Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal was asked to share his all-time starting five during an appearance on the New Heights podcast in 2025, and he claimed his squad couldn’t be beaten. O’Neal went with Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, and himself, and that sure is a power-packed lineup.
Putting together a starting five to beat that one would be difficult, but a fellow former Los Angeles Laker tried to do so recently. Here’s the lineup that Byron Scott came up with on Byron Scott’s Fast Break podcast.
“I’m going to go with Magic [Johnson] at 1,” Scott said. “I’m going to go with Dwyane Wade at 2. Because I think Flash is probably third-best shooting guard of all time. I’mma go LeBron [James] at 3. I’mma go Larry Bird at 4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 5.”
Former NBA player Olden Polynice told Scott he put together a pretty good lineup. Polynice then hilariously added that they would get destroyed by O’Neal’s team. Let’s take a look at Scott’s team, though, shall we?
Magic Johnson is the point guard, and he won five titles, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, and four assists titles. Scott was Johnson’s backcourt partner on the Los Angeles Lakers for years and witnessed his greatness firsthand. To go with those accolades, he made 12 All-Star and 10 All-NBA teams.
With the two undisputed greatest shooting guards of all time not available to him, Scott went with Dwyane Wade next. Wade won three titles, one Finals MVP, and one scoring title. He made 13 All-Star, eight All-NBA, and three All-Defensive teams.
Wade’s former teammate, LeBron James, slots in at small forward, and he has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, one scoring title, and one assists title. James has made 22 All-Star, 21 All-NBA, and six All-Defensive teams. O’Neal leaving him off his team was a bit of a surprise, but he made it clear he wasn’t dissing him.
For power forward, Scott went with Johnson’s great rival, Larry Bird. Bird won three titles, two Finals MVPs, and three MVPs. He made 12 All-Star, 10 All-NBA, and three All-Defensive teams.
Lastly, at center, Scott chose another former Lakers teammate in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar won six titles, two Finals MVPs, six MVPs, two scoring titles, and one rebounding title. He made 19 All-Star, 15 All-NBA, and 11 All-Defensive teams.
Each of these five also made the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. They’re incredible players who deserve a lot of respect.
That said, O’Neal’s team would probably get the better of this group. Wade is kind of the weak link here, which says more about the rest of the players than him.
If we look at O’Neal’s team, it has Jordan and Bryant, the two greatest shooting guards of all time. Then you have Duncan, who is the undisputed greatest power forward of all time. Even the great Charles Barkley had no issues admitting Duncan was better than him.
As for the two remaining spots, O’Neal and Curry are in the conversation for the greatest center and point guard of all time, respectively. There is a reason why the big man said no one’s beating his team.
