Put Together Your Ultimate Winning Starting Lineup

[Rubios]

Everyone at their peak, of course.

Curry as a shooting guard bringing the ball up and then doing his magical off-ball stuff.
Jokic as a point center.
KD as a small ("small") forward.
LeBron in his Miami beast mode, attacking the rim and defending like a dog.
Giannis or Kawhi at the 4. Maybe with LeBron as a battering ram I don’t need Giannis, and Kawhi is the more versatile defender. Or maybe Kawhi overlaps too much with KD. I’ll stick with Giannis in MVP/DPOY mode, I want more rebounding.

It might look like recency bias, and I know Jordan, Kareem, Duncan, Shaq, and Magic aren’t here…
I think the game has shifted to being more productive/efficient. That doesn’t mean I think KD is better than Jordan in a vacuum, of course. But as a plug’n’play team to compete today…
This lineup is a scoring machine with at least solid defense.

[OBisHalJordan]

Rondo
Jesus Shuttleworth
Truth
KG
Perk

[PRguy23]

Lebron
Jordan
Bird
Wemby
Shaq

[jowglenn]

Curry
Jordan
Bird
LeBron
Jokic

[ReddoverKobe]

C-Wemby
PF-KG
SF-KD
SG-Cooper
PG-Curry

[Bad Bart]

Everyone at their peak, of course.

Curry as a shooting guard bringing the ball up and then doing his magical off-ball stuff.
Jokic as a point center.
KD as a small ("small") forward.
LeBron in his Miami beast mode, attacking the rim and defending like a dog.
Giannis or Kawhi at the 4. Maybe with LeBron as a battering ram I don’t need Giannis, and Kawhi is the more versatile defender. Or maybe Kawhi overlaps too much with KD. I’ll stick with Giannis in MVP/DPOY mode, I want more rebounding.

It might look like recency bias, and I know Jordan, Kareem, Duncan, Shaq, and Magic aren’t here…
I think the game has shifted to being more productive/efficient. That doesn’t mean I think KD is better than Jordan in a vacuum, of course. But as a plug’n’play team to compete today…
This lineup is a scoring machine with at least solid defense.

Same with my squad, I have Kawhi on there over MJ not because I think he's better, but I think Kawhi is a better shooter from distance and I need as much spacing as I can get.

[knicksfan974]

Curry
Jordan
Lebron
Duncan
Shaq

[TheNG]

The utimate "whining" starting lineup:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Luka Doncic
SF: Dillon Brooks
PF: Draymond Green
C: Joel Embiid

[AleksandarN]

PG:Curry
SG:Kay
SF:Bruce Bowen
PF:Rasheed Wallace
C: Jokic


You got 5 out shooting in all 5 positions. The most lethal 2 man game with Jokic/Curry. Dogs on defense with prime Klay,Bowen and Rasheed. Perfect balance

[SA37]

What rules are we playing with? Pre/post handcheck? 80s/90s or more recent rules?

That aside, I'll pick from the current pool of players and then a historical one.

Current:

G Curry
G SGA
F Doncic
F Giannis
C Jokic


All-time

G Magic
G Mike
F Larry
F LeBron
C Jabbar

[KGtabake]

Curry
Jordan
Bird
Giannis
Wilt

[hauntedcomputer]

Weird to see so many guys listed who never won anything

Gimme winners

C: Russell
PF: Duncan
SF: James
SG: Jordan
PG: Johnson

[dlughie]

PG: LeBron
SG: Curry
SF: Durant
PF: Jokic
C: Wemby

[Anderson Hunt]

PG - Magic
SG - Curry
C --- Duncan
PF - Bird
SF - Jordan

[Magic_Johnny12]

PG - Penny Hardaway (1994-95)

SG - Michael Jordan (1995-96)

SF - Kevin Durant (2017-18)

PF - Tim Duncan (2000-01)

C - Nikola Jokic (2024-25)

No one is beating this team.

[Tnasty4l]

All in their prime:
Magic
Jordan
Lebron
Bird
Shaq

[kcktiny]

Wilt Chamberlain
Bob Pettit
Gus Johnson
Jerry West
K.C. Jones

[CIN-C-STAR]

Curry
Klay
Lebron
Bird
Wemby

Bench:
Manu
Jordan
Kawhi
Duncan
Jokic

[floppymoose]

Can I just have 5 of the same player?

How would this work on defense?

Magnets!

[OdomFan]

Jason Kidd
Ray Allen
Grant Hill
Tim Duncan
David Robinson

Robert Horry
Tony Parker
Wemby
Manu Ginobli
Lamar Odom
Steve Kerr
Eddie Jones

Coach Greg Popovich

Jason Kidd nearly joined the Spurs in 2003, but decided to stay with the Nets instead. Ironically meeting Duncan and the Spurs in that years NBA Finals.

In 2000 Duncan nearly left the Spurs to join up with Grant Hill and T-Mac in Orlando.

I just always imagined that 3 of Duncan, Kidd and Hill being an amazing trio, and since this is an ultimate winning line up. I feel that Ray Allens outside shooting and ability to play solid defense as well as slash to the rim would compliment said trio very well. It's also interesting that Ray nearly joined the Spurs in 2014 and 2016 if he'd decided to come out of retirement.

What can you say about David Robinson? Duncan learned a lot from him, and the twin towers were a great front court taking care of business inside. Putting them both in their prime would definitely be a recipe for the ultimate winning line up imo.

As for the bench. I think that group should do well at rotating in at good points to keep that Popovich system going very strongly. If Kidd came to San Antonio in 2003 it would have given young Parker the chance to work with and learn from the man. I always thought that could have led to something great for Tony and the two of them potentially in some line up rotations that could put them on the court at the same time. Kidd creating shots for him and vice versa.

Steve Kerr coming in with some sharp shooting 3s, Eddie Jones doing it all on both ends at a solid level. Robert Horry being as good as Horry has ever been, Wemby bringing speed and height, scoring, blocks while the Admiral rests, Ginobli as 6th man of the year with his energy off the bench, and Lamar Odoms versatility rounding it all out at multiple positions.

They'd definitely win back to back championships, and probably more. A lot more.