Philadelphia 76er's Allen Iverson speaks after being named the NBA Most Valuable Player Tuesday, May 15, 2001, in Philadelphia. Iverson, who led the overachieving Sixers to the best record in the East, was picked as the NBA's MVP on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Dan Loh) Original Filename: IVERSON_MVP_PX104.jpg
Iconic view: Allen Iverson Publicly announced” his deadliest” All-Time starting Five including O’Neal” in the selection…
Because of his embracement of the current game and his support for athletes from all periods, Allen Iverson has emerged as one of the most distinctive retired stars in the history of the sport. Like Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant in his early post-retirement years, he has never caved to criticism of superstars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry and has been a fantastic ambassador for the game.
Iverson has acknowledged players from the generation that came after him while talking about the all-time greats of the game, as one approach to do this. Additionally, Shaquille O’Neal spoke about younger players nearly exclusively in a February interview.
When O’Neal asked Iverson to name his all-time starting five, the former star player for the Philadelphia 76ers included three Lakers, of which O’Neal was one, along with three players who played most of their careers after him, according to The Big Podcast with Shaq:
Steph (Curry), Kobe, Mike (Michael Jordan), LeBron (James), and Diesel (O’Neal).”
Iverson includes three Lakers — Bryant, James and O’Neal — on his all-time starting five. These are undeniably three of the game’s all-time greats, and regular features on nearly everyone’s all-time teams. Though, typically, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod over O’Neal.
Iverson also includes both Bryant and Michael Jordan despite the fact that the two play very similar positions. Defensively, a one-two punch of Jordan and Bryant would be a sight to behold. They are arguably the two greatest defenders from the shooting guard position of all time.
James and Curry, meanwhile, just got done showing how incredible the two of them can be when they share a court together at the 2024 Olympics. They were the stars and leaders of the gold medal roster in Paris. And O’Neal’s dominance in the paint would make this an impossible team to score on and a nearly impossible team to stop.
LeBron James credits Kevin Durant as all-time great
The 2024 Paris Olympics were a saving grace to see two legends in Durant and James team up for the last time.
This Olympic run for Team USA was a meaningful one as James, Durant and Curry headlined the roster despite being in their late 30s. But it does not mean that they still cannot put legendary performances as each of those three had their moments during the run.
Ultimately, the United States was able to come out with another gold medal, their fifth consecutive. It is hard to give equal credit due to the amount of star power, but James gave Durant his fair share, calling him one of the greatest players ever.
