The 25 greatest NBA duos of all time

Jordan and Pippen were the most unstoppable duos of the 1990s, as their six championships during the decade indicate. There's no need to qualify MJ on the grounds that he's MJ, but Pippen is one of the greatest examples of sacrificing personal stats for the good of the team. Even still, he averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game from 1992 to 1997.

As far as guard-big combos, they don't really get better than Magic and Kareem. The pair won five titles together, and between them, they won four of the Finals MVP trophies from those series. Between Kareem's historic scoring and Magic's uncommon playmaking, they were a problem.

Shaq and Kobe were a sort of Version 2 of Kareem and Magic. Like the Lakers pair that preceded them, they had a lot of postseason success, including three consecutive championships. They also had very different roles that complemented each other well, and the results speak for themselves.

Alongside the Lakers, the other dominant franchise of the '80s was the Celtics, led by Bird and McHale. Again, it was a case of complementary roles: McHale was crafty in the post while Bird was a menace everywhere else. Their partnership was fruitful as it landed them three Finals trophies.

Cousy was already about halfway through his career before Russell entered the NBA with Boston, and it was Russell who helped Cousy get over the hump and win his first championship. In the late '50s and early '60s, their Celtics could not be stopped: The pair won six championships together, then Russell went ahead and won five more of his own following Cousy's retirement.

When LeBron and Wade joined forces in Miami, they were arguably the two best players in the league. Their run was ultimately short, as LeBron left the Heat after four seasons. But, it was an efficient stretch, as they made the Finals all four years and won twice.

Duncan and Parker played over 1,200 games together. All the while, they powered the Spurs to be one of the most consistently excellent teams of the 2000s. From the 2002 to 2016 seasons, the Spurs won over 70 percent of their games and took home four championships.

Steph is the best 3-point shooter of all time and there's an argument to be made that Klay is No. 2 on that list. They put that to great use on the 2010s and 2020s Warriors teams that revolutionized the NBA with long-range shooting. Over an eight-year stretch from 2015 to 2022, Golden State won four championships, powered largely by the marksmanship of "The Splash Brothers."

Stockton and Malone are surely the greatest duo to never win a championship. Those Jazz teams certainly were successful, though, as they won over 60 percent of their games from 1986 to 2003. The two retired at around the same time, and when they did, they left the game as among the best players at their respective positions.

Wilt and Jerry's Lakers tenures overlapped for five seasons from 1969 to 1973, during which time they helped the team remain one of the league's most successful. In their five years, they made the Finals four times and won one title. That was on top of them being two of the league's best individual players: Kareem was MVP in 1972, but West and Chamberlain were the second and third leading vote-getters.

Similarly to when LeBron and Wade teamed up, when KD ventured over to Golden State, he and Curry were two of the league's elite-tier players. Durant only stuck around for three seasons, but unsurprisingly, those years went well, with the Warriors winning championships in 2017 and 2018, then losing in the Finals in 2019.

Thomas and Dumars appeared in over 700 games together from 1986 to 1994. In the heart of that run, in the 1989 and 1990 seasons, they powered the Pistons to back-to-back championships. Both players contributed toughness that helped define the identity of those "Bad Boys" teams.

Drexler was near the end of his career when he joined Hakeem on the Rockets for the mid-way through the 1995 season. He ended up being a key piece of the team's second straight championship run that year: In the Finals, he averaged 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists over the four games, while Olajuwon put up similar per-night numbers. This was of course a reunion for the former college teammates, who both played for the Houston Cougars in the '80s.

In 1991, Erving was the NBA MVP. In 1982, Malone won the award. In 1983, they teamed up in Philadelphia to lead the 76ers to one of the best seasons in NBA history. The team finished with a 65 and 17 record, then lost just a single playoff game on their way to a championship.

Robinson, entering his final years, passed the torch to the fresh-faced Tim Duncan when he joined him in San Antonio. "The Admiral" didn't just ride off into the sunset, though, as he still had a few years left of high-quality basketball in him. That included his first and only two championships, in 1999 and 2003.

The Mavs weren't great in Nash's first year with the team, the lockout-shortened 1999 season. After that, though, Dallas, especially the pairing of Nash with Dirk, became a significant threat in the West. Between Nash's playmaking and Dirk's scoring, the two gave new life to the franchise despite never winning a championship together.

For eight seasons, Durant and Westbrook were one of the most feared duos in the league, despite them both being in just their early 20s for much of that time. In 2012, when they were both only 23 years old, they powered OKC to the Finals, but running into LeBron and Wade's Heat didn't do them any favors. Still, KD and Russ made the Thunder one of the defining teams of the era.

When Davis went to LA, he was just a couple years removed from being in MVP conversations. The pairing of him and LeBron worked fantastically and quickly, as they won the championship in their first year together, in 2020. Their postseason success varied from there, but Davis and LeBron were still a matchup no opponents looked forward to.

Reed and Frazier entered the league just a few seasons apart, and once Frazier joined, it only took a few seasons for the pair to win their first title together, in 1970. They did it again in 1973, with Reed earning Finals MVP honors both times. Reed's interior toughness and Frazier's perimeter defense helped get the Knicks to the promised land.

Boston had a "big 3" with Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen, but it was the former two who generally led the charge for those 2000s and 2010s teams. Both played major roles in the 2008 championship: Garnett led the team in postseason scoring, Pierce won Finals MVP. The run was notable for both players in that they sacrificed their personal stats in the name of team success.

Kemp was about as good an alley-oop threat as was around in the 1990s, while Payton was in the top tier of point guards. The two were a natural pair, making it an exciting time to be a basketball fan in Seattle. That was especially true when they reached the Finals in 1996 but came up short against MJ's Bulls.

Jokić is a multi-time MVP while Murray is perhaps the most consistently great player of the 2020s to have not made an All-Star team. Murray's dominant clutch gene and Jokić's all-around play have made the Nuggets regular contenders. They even went all the way in 2023, when "The Joker" won Finals MVP.

In the 2023 season, both Tatum and Brown were top-ten scorers league-wide in terms of points per game. The next year, they won their first championship, with both coming up big throughout the postseason. JT led the team in scoring throughout the playoffs while JB was named the Finals MVP.

One thing T-Mac and Yao had in common, unfortunately, is that both players missed significant time due to injury. When they were on the court together, though, they were a punishing duo. Offensively, McGrady was a problem on the perimeter while 7'5" Ming couldn't be stopped in the paint.

Before Shaq and Kobe, there was Shaq and Penny. They weren't together long, but they were awesome during those three seasons; Shaq led the league in scoring in 1995 and Hardaway was an MVP candidate in 1996. They managed to make the Finals in 1995, when both were still in their early 20s, but got swept by Olajuwon and Drexler's Rockets.