NBA icon Michael Jordan revealed his “trinity” of the greatest NBA guards during a recent documentary filming about Jerry West. Director Kenya Barris shared a story about something that didn’t make his recent Amazon documentary about West’s contributions to the NBA. Jordan revealed that West would clearly make his top three guards in NBA history.
Barris provided the following recap of what Jordan told him:
“He said something that didn’t make the doc. He said, in his mind, how he sort of sees the NBA, if there was a trinity, it would be Jerry, him, and Kobe [Bryant]. And when he said that, it pivoted everything for me.
Because I saw immediately what he meant. He didn’t have to say another word. I understood. Just ice cold on the court. Left it all out on the floor. Hated to lose, competitive beyond all belief. And at the same time, in life, that same focus is why they all were each able to sort of be successful.”
Jordan picked Kobe Bryant and West with him as the top three guards to ever play the game. West and Bryant had similar mindsets to Jordan on the court that likely made it easier to select them. However, some fans take exception to other names getting snubbed.
Jordan Didn’t Name Two Iconic Point Guards
The trinity of guards named by Jordan were all traditional shooting guards. West sometimes played point guard, but he was known more for his elite scoring ability like Jordan and Bryant. Jordan historically shows respect to all-time greats that he never played against but grew up watching to give a nod to West.
Two all-time great point guards were the biggest names missing from Jordan’s list ranking guards. Magic Johnson and Stephen Curry are both often argued as top ten players who revolutionized the point guard position in drastically different eras.
Jordan didn’t mention either of them to Barris when listing himself and two similar shooting guards who mirrored a similar style to him. Point guards were likely missing from Jordan’s mind when thinking about the guard position through his own context of how he played the game.
Jordan Accidentally Answered Wade Vs Harden Debate
Modern fans have created a debate between James Harden and Dwyane Wade to see who deserves the third all-time great shooting guard spot behind Jordan and Bryant. Jordan didn’t name either man when discussing his greatest guards and instead showed respect to West.
Fans often overlook West’s achievements that saw him having a greater career than both Harden and Wade did. West’s individual play was superior to Wade, and his overall team success saw him contributing to winning more than Harden could. Jordan accidentally answered this debate by giving the answer of West being better than both of those options.
The trio of Jordan, Bryant, and West should get respect as the greatest shooting guards ever. Wade and Harden each had a more glaring flaw compared to the other three when looking back at all their careers. Jordan only deserves criticism for snubbing the point guards from this list.
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