There have been many great NBA teams since it’s inception in 1946. The 1996 Bulls, mid-80’s Lakers & Celtics teams, a couple LeBron-lead teams and this current group of Warriors all come to mind when a “great team” is mentioned. As we all know, there is no Delorean ready, so we are unable to see how these teams classic teams of years past could compete with the championship teams of today. Thanks to 2K Sports, NBA 2K & the Internet, we can! The video game NBA 2K17 put Classic Teams in the game as playable teams, so users could play as some of the greatest players & teams in history!

We at the 30 Minute Lunchbreak have taken it a step further and put the best of the best in a playoff-style tournament in NBA 2K17. After countless hours of research on Basketball Reference, Operation Sports, YouTube, my PS4 and talking to basketball fans, the 30 Minute Lunchbreak Podcast presents…the NBA 2K All-Time Simulation Tournament!

Tournament Breakdown

This is a 20-team tournament based inside NBA 2K17
All games are simulated, using 12 minute quarters
The top 10 Championship teams from the Eastern & Western conferences are ranked and placed into a NBA playoff-like tournament
Play-in Round is best-of-five
First Round through Finals are best-of-seven
Rosters & classic teams are originally NBA 2K & modified by AirMatic23 to include all Championship teams

Tournament Teams

Eastern	Rank	Western
1996 Chicago Bulls	1	2001 Los Angeles Lakers
1986 Boston Celtics	2	2017 Golden State Warriors
1989 Detroit Pistons	3	1987 Los Angeles Lakers
2016 Cleveland Cavaliers	4	2014 San Antonio Spurs
1983 Philadelphia 76ers	5	2003 San Antonio Spurs
2013 Miami Heat	6	2010 Los Angeles Lakers
1965 Boston Celtics	7	2011 Dallas Mavericks
2004 Detroit Pistons	8	1995 Houston Rockets
1993 Chicago Bulls	9	1971 Milwaukee Bucks
2008 Boston Celtics	10	1972 Los Angeles Lakers