What would be the All-NBA team if all greats played together?

[kendogg]

If all the NBA greats played in peak healthy form with the current NBA players (also in peak healthy form) with current NBA rules (and magically grew up in this era so there is no need to take years to adapt). So current young players like Wemby you can age them up a few years to peak form. The league is re-organized and all the stars have balanced teams around them of equal caliber, but not overly stacked...a low level contender caliber with a low level all-star as a running mate with a solid vet rotation. Below is not an exhaustive list of candidates you are free to add your own (particularly for young players you think have a high ceiling). These are in order of rookie season year with position listed.

Who makes 1st team? 2nd? 3rd? I will say positions don't matter but if you want to have at least one G/F/C on each team its up to you. Note this is a regular season award that tends to award the biggest box score stats combined with winning percentage. So this will reward the most heliocentric players that are good enough to carry games and defensive impact is a definite bonus. I will give my list after a few others have answered with perhaps some surprising picks.

50s: george mikan (C 1950), bob petit (F 1955), bill russell (C 1957), elgin baylor (F 1959)

60s: wilt chamberlain (C 1960), oscar robertson (F 1961), jerry west (G 1961), john havilcek (F 1963), rick barry (F 1966), walt frazier (G 1968)

70s: kareem abdul-jabbar (C 1970), julius erving (F 1972), artis gilmore (C 1972), moses malone (C 1975)

80's: larry bird (F 1980), magic johnson (G 1980), kevin mchale (F 1981), clyde drexler (G 1984)

90's: michael jordan (G 1985), hakeem olajuwon (C 1985), charles barkley (F 1985), john stockton (G 1985), karl malone (F 1986), patrick ewing (C 1986), scottie pippen (F 1988), reggie miller (G 1988), david robinson (C 1990)

00's: shaquille o'neal (C 1993), jason kidd (G 1995), kevin garnett (F 1996), steve nash (G 1997), kobe bryant (G 1997), ray allen (G 1997), tim duncan (C 1998), dirk nowitski (F 1999), paul pierce (F 1999), dwayne wade (G 2004), lebron james (F 2004)

10's: chris paul (G 2006), kevin durant (F 2008), russell westbrook (G 2009), steph curry (G 2010), james harden (G 2010), paul george (F 2010), kyrie irving (G 2012), kawhi leonard (F 2012), anthony davis (F 2013), giannis antetokounmpo (F 2014), nikola jokic (C 2015), joel embiid (C 2015), devin booker (G 2016), domantas sabonis (C 2017), jayson tatum (F 2018), donovan mitchell (G 2018), luka doncic (G 2019), trae young (G 2019), shai gilgeous-alexander (G 2019), jalen brunson (G 2019)

20's: ja morant (G 2020), anthony edwards (G 2021), tyrese haliburton (G 2021), evan mobley (F 2022), paolo banchero (F 2023), victor wembanyama (C 2024), cooper flagg (F 2026)

[BadWolf]

Morant? Banchero? Edwards?.....

[TimberKat]

1st: Curry, Jordan, James, Bird, Chamberlain (at worst he will be the Gobert on steroids in this era )
2nd: Magic, Luka, KD, KG, Jokic
3rd: SGA, Oscar, Giannis, Olajuwon, Kareem

[kendogg]

Morant? Banchero? Edwards?.....

I am asking everyone to compare peaks here, so for Paulo and other younger players you need to age him up to their peak (which he hasn't hit yet, most likely). Just a fun exercise to see how people rate everyone's ceilings as players

[ORLMagicGirl15]

The 20s’ none of those players are there yet.

[kendogg]

the point is that you magically transport past era players and age up current youngsters. EVERYONE is in peak healthy form with even teams. An even comparison of peak ceilings regardless of career luck, injuries or any other historical factors. Peak Wemby vs Peak Wilt vs Peak Shaq built for this era (trimmer version)

I'll post my list soon I don't want to influence the initial takes

[kendogg]

been awhile posting here i forgot about player comparison board, maybe I should repost there.

[_AIJ_]

All i know is Wembenyama is super overrated

[CIN-C-STAR]

Curry, Jordan, James, Duncan, Kareem
Magic, Oscar, Bird, Wilt, Hakeem
Nash, Kobe, Durant, Dirk, Shaq

[Optms]

1st team - Curry - Jordan - LeBron - Kareem - Shaq

2nd team - Magic - Kobe - Bird - Hakeem - Wilt

3rd team - CP3 - Wade - KD - Duncan - KG

[Raps in 4]

1st: Curry, Jordan, LeBron, Duncan, Hakeem
2nd: Magic, Kobe, Bird, Kareem, Jokic
3rd: CP3, Wade, Kawhi, Dirk, Shaq

[CodeBreaker]

1st: Curry, Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Shaq
2nd: Magic, Luka, Bird, Jokic, Wilt
3rd: Wade, Kobe, KD, Duncan, Hakeem

[mcmurphy]

gimme Magic-Jordan-Bird-Duncan-Jokic... showtime on steroid

[kiwinbafan05]

1st: Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Duncan, Kareem
2nd: Curry, Kobe, Bird, Jokic, Shaq
3rd: Luka, Durant, Giannis, Hakeem, Wilt

[KGtabake]

1st: Curry, Jordan, James, Duncan, Chamberlain
2nd: Johnson, Bryant, Bird, Antetokounmpo, Jabbar
3rd: Thomas, Wade, Erving, Garnett, O'Neal

[FlyingArrow]

In this format, where the league is made up all-time greats everywhere, one-on-one volume scorers will be minimized. Elite defenders everywhere and elite scorers everywhere means you need team offense to score, and the ball will be shared more, further reducing individual scoring numbers.

This is not totally unlike constructing an Olympic roster. Passing and defense will be more important than the scoring accolades that got most of these players into the conversation in the first place.

Also, there are so many great centers over the years that if they're all in the league at once, you'll have twin towers on most rosters. Assuming that everyone grew up in the modern era, at least half of the centers who historically didn't shoot 3s would have developed a 3pt shot. No telling who the new stretch-centers would be, but that's the modern game. 4-out or 5-out. With that in mind, I have no problem giving historical centers extra spots, with the assumption that some would have become 3pt threats.

1st: Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Duncan, Jokic
2nd: Stockton, Pippen, Bird, Hakeem, Wilt
3rd: Curry, Payton, Kawhi, Embiid, Russell

Passing and defense will rate higher than scoring in this context. In addition to being all-time greats, everybody here has a stellar reputation for defense, passing, or both. Except Curry, who is the greatest off-ball threat ever. Taking health out of the equation, younger Embiid's ability to defend in space at his size is what puts him in the conversation here, ahead of Shaq or Kareem.

[NyKnicks1714]

So in other words you want people to rank their top 15 all time

[Blame Rasho]

I think the better question would be, which is the best all nba team 1st team from each year.

I will say 2003 is the best one in recent memory.

[Lalouie]

why is this ALWAYS about current rules

do the millenials feel today's players need a break?