With the holidays around the corner, Tom Tolbert shared the one thing he wants for Christmas with The Athletic columnist Marcus Thompson, who appeared on Tolbert & Lund Friday evening.
“If I had a Christmas wish list, forget my gifts this year. Forget them for the next five years,” Tom Tolbert said. “Give me the Lakers good in the next three years while the Warriors are good and let me watch that thing unfold for a while.”
“Oh man,” Thompson said in response. “You can have my Red Ryder BB Gun and give me that.”
Although the Warriors-Lakers rivalry is one that’s almost always been lopsided, it’s never lacked a passionate showing from both their fan bases.
“Warriors and Lakers games were crazy like when the Warriors were terrible,” Thompson said. “It was like, you know you’re not going to make the playoffs, but just beat the Lakers. Then half the stadium was full of Lakers fans. Can you just imagine if they met in the playoffs? It would be insane. I don’t even know if we could handle it. The streets would be crazy.”
That was the case from 1999-2010, when the Lakers won five NBA championships, but the tables of this rivalry are turning in favor of Golden State. After loyally supporting the Warriors, who were the laughingstocks of the NBA for much of the last 20 years, fans have reveled in Golden State’s three consecutive NBA Finals appearances and two championships.
“You know what part of the problem is?,” Thompson said. “Warriors fans, who have suffered for so long and supported so many bad teams, they are obnoxious. They’re like, ‘It’s our turn, finally,’ and they clown everybody else. They celebrate dominance. There’s no chill in Warriors fans.”
Nonetheless, with the Lakers at 5-7 this season and the Warriors showing no signs of slowing down their dominance, it looks as if these loyal fans will have to wait a little longer for this rivalry to even out.
“We deserve that,” Thompson said. “I think in the Bay, we deserve Warriors and Lakers to be there at the same time, but with how Lonzo is shooting that might not happen.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 10:15 for Thompson on Warriors-Lakers.