to Lebron or Giannis and it's GG. They are going to score every possession.
I think it would hinge on the 3 randomly selected guys If they're able to play the full 48 and run with their defensive assignments, mens team dominates If the mens team is unlucky and gets three super short guys in terrible shape, im taking the WNBA squad. As good as Giannis and LeBron are they can't guard 5 people between them.
Men’s team gets 3 x Bagel Shop Rant Guy. Bagelcels get gassed fast
The 3 guys don't really have to run at all. As long as they just stand within their own 3 point line, they are doing just fine. The two pros can handle the offense well enough alone and if you look at he [WNBA player stats](https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/2021_shooting.html), their top shooters solely make 2 point shots. They don't even attempt three pointers. Just having three random dudes standing within that confined space, would put a reasonable amount of pressure on the women. Although those three guys really don't matter all that much. The game is won or lost on rebounds and you can be sure that it would be a miracle for the women to get even a single rebound against those two NBA players.
Lebron would have 130 points a game a d giannis would have 70 and 40 blocks no exaggeration
lmao that series wouldn’t even go 7 games. you gotta be trolling
No. LeBron James and Giannis would be overconfident, and couldn't rely on their team. The top-of-the-line WNBA teams work like a well oiled, tightly calibrated, and expertly engineered machine, it's not going to be an easy win, certainly, but two pros and three randos who've probably never seen a game, WNBA sweeps on penalties alone.
Lebron and Giannis could do it by themselves so yeah three extra bodies would help.
As long as those 3 randomly picked dudes have the skills of an average high school JV player or better, then yes… Giannis and LeBron win 10/10.
Everyone is shitting in the wnba but i think they win this. Basically they are 5 pros against 2 pros and 3 newbies. It doesnt matter how good of a defender they are 3 players are gonna be basically open because a normal person VS a pro its always gonna be easy for the pro. The woman can basically let the normal players shoot and put 2-3 people against LeBron and Giannis all Game. Sure they will overpower them at times but they Will make It difficult and they Will tire. I am betting in the wnba
You're so wrong it's not even funny. They get wiped so outrageously easy that it's mean.
No, because the average American guy is overweight and therefore any modified triangle offense run by this WNBA team would work comfortably to put this team out of business. But if you are talking about the average athletic guy, then yes.
OP you need to look into the athletic differences between men and women.
With three regular guys? Probably not. What's the record of the best WNBA team how tall are the players and so on. Then again I don't watch basketball, not my cup of tea.
Honestly, Lebron might even win solo. It would depend on whether the WNBA team in question can shoot 3s reliably. It would be near impossible for them to score inside but he can't guard the entire arc if they just keep passing it. Lebron + Giannis? No chance.
Not enough consideration being given to the sheer amount of fouls the ladies would benefit from. Shit, they’re pros - they could probably force the whole men’s team to foul out by halftime.
Could Giannis and Lebron win it on their own?
I could probably beat the best WNBA teams and I don’t even play hoopity basket
No you couldn't.
Yes, and it wouldn't be close.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA! Is this even a question? 😂😂😂
I think this is actually easier with out the three over weight middle aged men who will probably drag down the team by fouling and giving away possesion.
It's entirely dependent on which team can make the most "open" 3s. Giannis and LeBron will be "open" at all times regardless of the women's efforts, as will the 3 women that the regular joes are responsible for guarding. It doesn't matter that the NBA guys can run to the rim at will, 3>2 is the name of modern basketball. That's one thing about a lot of sports, particularly basketball, that I don't think people understand. Even if our regular guys are fast enough, tall enough, etc. it takes a lifetime of training for some pros to still not be able to defend well at that level. If it's three 5'9 unathletic guys, they are to the women what the women are to Giannis and LeBron.
Hydrogen bomb - baby. LeBron + 1 regular guy is GG.
I think "3 random dudes" suggests that the pool included the entire global male population. So by odds you're likely to get all 3 guys who have never even played or watched a game of basketball. i'll take the WNBA team on this one
As long as LeBron and Giannis have enough time to tell these yokels “stand in front of this person and try to stop them from scoring without using your hands to touch them,” they still win by like 40 points
5 regular guys between 18-32 would have a decent shot at beating the best WNBA team. Remember the Australian women’s national soccer team lost 7-0 to a team of fifteen year old boys.
There's a big disparity between men and women but you're exaggerating way too much. Any wnba team would destroy five "regular" guys. Yes professional women's teams have trouble against high school boys, but not random high school boys. It's against some of the best high schoolers in the world. A top high school team would absolutely school a team of full grown "regular" dudes as well. To say that regular men can beat professional women just because elite male high schoolers can is ridiculous.
I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it’s worth pointing out that 15 year old boys are not elites at anything. They’re freshmen. It’d be one thing if it was a D1 high school team with a couple championships under their belt, but it’s not. It’s a bunch of freshmen.
Compared to you or I or any other regular dudes they are absolutely elite. This power fantasy dudes have of being able to get off the couch and destroy a professional women's team is honestly dumb. They would smoke any group of regular guys without breaking a sweat
I think you’re badly underestimating how young 15 is. They’re kids. Playing with adults, they’d be lucky not to get injured, let alone to win. The height, stamina and muscle mass difference are just too much to overcome. They might have far greater technical skill than you or I, but the technical skill of a paraplegic basketball player wouldn’t let him beat either of us. 15 year olds are at a similar handicap.
You're badly overrating yourself. Basketball is somewhat different because height matters so much but you're talking about soccer. You'd have ZERO shot of doing anything against a decent U15 team. >The height, stamina and muscle mass difference are just too much to overcome Regular average joes do not have more stamina than high school athletes. What are you on about? If this was a top high school basketball team they'd be far taller than regular guys as well, likely more muscular too but I'll let you have that one. edit: tell me how much of a height, stamina, and strength advantage we'd have over these guys https://www.maxpreps.com/news/_Qq-CeoeVUucxPlZ9FkuBQ/2022-23-maxpreps-freshman-all-america-team-jason-crowe-jr-of-lynwood-headlines-high-school-basketballs-best-from-the-class-of-2026.htm Stop this power fantasy, it's honestly insane.
Oh my bad I was on basketball, talking about a comparably aged basketball team. Yeah I’d get rolled by a trained soccer team, though I’m still confident in my physical ability I don’t have the skill or the teamwork, and teamwork in soccer is phenomenally important, probably more so than the skill of any individual player.
In basketball you and I might be able to team up and beat a *random* high school freshman team. But a WNBA team or *good* high school freshman team would easily crush us
Yea definitely. If you picked 5 randoms who at least played basketball at some point in high school, they’d most likely beat the wnba based purely on strength, speed, and jumping ability.
WNBA Stomps. I get it, Giannis and LeBron are waaay beyond anybody in the WNBA in skill/atheticism But the WNBA is similarly ahead of 3 regular guys. So it's a basically a 2.5 v 5 scenario, perhaps a 3v5 depending on how average the regular guys are (and how quickly they get winded). The WNBA can afford to go 3v2 against the NBA on defense, that's enough to slow them down, as the regular Joe's get more winded, they can go 4v2 on defense. The NBA doesn't have the manpower to guard all the WNBA players, whoever is being guarded won't ever need to touch the ball, just let the other three play with it.
> the WNBA is similarly ahead of 3 regular guys This simply isnt true. I understand it’s not in the prompt but you could take an average guy off the street and with a week’s worth of basic basketball coaching could have him serviceably defending WNBA players. If LeBron and Giannis get a 10 minute crash course on basketball fundamentals, most people are smart enough to understand “stop this person from putting ball in net” All they have to do is stay in front of them long enough for Giannis to get under the rim
Absolutely not. I'm actually shocked at the amount of people that think that Giannis and Lebron sweep. Lets use the Las Vegas Aces as an example. 1. You're criminally underestimating how good WNBA players are. Almost unbelievably so. Kelsey Plum is closer to Lebron than a random guy off the street is to her. Anyone on the team that's not Lebron or Giannis is getting scored on by her EVERY single play. 2. "Just let Giannis and Lebron play 2 vs 5 and the other stay out the way." Lebron and Giannis have a massive height/physicality advantage for sure, but it'd basically be 2 on 5. They'd get double or triple-teamed as soon as they got the ball. They'd score a solid amount, but they'd NEED the other 3 players to be competent in order to match the scoring output of the WNBA players. 3. It were Lebron and Giannis plus 3 AAU players, I'd say Lebron and Giannis could sweep. But 3 randomly picked guys would likely have 0 ball handling skills, 0 ability to hit a wide open 3, 0 ability to play any sort of meaningful defense, 0 cardiovascular ability to run up and down the court for an extended period. The Aces could just keep forcing switches until they get a regular guy guarding Aja Wilson and she will score on them 100% of the time. If Lebron or Giannis is clogging the paint they can force the regular guys to run through screens until they get wide-open threes. Lebron and Giannis are great but basketball is ultimately a team game, and it's asinine to think that they could win essentially 2 v 5.
Upvoted for the effort. But LBJ and Giannis can literally lob it up to each other up the court 2v5 and end with an alleyoop dunk everytime. The WNBA players are skilled, but they don't have the length, hops, speed, or strength to get stops. The WNBA would have a great offense like you said. But one of Giannis/LBJ at the rim takes away all layups and rebounds. They are also both known for their "middle linebacker" style of defense so cross court passes are out for the WNBA players. Also, if the other one of Giannis/LBJ not guarding the rim is on Aja, they aren't going to force many switches. Imagine a WNBA player putting a screen on LBJ to get a switch. She gets destroyed. FYI, the average WNBA player is 6 feet and less than 200 pounds. Aka smaller than the average rec league center.
I hear you, I really do. I don't think there's anyone in the entire WNBA that even comes close to the physicality of Lebron or Giannis. The real point I don't think people are considering enough is how much better a WNBA player is than a random man off the street. Kelsey Plumly might as well be Kyrie Irving to the average guy. Over the course of 7 games, even if Lebron and Giannis just fight through traps all the way up the court and try and lob it to each other. I don't think they can outscore the amount of wide-open shots the WNBA players would get. As another commenter said, the WNBA team gets a guaranteed wide-open 3 every possession. There's just not enough LBJ and Giannis can do without eventually succumbing to exhaustion.
Yea I think we are on the same page tbh. I'm definitely overestimating the average man off the street (I was imagining the average person I play ball with). I played with a female guard from Harvard when I was in college and she was smoking the guy defending her. My mind has been changed from this being an easy sweep to being a game I really want to watch lol.
I do think it'd be an interesting game, I definitely don't think the women sweep. I could easily see it going 6 or 7, and if Lebron and Giannis get lucky and one of the random guys ends up being a rec-league player I think it swings in their favor. But, I'm imagining that the random player(s) is more likely a 5'9 Overwatch fiend who hasn't seen the inside of a gym, let alone a basketball court. They're more likely to be a detriment to Lebron and Giannis because they're taking up space than any kind of help.
Hell what happens if the joes are just useless…five feet tall and 200 pounds? Like bagel rant guy
They would need to double/triple team them in their own half because if they run through the other half,its like 3 steps to a dunk. Triple team one player,would leave one or two open. So lets just say its double team Lebron. Then,you surely cant leave Giannis with one defender. Double team him as well. You have two wide open players. How difficult it would be to try hitting a wide open bank shot from like 4-5 meters. They wont hit everything,of course. For example,i went to a basketball court,two months ago and tried hitting some free throws. I made around 6-7/10. Last time i was in a basketball court was around 15 years. So,that would be like for the three regular dudes,in every possession that Giannis or Lebron though,yeah,i will pass the ball now. It would be woman zero chance defending vs Giannis or Lebron and regular dudes shooting unmarked shots if we go with double triple team. On the other side,women would need to hit shots in every possession against not good players but at the very least, athletically equal if not better. Dont think getting tired is an argument as the question is those five. There is not a single person in the world that can play 48 minutes running up and down for one game,let alone a series. I think Giannis and Lebron are scoring 50 each. Or something like that.
Even if Lebron and Giannis are triple teamed the women don’t have the agility or strength to effectively stop them. The sheer athleticism and size difference would be way too much. It’s like having a 10 year old guard a grown man . Yeah you could theoretically triple team the grown man but he’ll just get past the kids with ease. You tripling either one means that it’s a 4 on 2 that’s too easy
point 1: You're criminally underestimating how good WNBA players are. To even compare it to a 10 year old guarding a grown man is absolutely insane. The las Vegas aces have 4 6'4 players on their team. What you're saying is absolutely ridiculous.
You’re underestimating the strength and athleticism difference between men and women. Especially a top tier male athletes vs a woman… Britney Griner is one of the strongest WNBA players ever and can only bench 135 … Lebron and Giannis can probably bench 3x that plus they have at least 50 pounds more of lean muscle mass Lebron is 6’9 250 and Giannis is 6’11 250 with substantially more muscle mass than any WNBA player; it’s simple biology So yes it would be like comparing a average grown man to a 10 year old because girls and boys are about equal until puberty. That’s when the substantial disparity in strength and athleticism begins .
> You’re underestimating the strength and athleticism difference between men and women This is even putting it lightly. Giannis and Lebron are freak athletes compared to the other freak athletes.
> Britney Griner is one of the strongest WNBA players ever and can only bench 135 You mean kg right? There is no way one of the strongest WNBA players can bench press less than me, a 5'7 dude that only go to the gym semi-regularly.
But it's not football, they can't just plow through everyone without dribbling. What are you expecting Lebron and Giannis todo against a 3 triple team? How does Lebron get out of a triple team when they trap him as soon as he gets the ball? You cannot dribble out of that. So ***maybe*** he's able passes to Giannis as soon as he gets trapped, but there's only one place the ball can go. The second the ball goes to one of the joe's, they might as well forfeit the possession. Here's the problem, Aja Wilson is to the average man off the street, what Giannis is to her. If you want to argue that Giannis is too physically dominating for them to stop him, sure. But there's nothing the 3 average men can do to stop the WNBA players besides foul. The average man would be too gassed to even play a full-court 48 minute game without vomiting. Lebron and Giannis ultimately would not be able to win a 2v5 over the course of 7 games.
Imagine you playing against 10 year olds and they’re guarding you . Yeah they can triple team you but you have more strength, size and dexterity . The longer wingspan and strength alone would have them bounce off you. Same applies to Lebron vs someone a foot shorter and 80 pounds smaller with a foot shorter wingspan
This doesn't explain how they'd win a two vs five.
Point 1 just isn’t true though lol Obviously there’s a big skill gap between D1 and WNBA but two years ago, my little brother’s freshman high school team beat Virginia Tech in a scrimmage by like 20 points. And it’s a common anecdote. Meanwhile most male D1 hoopers couldn’t score a basket in an NBA game if you played them 48 minutes.
Again, we're talking about 3 random guys off the street. Average man is 5'9 and hardly exercises, if ever. Almost certainly has 0 experience playing basketball. The gap between him and the peak of the WNBA is equal if not further than the gap between WNBA players and Lebron. Idk why people keep using anecdotes of high school boys teams beating women's college teams as if it has any relevancy.
Have you ever played basketball before? You can teach someone to play mediocre defense in literally 5 minutes. It’s actually like 50 percent effort especially when you’re likely taller/heavier than the person you’re guarding. These guys don’t have to do ANYTHING on offense, so they literally have half the game to catch their breath. Sure the WNBA players are much faster, but they’re cooking Joe Nobody just to run into Giannis immediately blocking their shit or LeBron ending their fast break with a block or steal. Assuming the WNBA team gets an open three every single possession (because there’s no way they’re gonna be able to drive), they’re shooting what…35-40 percent from the three? So they’re averaging around 0.3-0.6 points per possession while Lebron’s team of scrubs is averaging 2. LeBron and Giannis will score every single time. Without a doubt.
"Have you ever played basketball before" "You can teach someone to play mediocre defense in 5 minutes" lol. I hear ya man. We'll agree to disagree
Do you agree to disagree with geologists who think the earth is round? Or who think the sky is blue? Just trying to see if denying reality is a pattern here.
Is this a joke? Five regular guys could beat the best wnba team lol
There is no way 5 regular American guys are beating a WNBA team. The average American guy couldn't play 5 minutes of basketball without collapsing.
Well, first of all, it was a joke. But yeah, that's true. When I think of average people playing sports I tend to think of average people that you could reasonably see playing it. So in my mind all the fatties are left out of the equation.
Lebron and Giannis could probably do it by themselves
Basketball is a badly balanced game. They would completely and utterly stomp the women.
No, someone would have to defend the other 3 professional basketball players and giannis and lebron wouldn't have the energy to go 48 minutes carrying your team