Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett discusses his all-time NBA starting five, and the reasons behind his selections
It’s official: Kevin Garnett has named his all-time starting five, and in true KG fashion, KG is on the list. The Boston Celtics icon Garnett listed Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Wilt Chamberlain as the four players that would join him on his all-time starting five. Billy Reinhardt tweets the video of Garnett sharing his starting five:
Notable omissions from Garnett’s starting five are LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Bill Russell, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, and Michael Jordan. Also missing from the list are Garnett’s former teammates on the Celtics, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The topic of Michael Jordan raised some eyebrows from Garnett’s companions, as Garnett says:
“I got Kobe [Bryant] at my two, I know you’re gonna say MJ, shoutout to MJ he the god and we copied him, but I’m gonna put Kobe at my two.”
One would also notice that Garnett, a Boston Celtic from 2007–2013, named four former All-Star members of the Los Angeles Lakers onto his ideal starting five (Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Wilt Chamberlain).
Garnett even has a game plan all laid out for his squad, as he shares:
“I really wanna put AI [Allen Iverson] somewhere here but I’m going for a taller team because we’er gonna switch everything… we’re switching everything, threes, fours, and fives we switching everything.”
Regardless of who was left out and who was included, Garnett has gathered for himself a lineup studded with hardware, as among all five players there are 13 championship rings in total—Chamberlain has two, Garnett has one, Bryant has five, and Johnson has five.