The parade of the top three in NBA history

The new combination, James Harden-Kyrie Irving-Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, could be a historic trio, but history they will not make. NBA teams have been made up of three huge stars since the 1960s. Before the top ten, here are a few trios that almost made the list.

Mention of honor: Hamilton-Billups-Ben Wallace (Detroit), Isaiah-Dumars-Limbir (Detroit), Abdul Jaber-Robertson-Dendridge (Milwaukee), Harden-Durant-Westbrook (Oklahoma City), Moses Hotel-Dr. J.- Chicks (Philadelphia), Malin-Hardway-Richmond (Golden State).

Ray Allen-Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett, Boston (Two Finals, One Championship), 2007/08 to 2012/13

This trio is ranked in the top ten for several reasons: It has managed to regain the Celtics’ fame after 20 years. After a season of 66 wins, the three players advanced to the playoffs even though their playoff history was pretty bleak. And of course, without the trades on Alan and Garnett we would not have received Garnett’s exciting championship interview.

But the most important reason is the breakthrough, and also the end of an era. Danny Ainge, general manager of Boston, was the first in the modern era to convene three superstars. And this trio was also the last time management and not players managed to put together a super team.

LeBron James-Dwayne Wade-Chris Bush, Miami (Four Finals, Two Championships), 2010/11 to 2013/14

And this is the opposite team: the first super team that the players made up. A breakthrough that paves the way for LeBron to become a single player-general manager. Why does this team only compare to a team that has won exactly half of its achievements? Depth of expectations. It was a super team that played spectacular basketball on both sides of the court, but its bottom line is that it lost finals that it was not supposed to lose.

Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal-Robert Hori, LA Lakers (four finals, three consecutive championships), 1996/97 to 2002/03

To tell the truth, these are the two greats, and if we had replaced my parents with Derek Fisher or Rick Fox the rating would have remained similar. But what two. Anyone who wants can look at the half-empty glass and complain that the ego of both of them destroyed a super group, which could have left its mark for a few more years.

But the full glass is preferable: the fact that these two egos managed to survive together for more than a year in the same locker room and bring three championships, is nothing short of a sporting and psychological miracle.

Walt Fraser-Willis Reed-Earl Monroe, New York Knicks (Two Finals, Championship), 1971/72 to 1973/74

Frazier and Reid won the championship on their own, but together with Monroe they became an iconic trio. Choosing them here is both sporting and socially valuable: New York’s recent championship.

With Frazier, who expressed the spirit of the 60s and the days of disco, Monroe, who brought to Harden the Harlem Reed playgrounds, whose return on half a leg against the Lakers in the final is one of the most iconic moments in the league. And also: on the bench sat Phil Jackson, the only coach to coach more than one star trio.

Wilt Chamberlain-Jerry West-Elgin Baylor, LA Lakers (two finals, zero championships), 1968/69 to 1970/71

This is the group that gives the list its tragic garnet. They reached the finals in 1969 and 1970 and lost twice in seven games. Chamberlain was such a perfect attacking machine that his stats looked fundamentally fake.

He came from the Sixers and joined West, the league logo and player who won the Finals Series MVP title even though his team lost, and Baylor, perhaps the best player in league history not to win the championship, and who was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. Baylor reached the finals eight times – and lost them all. A year after retiring, the Lakers won the championship.

Bill Russell-Bob Cozy-Tom Hayinson, Boston (seven finals, six titles), 1956/57 to 1962/63

The problem with such lists is the parameters of the list. This is not a list that can rely only on statistics or titles, but also on chemistry between players and how they improved each other. A great injustice if done to this trio of the Celtics, is worth much more than this position. But it is precisely her depth that strikes her: it would have been possible to put together around Russell at least five more threes (Sam Jones and Habliczek are just two names).

Russell was the strangest thing ever in basketball: an individual, who for more than a decade led one of the most successful and successful teams in the history of American sports. His motto was simple: once everyone does what they do best, he is not wasting energy, and once he is not wasting energy he is helping his team win. This is an idea taken from a Yogi Bar lexicon: in order for the collective to win, you have to be the most selfish in the world.

Clay Thompson-Steph Kerry-Kevin Durant, Golden State (Three Finals, Two Championships), 2016/17 to 2018/19

Drymond Green reached all of those finals and two more (win and loss) even before Durant landed in the Warriors, and along the way even invented the point-center role. But choosing Green here over Durant is like choosing a candle instead of the sun.

Durant officered Golden State. With him she played more beautiful basketball, pleasing to the eye, smiling, team. More than a basketball team, they looked like a video recording of how to play basketball. Kerry has changed the concepts of shooting, ranges, angles and distances, but I’m not sure in the “charges” game he defeats Thompson. He is considered a groundbreaking player, but his talent stood in the shadow of Durant.

And the three of them, along with Green, a deep bench and dominant coach, squeezed out of Melbourne James his best and most exciting basketball ever. They were one serious injury to Durant from three consecutive championships.

Larry Byrd-Robert Parish-Kevin McHale, Boston (five finals, three championships), 1980/81 to 1991/92

Anyone who wanted to learn how to play basketball properly had to look at the Celtics of the 80s. Parish managed the suffocating defense, McHale would get the ball under the basket, one foot in Connecticut, a second foot in Canada, make mistakes with every part of his body (especially the elbows) and score points. And above them all hovered the wonderfully competitive spirit of No. 33, the great basketball talent who stepped on the hardwood floor, and the biggest junkie in the industry.

It is impossible to describe what Byrd would have done in today’s basketball (if then he had been the Mozart of basketball, today he would have become Steve Jobs). This is, without competition at all, the best forward-centered combination in history.

Michael Jordan-Scottish Pippin-Dennis Rodman, Chicago (three finals, three championships), 1995/96 to 1997/98

6 of 6 in the championships (if you replace Rodman with Horace Grant). The greatest player in history. The best all-around player in history. The best rebounder in history. Historical protection group. What more could you ask for?

This is what’s beautiful about a game of threes instead of fives, you can be pigs in demands. And in the trio it’s harder to hide the hole in the offense that is Rodman. And go know what happens if he does not decide in the middle of the tournament to go on vacation in Vegas.

Magic Johnson-James Worthy-Karim Abdul Jaber, Lakers (five finals, three championships), 1982/83 to 1988/89

The best point guard in history, perhaps the best chin in history (both arguing over the five best players in history), one of the ten best forwards in history, all under historic coach and Jerry West, who manages to steal high draft picks even though the team is very competitive (two championships before taking Worthy in the No. 1 pick in the draft).

The Lakers are her city team, showtime, entertainment, Lakers girls, first-rate celebs, with casting like Tim Burton’s film: a 2.06-foot-tall coordinator, a Muslim-Buddhist center with the strangest and most effective shot in history. This trio against the Boston trio revived the legendary coast-to-coast rivalry, the East against the West, the showtime against the production line workers.

Tim Duncan-Manu Ginobili-Tony Parker, San Antonio (five finals, four championships), 2002/03 to 2015/16

This is a trio that has everything it needs in all parameters, but what gives it the first place is the fact that it managed to defeat all the odds. No. 1 pick in the draft, alongside second-round picks from two other continents. They all band together in a small market and stay together in the same small town, against all possibilities, against all the economic temptations inherent in the free agent market.

Not a big market, not high draft picks, yes to the most beautiful basketball a basketball team has played for a decade and a half. A basketball of movement, of dedication to a freer player, a basketball completely devoid of ego. Duncan is always the player who is given as an example of lack of ego, for someone who plays basketball right. But what about Ginobili, an actor who has a case to say he is one of the 50 greatest in history, and has agreed all his career to be a sixth player.

They played together for 14 years, never won less than 50 games a season, won more than any other trio, advanced to the finals five times, won four championships and were one crazy drive away from Ray Allen from a perfect balance in the finals. No trio has had such a big difference between the first win recently, and no trio has left such an impression on anyone who has seen it: it was not fun, but mesmerizing, fascinating.

You could sit for hours and understand why this formula wins. When the entire league was a romantic comedy or action movie, San Antonio was a 12-episode series with layers that only in its second and third seasons did you begin to understand what it was talking about.