The 2016-17 Golden State Warriors are considered one of the most dangerous NBA teams ever assembled. After all, they had a generational scorer in Kevin Durant, the two greatest shooters of all time in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and a defensive savant in Draymond Green. However, for Richard Jefferson, the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers were still better.

Jefferson, who played for the Warriors in 2012-2013, argued that Shaquille O'Neal was an unstoppable beast back in the day. While Green can certainly stop centers who are bigger than him, O'Neal's presence during the Lakers' dominant run in the early 2000s makes the team unmatched on Jefferson's list.

“The second-best team I ever played against truly–played against or faced–was the '17 Warriors [of] Steph, Klay, KD, Draymond. That team there was no there was no formula for that. I don’t care, you almost needed like a USA Basketball team to be assembled to beat them. That’s not an exaggeration,” Jefferson explained in the Road Trippin' podcast.

“But the best team was the 2001 Lakers. … I know Steph gets all the credit for changing the game but why here's why] Shaq was different. Shaq forced you to carry three or two extra big men on your roster, so that eliminated the opportunity to play small. … You were going to have to keep a big man and multiple big men on the floor because Shaquille O’Neal, as much as I love Draymond, Draymond was not doing anything against prime Shaq.”

Richard Jefferson certainly makes a good point. Shaquille O'Neal has been considered by some as the most dominant big man in NBA history. With his size and desire to dunk on everyone any time, it was really difficult to stop him. It's the reason why Hack-a-Shaq was invented to slow down his scoring in the paint and exploit his weakness in shooting free throws.

Then again, all efforts by opposing defenses were not enough to significantly affect his production. O'Neal eventually led the Lakers to a three-peat from 2000 to 2002 alongside Kobe Bryant, with the Big Diesel averaging over 27 points per game during that three-year stretch.

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While the 2016-17 Warriors had — in many eyes — the greatest collection of talent ever, they might have had a hard time containing Shaq during his prime with the Lakers.