Bill's look of shock at 6:59 has me cracking up!

Jason Kidd was one of the smartest players in the court and understood how the game is supposed to be played to maximize your chances. The game is 5 on 5...And anytime you can manipulate the other team to have 5 on 4...you exploit. Was always trying to make the defense get out of position...And he wasn't worried about personal stats. He trusted teammates and gave them the confidence to shoot/score. Jason Kidd is the guy that would run a court in a pickup game in the park with dudes that just love to play. Getting dudes easy shots is what he was about.

Steve Nash got to be on this list. Those Suns teams were amazing and so many of Nash's teammates were borderline all-stars on the Suns, got paid a bunch of money to play on a different team, and then underperformed.

“Unless you’re a lottery pick…” 😂😂😂

Ryen’s face every time Bill goes on a BS Lebron tangent is so damn funny

I feel like John Stockton should be on the list. I know his history is part of one P&R Duo, but honestly all he did was play gritty D, spot up, find the open man, and occasionally drive. That sounds like it could fit everywhere…

Anyone that plays with Steph and Klay gets tons of open looks. Wiggins won the lottery there.

Duncan might have been the ultimate lottery teammate

GoaTD should be top of the list hands down. He's basically the guy that fits literally the description, 19 years in the league, more than 300 teammates, 19 50 plus win seasons

Larry Bird has to be the number one easiest player to play with. Because he could post you up, shoot it, rebound, and pass it and defend. I mean think about it, he played with two centers and he led the team in rebounds, he led the team in assist a few years, and led them in points. That's not easy, especially when you have so many good players. And Walton

Need to define what is meant more. Based on Bills definition of replace teammates and still have that level of success, than Duncan needs to be on here.

Jokic was absolutely incredible in these playoffs. 1000% earned it. i honestly wasn't a huge fan of his until the finals. i'm a knicks fan so i was rooting hard for denver to beat miami. so whoever was facing the heat i would've been rooting for them. but jokic was on a different level. i've never really watched him before. he can make any shot on the court. and as i think jalen rose or jamal crawford pointed out, maybe kenny smith -- he's a point guard. i don't care if he's 7 feet tall. he's a point guard. and he's incredible. i've heard for multiple people who's opinions i respect that he is the best passing big man ever. that's HIGH PRAISE and earned praise. the stats he put up in the playoffs and finals -- they are otherworldly. remind me a little of Ohtani's stats in baseball. completely eye-popping and unbelievable..... also, Murray was great. i think the first or 2nd player ever to average 10 assists in the finals. he hit clutch shot after clutch shot. Aaron Gordon has become one of my favorite players. I absolutely love 2-way players and competitive ones. 2-way competitive wings. His performance throughout the playoffs and finals reminded me A LOT of 3 titles in 4 years Andre Iguodala on the warriors. like Iggy, Gordon left a situation (Orlando) where was asked to/tried to be the man, and it just wasn't him. Then comes to a really good team looking to get over the hump and guards the best player and shuts them down.....Butler SUCKED last night in no small part due to Gordon's D.

*I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT POD!*

The ultimate lottery teammate is obviously Bill Russel.

I think Kevin Love and Lebron were playing the same position, or role. Love in Minnesota was a PF who could bang in the post, score down low, and also step out and take a 3. In Cleveland, Lebron was taking it to the hoop, and he wanted 3pt spacing all around him. I think he saw Love as another Chris Bosh, and wanted the familiarity. But that team could have used a Ryan Anderson just the same. They didn't need what Love brought, and didn't use Love to his potential. I really wonder how Love would have done if he came into the League now, with Jokic showing off this way. Could Love have been a Jokic light?

Lebron is an AMAZING player, but he's not a Magic. KD has that gift of being able to slot with ANY team, but he doesn't make OTHER people better. Jokic does THAT.

Hey Bill!! Love went to 4 straight finals and 1 a chip!

Agree with Bill here 100%

Kobe for sure changed the careers of Odom and Gasol

29 wins to back to back finals appearances is CRAZY. And as Steve Jack will tell you, Kidd was killing Parked in the Spurs series. Great to see Kidd / NJ love on the pod.

Very entertaining discussion, as always gentlemen. But, ask Andrew Wiggins if he "Won" the lottery when LeBron banished #1 pick Wigs to languish on the T-Wolves

Ultimately, you’re talking about most unselfish guys. Winning over everything rarely happens, even more so when you also happen to have elite court vision.

Top 4 players in the league are foreign, specifically European. The most coveted draft pick since LeBron is European. American players can continue to pursue the individual game but GMs who want to win will be chasing the team oriented European players. And, if you go to Asia or South America, fans are more interested in the all around, team oriented European game. So as new fans come to the NBA they will tap the balance. This all is why the USA struggles in international events.

this clip got off topic, but I think its a very short list like they said. the concept bill describes at the start is one where the player both carries the team and is also selfless and elevates the whole squad. someone like lebron can make a team better because he is incredible as a player, but is he also selflessly making everyone else's life easier on the court, and making them better in the process? no I dont think so. the k-love anecdote is a great example. any player who requires a certain system or archetype of player to succeed should not be on this list. the list would probably be: bird, magic, jokic, duncan, nash as the first 5... after that you can add curry, kidd, and bill russell. the main point here is, where would this player's teammates have been if he didnt play with them?

Lebron is good, but the idea that he makes everyone around him better seems to be a bit of a myth. I'm not saying he makes players worse. But seeing Jokic feed the guys around him is just a whole different thing.

Here’s a quick list from the 2000s on but feel free to add / debate - Manu Ginobili, Tayshaun Prince, Ray Allen, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, GS Andre Iggy, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Nikola Jokic

They said like Kevin Love was a white Tim Duncan and not just a good player getting stats in a weak team. With Lebron he went to 4 finals and got a ring, things he would never sniff if wasn't for Lebron

Lebron was literally the best ticket to the finals in the 2010s and made everyone on the 00s cavs so much better. The showtime lakers formed that team around Magics abilities.

You finally got to the essence of the point at the end. What's your answer to this question is how many players have been moved from irrelevancy to relevancy by playing with a certain person? Curry is a great example because Draymond and Thompson might be Hall of famers because of Steph but I'm not sure they would be very close without him. Drive on my foot out of the league in 3 years and clay could have been any 3D wing

let’s take a break real quick LETSNOTTHOUGH

Curry, Lebron, Duncan, Jokic. Maybe add Nash as well, he was elevating his teammates ( Stoudemaire is prime example ) but I think his scoring wasn't up to the other great's levels.

Kd is the ultimate throw him with anyone guy..

Jokic has the ball in his hands a lot though. I'm not sure i ever seen a center having the ball that much and being involve in almost every single play when on the floor.

Jesus Bill questioning Lebron is ridiculous

Love was putting up those numbers on a bad team. Important context.

Michael Cooper is top 5 in socks worn in the NBA.

Noticed an error on the pod. He said the 2001 Lakers went 16-4 but they went 15-1

Arenas said he'd love to play with Jokic. He doesn't have Ja's style though

I think Jokic could make Westbrook because he’s a plus 3 point shooter, I also think if Bron n Wade were better shooters Bosh could’ve played in the post n midrange more and would’ve been able to put more pressure on Tim Duncan in 2014 because when Lebron left he immediately became better in 2015.

Bill and finding a way to disparage LeBron off of an all-time list he’s making… Name a more iconic duo

Gilbert arenas gave jokic his props he was only talking about the marketing from the leagues perspective. Which makes sense. The jokic Denver teams are like those Duncan spurs team. Great but no much box office appeal

I think the Kevin Love issue has more to do with him than Lebron. Bosh and love basically were looked to play the same role for Lebron. Only difference is Bosh chose to come to Miami. Love got traded after becoming an all star for the wolves.

When the Knicks gave Melo Andrea Bargnani and Ron Baker they became a super team

The man can't help but throw shade at LeBron

Murray and Aaron Gordon fit really well with Jokic. Murray because he can leave some playmaking to Jokic and shoot more. And AG because he is not pressured to do much on offense and has his limited in scope role he does perfectly and because he can play defense at such elite level to help Jokic with defense. Replace Murray with prime Tony Parker and he wouldn't fit well with Jokic. Replace AG with Kevin Durant or Lebron and either wouldn't work out as well with Jokic.

I think this is backwards. I don’t think anyone can play with Jokic. I think he got lucky to have the right type of players around him. MPJ is PERFECT for Jokic versus a SF like Thybulle would be an awful fit cuz he can’t space the floor. Same for having Gordon at the 4 instead of having Horford at the 4

I think wade has to be on this list. Plays with shaq, basically even though at that point wade was clearly the best player still lets shaq have his way up until he really needed to just completely assert himself in the 06 season, gets lebron in his last great season where hes one of the 3-5 best players in the league and averages 27/7/5 in finals on 55% shooting while LeBron chokes worse than weve ever seen an all time great player choke and he couldve EASILY said "fuck this guy, i did everything i needed to do and he fucked us, ive already got a ring he needs me more than i need him and this is my team" he couldve easily said that MANY players wouldve said that, instead all he ever did was empower lebron to be as great as he could be. We dont get the lebron there is today without dwyane wade, we just dont.

Anyone else think russilo giving off Tyson fury vibes here?

We’re not going to talk about Russell, Hakeem, Duncan at all?

I feel like Hakeem should be on this list

I love how these dudes will talk about what Jokic can do on offense than Giannis can't do but completely ignore that Giannis is a FAR better defender than Jokic. Jokic is not better than Giannis

Funny to bring up points of contention for MJ/Kobe/Bron, yet sit there and praise Nash & Kidd as if their teams they led ever won anything, Jason did hang on for the Dirk title tho

They literally said WB cant win with anyone, then claim T-Mac could because of 1 win streak when he never won a playoff series in his career smdh

A few of people kinda blow off Larry Bird turning a 27 win team to a 60 win team because Larry had Parrish and McHale on that team. I honestly believe that Robert Parrish is Joe Barry Carroll 2.0 if he never got traded to Boston. Kevin MaHale (who didn’t even start until 1986) may have been an all star if he wasn’t drafted to the Celtics. Him being a hall of famer is another discussion. Dennis Johnson (RIP) was an all star and won a championship in Seattle, but unfortunately burned bridges everywhere he went before teaming up with Larry Bird. He was definitely not a hall of fame player before getting traded to Boston. On the other hand, Larry Bird is hanging banners in Boston regardless. Larry Bird made McHale, Parrish, and Dennis Johnson into hall of famers. Larry Bird was definitely the common denominator.

Weird one considering his off court, but Dennis Rodman? Won championships wherever he went. I imagine his defensive steel and tenacity made playing with him automatically easier.

Jokic could absolutely work with Westbrook. Think of the year with Harden after the Capella trade and then what Bruce Brown did in the position he was in with Jokic.

Tim Duncan’s equivalent to Kevin Love was Richard Jefferson, dude was super disappointing on the Spurs

Russillo pausing on the idea that LeBron isn't one of those guys is ridiculous. It's always been a square peg in a round hole scenario with LeBron, no matter how great of a passer that he is. I really like Russillo, and a lot of his views on basketball, but he's blinded by the great passing, and overlooking that All Star calliber players have to redesign their games in order to fit in to make it work playing with LeBron; it's never been the other way around nor has it been a meet-you-halfway scenario either. Simmons is also right about Curry, and that Draymond is more of that guy who makes it work for everyone. Curry's not exactly Steve Nash when it comes to playmaking. Jokic is in that Bird/Magic category, that we hadn't seen before they (Bird/Magic) came into the league, and we haven't seen until recently (again) with Jokic. Nash is the closest, and he's not really in that category either.

6:50 🛑🛑🛑🛑 Gotta stop with the Yao Ming disrespect..... I was a Rockets fan at that time.... I'd argue Yao was better or at least more important to that Rockets run that TMac.

Easiest to play with in their primes is Nash, Kidd, Shaq, Giannis, KD, Cp3, Jokic, MJ, Tmac, Kobe, Magic, Bird, Bill Russell, Duncan, KG Notice not everyone on my list is a passfirst player but the way they play fit with everyone they played and also were able to play with stars of any kind. I think Lebron needed specifically shooters to space for him for his team to be effective limits his ability to be on this list.

Joe Dumars

Michael Jordan is gonna take this list personal….

They started just talking about "elevators" for a while, just guys who raised your floor, because like... LeBron? You'll have LeBron's most arduous defenders saying he's a "lottery teammate", but fuck no; KLove's career is irrefutable proof of that. (You *can* be both; LBJ is "only" an elevator.) Much more egregiously, KD? T-Mac? I loved T-Mac, but fuck no. If we're talking "elevators" then the list is much longer, and you've got guys like Harden, who are the opposite of "lottery teammates". CP3 is an elevator, not a lottery teammate. Lottery teammates? They mention the top ones: Magic, Bird, Jokic. They mention TD, who isn't the first guy I'd think of... maybe? He's definitely a "fill-in-the-blanks" guy, like Pippen, and those guys are at least adjacent, but for a full-on "lottery teammate" I'm thinking of passing first, of allowing your teammates to be their best selves offensively more than defensively. Nash, yes 100%, easily. The way they *talk* about Kidd is more "elevator" but he's a "lottery teammate" too. I'd absolutely have Russell on this list, it's crazy to me that TD was mentioned but not Russell. Steph definitely, 100%; he doesn't do it passing quite like the others (barring TD) but his gravity and off-ball movement do it, plus he's a very unselfish player; not dribbling the air out of the ball is key, which is the biggest reason (other than KLove's example) that LBJ isn't on this list. I'd say 1st team "lottery teammates" PG Magic SG Steph SF Bird PF Russell C Jokic 2nd team PG Kidd SG Nash SF Pippen PF KG C Duncan It's off the top of my head. I'm very satisfied with my 1st team; I had to play guys out of position, but even though Steph isn't a SG, he *could play* SG, so w/e (ditto PF Russell). I feel very good about my 2nd team backcourt and center. I love Pippen, he's my favorite player of all-time and a top-15 player all-time. Among the all-time greats he's an all-time great teammate (up there with Magic and Bird, Steph, TD, and the king Bill Russell)... he should be mentioned when you talk about a list like this, but I'm not 100% he should be on it. If we're adding a defensive aspect to this, if it's "all-time easiest teammates to play with, who make the game easy for you on defense not just offense" then... 1st team PG Kidd SG MJ? SF Pippen PF TD C Russell 2nd team PG Stockton SG SF Iggy? PF KG C MJ might seem an odd inclusion, but I just mean on the court, how easy he made the game for his teammates. Off the court? Not so much. But I think people think of him as a scorer and think he was ball dominant like stars are today, and he really really wasn't. He wasn't quite Magic and Bird, he wasn't exactly Steph off-ball, or even Jokic, but he wasn't anywhere near ball-dominant like stars are today, like LBJ or Harden or Westbrook. And defensively, your best player being an all-time great defender too? Makes your job so much easier. (Maybe he's supplanted by somebody else, who obviously isn't better but is a better pick for this team. But off the top of my head - aka not digging into great supporting cast guys, just remember stars and the rosters of a few of my favorite teams - I'm putting him on the list. He at least deserves to be mentioned.)

KD won the lottery when he joined golden state

Chris Paul

How did BS do that whole segment without saying Bill Russell?

The real answer is Lonzo Ball

Lets not tho!!!!!

Where kwame brown on this list?

Isiah Thomas

Are people actually still listening to anything Gilbert Arenas says?

Definitely with Bill on Lebron. He's vastly overrated as a teammate. He pouts, blames others, often doesn't hustle, points fingers, and has to have things HIS way or the highway. He''s severely lacking accountability. By the way, Lebron WANTED to play with Westbrook. No excuses.

Kobe drug Smush, Kwame, Mihm, Slava and Laron Profit to 45 wins.

Ik it might seem recency bias but Jimmy having Miami in the Finals rn definitely should be considered. I’m going to assume his ankle is a factor but he’s brought Miami deep on like 3 occasions and he’s not had the talent level everyone else has.

Bill’s Lebron take in this clip might be his worst ever

Why is Simmons walking on eggshells talking about the indisputable fact that Lebron's teammates HAVE to conform to his style? And Russillo is saying Lebron should top this list?? LMAO! How do these buffoons ignore that he trades away half his damn team every year?? What a joke

Its crazy how one of the greatest basketball historians of all time, has tye largest blind spot for the greastest player ever. His Lebron takes almost diminish the rest of the fantastic work he does

The westbrook slander is never appreciated.

Steph without dray and klay no playoffs, Jokic no Jamla and mpj still in playoffs.

Bills a Steph hater

LeBron has leveled three teams. The Cavs when he moved back, he got rid of Wiggins and more. Now LA twice, the crew that was there when he got there and most of the team this year at the trade deadline. LeBron is not about making people better. He had the opportunity to do that, but he got rid of promising players to try to win "now. " Lebron wanted to win now, and he destroyed teams he was on to do it. He didn't help wetbrook, be didn't help melo, he is not about making others play to their potential.

Lebron took a team to the nba finals that then had the worst record in the league without him.. The man did it with noone

Curry got to be carried by KD he hit the lottery with that.