Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball shared his NBA Mount Rushmore on Angel Reese's podcast, naming the four players he believes are the defining faces of the NBA. While he included the two obvious names of LeBron James and Michael Jordan, he picked Shaquille O'Neal as his third and seemed to favor Stephen Curry over Magic Johnson.
"Bron, Jordan, I'm going Shaq because he's the most dominant ever. Fourth, I would go Magic but it's looking like Steph Curry gotta find his way in there... His resume and how he changed the game, he's the best shooter ever, carried USA like, there ain't nothing he ain't do and he's got the rings to back it up as well."
Lonzo, a former Los Angeles Laker, made it clear that he wouldn't include Kobe Bryant in his Mount Rushmore as Kobe has the most misses in NBA history.
"I love Kobe but he was never the best player to me, watching him because he's got the most misses ever."
Unfortunately, Ball's facts are off as LeBron overtook Kobe for most misses in NBA history this season. Regardless, that isn't a fair reason to disqualify someone from this list as the best players in the NBA are bound to miss the most shots as well.
LeBron has played at a very high level for the last 22 years, shooting under 50% in only eight seasons, with six coming in his first six years in the NBA. Kobe shot under 50% in every season of his 20-year career, but his game was primarily based on difficult-to-convert mid-range shots. That might be what colored Lonzo's perception of Kobe as someone who misses a lot of shots.
Kobe and LeBron are still among the greatest scorers of all time and their misses are a result of their major offensive load for two decades.
The Mount Rushmore is pretty justifiable. Jordan and LeBron are obvious inclusions as arguably the two most notable players in the history of the game. Shaq was dominant in a way we have never seen before or again, but giving Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Russell this spot would be more apt to cover the older generation of basketball players.
Picking Curry over Magic is a controversial move given how many people still pick Magic as the greatest point guard ever. Curry's influence over the modern game is unmatched, as he brought about the three-point revolution. While Magic was the first proof that someone with a 6'9" power forward body can be the point guard of a team, Curry's shooting prowess has completely altered how basketball is played.
If Mount Rushmore is about influence, it's fair to put Curry over Magic as the face of the new era, potentially even ahead of LeBron based on pure impact on the sport as a whole. James is the more complete and superior player to Curry, but his skill set isn't replicable like Curry's, which has in turn grown Curry's influence on the sport.
