Jeff Teague has heard the familiar knock that shows up whenever older NBA film hits the timeline: not athletic enough, not fast enough, not built for today. His response is to point at the most obvious counterexample playing right now, and then to raise the stakes.
In a recent clip, Teague said that when people watch Nikola Jokić highlights and marvel at how dominant he is without looking like a sprinter, it should change the way they talk about past greats. Teague argued that Jokić “just be walking around” while making the game look simple, and grouped Luka Dončić into that same category of pace-control brilliance. From there, Teague made his leap: if Larry Bird played in today’s NBA, Teague said, Bird would “average 30, 10, 8.”
It’s a statement meant less as a projection model than as a reminder of what Bird actually was, a big, skilled decision-maker who could score at all three levels of his era, pass like a guard, punish mismatches, and manipulate defenses without needing explosive vertical athleticism. Bird’s résumé backs up the premise even if the exact numbers are Teague’s opinion: three straight MVPs, a championship core built around his playmaking and shot-making, and a career defined by the kind of half-court command that ages well in any era.
Jeff Teague talking about if Larry Bird played in today’s NBA:
“Watching Jokic highlights and y’all thinking how good Jokic is? How good you think Larry Bird would be right now? Because when I watch older people play, they be like he ain’t athletic he ain’t this. But then when I… pic.twitter.com/mPQroS3YKb
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 2, 2026
