It is always tough to decide who the greatest of all time is in any sport considering how many factors there are to consider in any amazing athlete’s career. A lot of people have their ideas of the ideal team they would pick if they had the chance though, and in basketball, those 5 spots mean that you can add a lot more greats into it. It is nearly impossible to reach a consensus on what the best team would be, but NBA legend Tracy McGrady seems to have his one locked at this point.
McGrady was asked who his all-time starting 5 is and his answer had some pretty straightforward picks but also some controversial ones. In an interview with Playmaker, he named his best team from all the NBA players in history, explaining that he likes to make them according to the positions on the court.
“Man I’ve changed this so many times. I like to do it by position, right. So my point guard, and this is because I’m just a fan, I love Jason Kidd. J-Kidd to me is my point guard. My two-guard, I got MJ. My small forward, I mean, there’s nobody better than Bron, right? So I gotta go with Bron. The power forward, man, you’ve got KG, you’ve got Karl Malone, you’ve got Charles Barkley, Dirk, oh man. But, Tim Duncan dawg. I gotta go with Timmy D. And my center, the most dominant, the Big Aristotle, Shaq.”
Michael Jordan and LeBron James are probably as close to consensus top selections in a team like this as any in the history of the NBA. The real question mark is with Jason Kidd, with players like Steve Nash, John Stockton, Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson having arguably greater cases.
Tim Duncan is a lock at power forward, but Shaquille O’Neal can be debated against considering that he played the same position as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Arguments can be made for and against several players on this particular team, but if T-Mac’s five could have possibly played together, any other top 5 teams would have been hard-pressed to beat them.
