Colin Cowherd Makes Bold Jayson Tatum-Scottie Pippen Claim

The arrival of the Olympics welcomes back discussions about the 1992 Dream Team, but Colin Cowherd wasn’t interested in basking in nostalgia.

Team USA kicked off its campaign for gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with an exhibition against Canada in Las Vegas. The Americans got off to a slow start, but the talent eventually showed itself, and Team USA seems primed to win it all.

Colin Cowherd on Thursday took a look at the rosters of this year’s team and the ’92 Dream Team and tried to figure out which roster was better. On the surface, it seemed like a tough task where an answer could only be found with the use of a time machine. But the FS1 host didn’t think it was that close of an argument. He highlighted how basketball players today are more skilled than they were back then, and how this year’s team will face much stiffer competition than the Dream Team did. His argument even invoked Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

“This team’s bench has starters that team,” Cowherd said on “The Herd.” “Scottie Pippen, I covered him in Portland, not close to Jayson Tatum. Patrick Ewing’s not nearly as good as Anthony Davis. Christian Laettner on that team. (Anthony Edwards) off the bench on this team? What are we talking about here?”

Cowherd continued to highlight the skills of modern players, and while he did acknowledge Michael Jordan’s dominance for the Dream Team, he said Larry Bird was “shot” in 1992; “The Herd” host pointed out that Bird retired soon after winning gold with the United States.

Of course, calling Tatum better than Pippen would invite responses from different eras of NBA fans. Tatum averaged more points (23.1) and rebounds (7.2) in the first seven years of his career than Pippen did (16.1 points and 6.4 rebounds) in his Hall of Fame career. Pippen does have the edge with his six NBA titles compared to Tatum just won his first this season.

Fans could go on and on, but it does show how stacked this year’s Team USA is, and it doesn’t even feature Jaylen Brown.