Allen Iverson’s version of an all-time starting five comes with plenty of star power, and a familiar Lakers footprint.
The Hall of Famer shared his list on Instagram, and it included Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Curry. That’s a lineup loaded with championship pedigree, but it also leaves room for the debate that always follows these lists.
Bryant’s place on Iverson’s team makes sense given the respect Iverson has long shown him. The two had several battles during their playing careers, and Iverson has always spoken highly of Bryant.
The bigger discussion is at point guard, where Iverson chose Curry over Lakers legend Magic Johnson.
Iverson did play against every name on his list, but he missed Johnson by one season. Johnson returned from retirement to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring again, which kept him just out of Iverson’s head-to-head range.
Still, Johnson remains the standard for many when the conversation turns to the greatest point guard ever. Before Curry’s Warriors rewrote so much of the league’s offensive thinking with their three-point barrage, Johnson was widely viewed that way.
At 6’9”, Johnson brought a different kind of size and tempo to the position, steering the Showtime Lakers with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley on the bench and a fierce Celtics rivalry that helped define the era. His style helped transform the point guard spot into something the league had never really seen before.
Curry’s case is just as strong in a different way. Alongside Klay Thompson, he made the three-pointer the center of an offense and helped drive one of the best teams in NBA history, the 2016 Warriors, who finished 73-9.
That Warriors run turned into a title era of its own. Under Steve Kerr, Curry and company won four championships and pushed the rest of the league toward the three-point heavy game that now defines so much of the NBA.
So while Iverson’s five is stacked, the Curry-versus-Magic argument is the one that will keep hanging around. Curry’s influence is impossible to ignore, but Johnson’s case as the best point guard ever is still very much alive. And if Curry adds another title before he’s done, that debate only gets louder.
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