RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesEveryone seems to have their own all-time NBA starting five, and perhaps there is no one right answer to who should be in that starting lineup. The Los Angeles Lakers have had several candidates for that lineup throughout their illustrious history, including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James.
Recently, Lakers guard Austin Reaves went on the "Pardon My Take" podcast and gave his all-time starting five. He made a couple of decisions for that lineup that some may find questionable, including not having Johnson as his starting point guard and including himself in that group of five.
“All of the older people, don’t be mad at me because I’m talking personally from what I’ve seen and watched. Steph (Stephen Curry) at the one,” Reaves said. “I’ve gotta put myself in there, I can’t coach? Steph at the one, me at the two. It’s so much easier if I didn’t have to put myself in there because I would put Kobe at the two. We’re gonna go Kobe at the three, Bron at the four and Shaq at the five.”
Reaves grew up a Lakers fan, as well as a fan of Bryant, in small-town Arkansas. Bryant, of course, won each of his first three NBA championships alongside O'Neal, then won two more with Hall of Fame big man Pau Gasol in the late 2000s.
Plenty of people still feel Johnson, who retired for good in 1996, is the greatest point guard who ever played the game. But Curry has been closing in on Johnson's apparent claim to that accolade, especially since he won his fourth title in 2022. He has career averages of 24.8 points and 6.3 assists a game and won two league MVPs in 2015 and 2016.
James, of course, just ended an eight-year stint in Los Angeles and spent the last five years playing with Reaves. During his time with the Lakers, he put up 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. He led the NBA in assists per game in the 2019-20 campaign, the same year he led the Lakers to the world championship.
Last season, Reaves registered 23.3 points and 5.5 assists per contest. He will be called upon to possibly expand his production a bit now that James is headed to the Philadelphia 76ers.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Austin Reaves picks interesting all-time NBA starting lineup
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