The best lineup ever?-Michael Jordan shares his all-time starting five
Michael Jordan
© USA TODAY Sports
Michael Jordan may be the greatest basketball player of all-time and 6x time champion, but even he himself couldn't have done it without great teammates by his side, like Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc, and more. But if you asked MJ what his dream five would have been, there are no teammates on the list.
Dream Team
Back in 1992, Michael Jordan did an interview for Playboy that Ballislife transcripted, in which he shared a bunch of interesting answers from his career and life. Amongst one of the things that MJ would share would be his all-time starting five:
"Me and Magic, Bird, Worthy, McHale or Malone, David Robinson or Abdul-Jabbar."
Michael Jordan, Playboy
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Of course, Michael picked himself first, being the best and most confident player there ever was. Then followed the legends of the 80s, which were the faces of the league before MJ came along, in Magic and Larry. They all have immense respect for each other, as the trio of MJ, Magic, and Larry seems to be the most mentioned players when anybody shares their all-time five.
But when it came to the frontcourt positions, Jordan was a bit indecisive. At power forward, MJ couldn't decide between Kevin McHale and Karl Malone. McHale was dominating a bit before Jordan's time, while Malone was MJ's actual rival, so he really couldn't pick one.
At the center position, Michael faced a similar debate with David Robinson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Honestly, Kareem is probably the better choice, but at that time, Robinson was a beast with a lot of success still in front of him. Anyway, he couldn't have been wrong, as this lineup would have destroyed anyone, no matter who you pick in the frontcourt positions.
Interestingly, at that time in 1992, Jordan didn't pick Pippen into his lineup. But when he was asked that same question 20 years later, in an interview for NBA2K14, Michael changed his five. MJ would only keep himself and Magic from the original lineup and add Scottie, Hakeem, and Worthy into the updated lineup.
I guess having Scottie help him win five more rings after the original interview changed his opinion. The same thing can be said for Hakeem Olajuwon, who became a 2x-time champion and one of the best centers in the league in the mid-90s'. The choice of James Worthy over Larry Bird might be the biggest surprise, but being college teammates probably gave the Lakers legend a bit of an edge.
Either way, if these two of MJ's all-time five faced each other, it definitely would have been a battle for the ages.
