Michael Jordan got to play with some legendary players during his career. Jordan found great success alongside Scottie Pippen, and then later Dennis Rodman, who helped him greatly in his 6 NBA championship wins for the Chicago Bulls. Jordan always seemed content with the great players he had around him. But Scottie Pippen did not make it into his all-time starting 5 during a 1992 interview with Playboy.
In a 1992 interview with Playboy magazine, Michael Jordan was asked about his all-time starting lineup. He mentioned Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as two players who definitely make his team. After that, it got difficult, as Jordan struggled between 5 players for the last 2 spots, naming James Worthy, Kevin McHale, Karl Malone, David Robinson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as players he would want on his team.
Playboy: What’s your all-time starting five?
Jordan: Me and Magic, Bird, Worthy, McHale or Malone, David Robinson or Abdul-Jabbar.
Jordan would go on to give a different answer about 20 years later when he was doing an interview for NBA 2K13.
In that interview, Jordan included himself, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Hakeem Olajuwon as his all-time starting 5. Winning 4 more championships with Scottie Pippen gave Jordan more appreciation for his star teammate than he might have had earlier, as they hadn’t won much together at the time of this interview.
Michael Jordan is pretty much a fixture in most people’s all-time starting lineups. Most people within the NBA community consider Michael Jordan the greatest player in history, so it makes sense that people would select the best player ever to form the best team ever. Given all that Jordan accomplished in his career, there is no denying that Jordan is one of, if not the greatest player in NBA history.
