Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden has been in the news this summer due to his pending trade request with the Los Angeles Clippers, the cross-hall rival of the Los Angeles Lakers, being the most likely destination. While it has been several weeks since he opted-in to his $35.6 million contract and requested a trade, Harden has taken off some of the spotlight by revealing his all-time starting lineup.
During Harden’s time with the Houston Rockets, he was a three-time scoring champion and won the MVP in 2017-18. When departing from the team that drafted him in the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was able to spread his wings and become a No. 1 option on a team. With his prime behind him though, he has made a case to be one of the better point guards the league has seen.
However, with Harden’s site seemingly on the Clippers, his all-time starting lineup ironically includes three Lakers in LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, along with Tim Duncan and Michael Jordan, via NBACentral:
James Harden’s all-time starting lineup:
PG: LeBron James
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Michael Jordan
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Shaquille O’Neal(Via @USATODAY ) pic.twitter.com/I92GgIkq3g
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 25, 2023
With the Lakers being a historic franchise with many legends who wore the purple and gold, it is hard to imagine any top five without a member of the organization.
James has often been the subject of the GOAT conversation with Jordan, both who are seen as two of top players all-time. James can do it all on the court, while Jordan and Bryant are dynamic scorers, Duncan is one of the most fundamentally sound players ever and O’Neal is the most dominant center the league has ever seen. Interesting for Harden to have James at the point guard, which gives his starting lineup significant height, but LeBron has shown he can play the position as he did in the 2019-20 season when the Lakers won it all.
While the Harden is awaiting for his trade request to be handled, it is interesting to see who the top players of today’s game rank the legends and see how their lineups vary from other players. But, one common theme is at least one Laker legend will be on that list.
Stephen Curry lists Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson & Shaquille O’Neal in all-time starting 5
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry also recently came out with his all-time starting lineup, which shares similarities with Harden. Both have Bryant, Jordan, Duncan and O’Neal, but Curry decided to have Magic Johnson as his point guard, differing from Harden having James at the point.
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