The 15 Best Duos in NBA History

From Russell and Cousy to D-Wade and LeBron, peep the best pairings of all time.

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Everyone who's played youth sports has heard some coach utter the words, "There's no 'I' in team." As corny as it sounds, it's true. Just look at any successful team and there's usually at least a pair of star players that compliment each other. The sport where such duos are most prominent is professional basketball. Whether it was Bill Russell and Bob Cousy way back in the day or Shaq and Kobe just a decade ago, every Batman needed a Robin.

One half of one of the best pairings in sports history, John Stockton, turned 50 yesterday. He, along with Karl Malone, steadily etched their names into the record books. Stockton is the all-time leader in assists (15,806) and steals (3,265), while Malone is second on the scoring list (36,928). As a late birthday gift we decided to compile a list of the NBA's best tandems. We were sure to have the old-school and the new-school included. There's everyone from Kareem and Magic to Wade and James in here. The game and the times have changed, so we ranked them accordingly. Some duos had success in terms of hardware, others in terms of numbers like the aforementioned Stockton and Malone. So, if you're into precisely executed pick and rolls and give and gos check out the rest of the 15 Best Duos in NBA History.

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15. Payton and Kemp

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14. Durant and Westbrook

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13. Wade and James

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12. Duncan and Robinson

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11. Thomas and Dumars

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10. Erving and Malone

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9. West and Chamberlain

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8. Frazier and Reed

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7. Robertson and Kareem

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6. Stockton and Malone

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5. Bird and McHale

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4. Shaq and Kobe

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3. Magic and Kareem

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2. Cousy and Russell

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1. Jordan and Pippen

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