The NBA's GOAT debate is almost unanimously viewed as a battle between two legends of the game: Michael Jordan and LeBron James. But I say "almost unanimously" because there exists a group of fans, players and analysts who prefer to leave one or both of them out of the question. For instance, Timberwolves up-and-coming star Anthony Edwards chose Kevin Durant as the GOAT when he was interviewed prior to the 2020 NBA Draft. Some have said it's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the game's all-time scoring leader, and for good reason. And there are sure to be others who name players like Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and others as the best the game as ever seen.
But to have neither Jordan nor LeBron in your all-time starting five? That's not something you see every day. Today, though, is one of those days.
On the latest episode of Barstool Sports' "Million Dollas Worth of Game" podcast, Hall of Famer (but not quite GOAT candidate) Kevin Garnett joined the show and shared which players would be on his all-time 12-man roster.
"Damn, my starting five? That's hard. Magic at 1, just because he's 6-foot-9, he sees everybody," Garnett said. "I gotta go MJ — matter of fact, I'm gonna put Kobe at my 2... I got Kobe at my 2. I got Kobe at my 2! I know you're gonna say MJ, I'm supposed to do that. Shoutout to MJ, because he's the god and we copied him and s--- but I've got Kobe at my 2. I really want to put A.I. (Allen Iverson) in here somewhere but I'm going for a taller team because we're gonna switch everything, you know what I'm saying?
"I'm gonna put KD at my 3. KD's like a real fade, you know what I'm saying? Then I'm going with Wilt, I'm going with the Stilt at 5. I'm playing the 4. And we're switching everything. 3s, 4s and 5s we're switching everything."
The bench of his team looked like this:
— Pete Maravich
— Allen Iverson
— Glenn Robinson (if that's the "Big Dog" that Garnett was referring to)
— Rasheed Wallace
— Shaquille O'Neal
— Vince Carter
— Michael Jordan
The host's obviously reacted with shock at MJ coming off the bench — in the last slot, nonetheless — and Garnett gave his reasoning.
"I mean, think about the list, bro. It's a crazy list. I didn't put 'Bron on my list. I didn't put Bird on my list. I didn't put a bunch of cats on my list!" Garnett said. "I'm talking about dogs. Everybody I just named is gonna beat your a--."
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To be fair, it doesn't seem like Garnett was listing the 12 players who he would consider the 12 greatest players of all time. He was trying to put together a team of, as he put it, "dogs" out there on the court that fit his mold of a time that would intimidate you and push you around. And from the looks of it, this team would do just that.
As far as the GOAT debate goes, KG (unsurprisingly) doesn't have an answer one way or another, so long as his opinion hasn't changed since 2019. In a video from then, he and Dwyane Wade agreed it was a pointless exercise trying to pinpoint one player as the single greatest, given the generational differences and the subjectivity of it all.
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