Over the years, we have seen several players share their all-time starting 5s with the world. In these all-time teams, players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James are almost guaranteed to feature. But one of these players missed out on Joakim Noah’s all-time list, and it isn’t a surprise which one.
In a recent interview, Joakim Noah spoke about his all-time starting 5. In his lineup, he included Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Noah followed this up by pairing them with Shaquille O’Neal and Dirk Nowitzki. His last addition was a big surprise, adding ‘white chocolate’ Jason Williams to complete his lineup (1:10:00 mark).
“I got Shaq. Then I’m gonna go with Dirk, cuz now you’ve got the stretch and then you’ve got the big fella in there? Boy! And then I got MJ on one wing, I got Kobe on the other wing. Who’s running that? You know we’ve got White Chocolate bringing it up!”
The addition of Williams is a bit of a surprise. While he was a fan favorite in the NBA, his play was never on the level of some other players on the list. On top of that, Williams never made an All-Star or All-NBA team in his career, and only made the All-Rookie team in 1999.
But, Williams is a former NBA champion and played a big part in the Miami Heat’s 2006 NBA Championship win. Williams had a lot of potential to be a star. But injuries kept him from reaching his true potential. This is why his inclusion in Noah’s list comes as a surprise.
Noah snubbing LeBron James on the other hand is not at all surprising, given the history between the pair. Noah has also spoken about their feud in the past, saying that every time he and LeBron went head to head felt like a war.
While there may be many people who disagree with Noah’s 5, it is important to remember that these things are subjective. Perhaps Jason Williams was a big influence on Noah, and one of his favorite players, so he chose to include him in his all-time starting 5.
