The Best 'Big Threes' in NBA History

From the criminally overlooked to the most iconic of the game, find out which is the best big 3 in the history of the NBA.

Big Three Heat
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Big Three Heat

The best things in life come in threes. The Latin expression “omne trium perfectum” literally translates to “everything is perfect.” That’s because most popular stories and myths usually come in three’s—told in three acts, or three parts—and you can find trios all over history and popular culture: from the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity to The Three Amigos. Yet in contemporary times, the theory of the three has become most conspicuous in the NBA, where the Big Three has become shorthand for dominance.

The genesis of the Big Three moniker in basketball isn’t really that important, though we don’t really remember its usage in the NBA until Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all ended up on the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2007. Ubuntu followed, as did two trips to the NBA Finals and a championship in 2008. But, if you’re asking hoop heads today who the best Big Three’s are in NBA history, The Truth, The Big Ticket and Jesus might not even crack the top 5. That’s because Big Three’s have dominated NBA history long before Celtics GM Danny Ainge made the super team a part of the day to day NBA lexicon.

So, who are the greatest Big Three’s in NBA history? We’re going to use a—you guessed it—three-pronged approach to the process to settle on our top trios: titles (apologies to Chuck), wins and individual excellence among the three players involved.

A few things to note before we start: one, we’re not going to look at any threesomes before the contemporary game, which started with the advent of the three-point shot in the 1979-80 season. That means Bill Russell and [insert any two among Sam Jones, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn and John Havlicek] aren’t on the list even though Russell won 11 titles in 13 seasons (the last two as player-coach). Bill is the G.O.A.T…for boomers of a particular persuasion, and always will be, but the game during that era was too different for a proper comparison. Two, Kobe Bryant and Shaq aren’t a Big Three. Basic arithmetic explains why. Three, we really wanted to put Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman/Bill Laimbeer on this list because they’re criminally overlooked—three Finals appearances in a row and two wins—every time one of these lists get made. But, they just just missed out to LeBron’s Heat squad, the followup to the Celtics’ Big Three.

5. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (2011-2014)

Big Three Heat

4. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish (1981-1992)

Big Three Celtics

3. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy (1983-1989)

Big Three Lakers

2. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili (2003-2015)

Big Three Spurs

Team: San Antonio Spurs

Resume: 4 titles and 5 Finals appearances

There are going to be some who think San Antonio should be listed at No. 4 on this list, and we should move the Lakers and Celtics '80s powerhouses up a slot. But when you’re the winningest trio in NBA history with one more championship than either trio—11 years after their first one together and against another team on this list—you get the spot. This team never once failed to win 50 games in a season together and it’s clear why. Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward of all time; Manu Ginobili is the greatest Sixth Man of all time (sorry Jamal), an Olympic gold medalist and perhaps the most unique player of all time; Tony Parker is a Finals MVP, a 6-time All-Star and 3-time All-NBA Second Team selection. Collectively, mixing one of the greatest leaders in NBA history with two of the top foreign-born players in NBA history, and under the sardonic and irritated visage of Gregg Popovich (he could care less if you call his guys a super team), they formed the second best Big Three of the modern era. The only thing keeping them from the top slot is the G.O.A.T. with an apex supporting cast.

1. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman (1996-1998)

Big Three Bulls

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