The Golden State Warriors secured their second championship in three years in dominant fashion last season as they easily dismantled all the teams that stood in their way. 

After finishing the regular season with a 67-15 record, the Dubs went an astonishing 16-1 in the playoffs and ultimately gained revenge on the Cleveland Cavaliers for their loss in 2016.

The addition of Kevin Durant made the Warriors a formidable force and their dominance came as no surprise to anybody as their roster featured four All-Stars.

In the year they blew a 3-1 Finals lead to the Cavs, the Bay Area franchise was still able to secure a record 73 wins - beating the previous mark set by the historic 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team.

Golden State is primed to create a dynasty and add more titles to their cabinet in the coming years as KD, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are all playing at the top of their game. 

With the success they are having, it's only natural for this current Warriors squad to be compared to the great teams of the past and debate how they would stack up against them. 

Many former players have chimed in on this topic and claimed their respective teams would have beaten the Oakland-based outfit. 

The likes of Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley have often stated that they wouldn't have been able to handle the physical nature of the game during their generation. 

Pippen's Bulls team in 1996 is often the one that people mention that would give them a run for their money due to the greatness of Michael Jordan. 

But recently, Durant stated that he believes there is another historic group that would give him and his teammates their biggest threat; the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers.

“That 16-1 team, that Lakers team would’ve been tough because (Shaquille O’Neal) was just big,” Durant said on The Bill Simmons podcast. ” … That team was bigger, you needed some size to get them, but they were bigger and Kobe (Bryant) was in rare form.”

Like the Warriors, that Lakers team only lost one game on their way to the Larry O'Brien trophy and that was because of an outstanding individual display in game one of the Finals by Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. 

KD is right, they don't have anybody that could've stopped Shaq and Kobe was almost unguardable in his own right, but he explains what tactic they would employ to go up against the Big Diesel inside.

“We would definitely put Shaq in a lot of pick-and-rolls," he said. "Make him guard Steph (Curry), me, Klay (Thompson) coming off pick-and-rolls. We would double him every time he got the ball and make him be a passer.”

This admission by the reigning Finals MVP is sure to stoke up this debate once again.