Former 10-year NBA veteran Lance Stephenson doesn’t worry about position when it comes to selecting the top five NBA players of all time.
In an interview with HoopsHype’s Sam Yip, Stephenson selected Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal as his top five (in no particular order).
“That’s my starting five,” Stephenson said. “I know there’s going to be a lot of debate about who’s going to take the shot, but I think they’re going to figure it out and really beat everybody else that they pick.”
Stephenson entered the NBA as a second-round draft pick in 2020 by the Indiana Pacers.
During the Pacers’ run to the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, Stephenson clashed with a player on his top-five roster. He infamously blew into James’ ear during Game 5 of the series.
“That guy is hard to guard, so you have to go all out and that’s what I did,” Stephenson said of that moment in 2021, according to Dionysis Aravantinos of Yahoo Sports.
In addition to playing 338 games with the Pacers, Stephenson also played for the Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks Team.
Stephenson will last play in an NBA game in 2022 after playing as a teammate with the Lakers in 2018-19. He totaled 4,738 points in 554 games.
Stephenson currently plays for the Iowa Wolves of the G-League, averaging 15.0 points in 29.0 minutes per game this season. He told Yip that his goal at Iowa State “is to get back on an NBA team.”