Penny Hardaway's All-Time Starting Five Has The Usual Suspects With One Wild Card

Shandel Richardson | Aug 27, 2024

May 4, 1997; Miami, FL; USA; FILE PHOTO; Orlando Magic guard Penny Hardaway (1) in action against the Miami Heat during the first round of the 1997 NBA Playoffs at the Miami Arena. Mandatory Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Former NBA player Penny Hardaway was once battling Michael Jordan for the title of the game's best player in the mid-1990s.

In Hardaway's first three years, he helped lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals and conference finals. He never won a title while playing alongside Shaquille O'Neal. Their run with the Magic ended when O'Neal left the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996, causing them to go in different directions.

O'Neal later won three titles with Kobe Bryant while Hardaway was constantly injured, derailing a once promising career.

Hardaway was recently asked by GQ Sports for his all-time starting five lineup. He included LeBron James, Jordan, O'Neal, Bryant and himself. It may seem far-fetched to some, but Hardaway deserves every mention with the other four.

Posted by GQ Sports on Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Just ask any of his peers.

Here's what former guard Brian Shaw said about Hardaway recently on Paul George's Podcast P:

“Penny Hardaway would have been in the discussion, especially if he would have had a long career, somewhere that span around the time that Kobe's did and how LeBron played 20 years now," Shaw said. "If he could have played 15 to 18 years in the NBA, he'd be in the discussion about being the GOAT."

O'Neal made similar comments earlier this summer on his The Big Podcast.

They [fans] ask me all the time, they say, ‘Who’s better, Penny or Kobe?’ And I’ll always say, Penny [Hardaway] was Kobe [Bryant] before Kobe," O'Neal said "… They act like they don’t understand what I’m talking about."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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