NBA fans continue to debate which player is the greatest of all time despite the difficulty of comparing players from different eras.
When it comes to NBA players, fans of the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James tend to agree that he is the greatest of all time, but fans of Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Larry Bird may disagree. If you go further back, there are people who will fight for Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
On his podcast, Michael Cooper, a former player for the Lakers, was tested in April 2024. LeBron, Bird, and Magic Johnson were his options, and he had to start one, bench one, and cut one player. Bird made the unexpected and painful choice to survive the cut.
Cooper referred to it as a “unfair question” when Nick Gelso of CLNS Media asked it in a podcast episode titled “Showtime With Coop.” One legend must start on your imaginary team, one must be a reserve, and the other is cut from the team in this little NBA game that has gone viral on social media.
Three players made up Gelso’s roster: Bird, a Boston legend, and two Lakers icons, Magic and LeBron. In the 1980s, Cooper was a key member of a Lakers team that won five titles and engaged in a never-ending struggle with the Celtics for NBA supremacy. He acknowledged he has never been a fan of the Celtics. He’s also acknowledged how much he admires Bird, having endured the unenviable responsibility of protecting him during his professional life.
