Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain form three of the NBA’s most iconic duos.
Do Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant already belong in that conversation?
During Game 2 of the NBA Finals, ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy forced Curry and Durant into the mix, calling the Warriors’ teammates one of the best duos the league has ever seen.
On Tuesday morning, Bob Fitzgerald told Murph and Mac he’d rather wait awhile and see Curry and Durant add to their combined resume before elevating their status.
“Steph-KD as a duo, let’s wait awhile and see what they come up with,” Fitzgerald said.
The host of Fitz and Brooks and the Warriors’ play-by-play broadcaster said he believes the combination of Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar has an edge over other pairings, but said Jordan and Pippen’s ability to impact both ends of the floor was tremendous.
“I think that’s the toughest one to beat right there,” Fitzgerald said in reference to Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar. “If you look at guys that impact both ends of the floor, that’s where Michael and Scottie to me and now KD, I mean I love two-way players, because defense is half the game and too many fans are myopic on just looking at scoring in basketball it drives me nuts. But, Magic was a transcendent point guard like we’ve never seen one before and we’ve never seen one since. He wasn’t a great defender but he changed the game and Kareem is one of the top three, four players of all time that gets no love. No respect for again a transcendent scoring shot that has never really been replicated.”
Fitzgerald also highlighted the under-appreciated duo of West and Chamberlain, and mentioned Larry Bird who teamed with both Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish during his career with the Celtics.
Fitzgerald said he wants to wait to discuss the duo of Curry and Durant with some of the game’s best because he doesn’t want fans to get ahead of themselves. He said fans rushed to compare Tiger Woods’ accomplishments to Jack Nicklaus’ on the golf course, and suggested comparisons are more reasonable once players retire and can allow their resumes to speak for themselves.
“Then you get into Bird and McHale or Bird and Parrish, you have Michael and Scottie, Shaq and Kobe, Steph-KD, and Murph, you’re a great golf guy, it’s like Tiger this, Tiger that, it’s almost like can we wait until he’s done and then look at Nicklaus when he was done and compare apples to apples.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Fitzgerald’s comments on the top duos in NBA history, listen to the first 3:14 of the interview.
