Shaq & Kevin Durant: The War Over The Ultimate Starting 5

What happens when two of the most dominant scorers in basketball history sit down to build their ultimate starting lineups?
Total chaos.
On Season 2, Episode 3 of The Rushmore Podcast, Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Durant join Ari Emanuel and Ben Persky to draft, trade, and defend their definitive all-time starting fives.
From immediate blockbuster trades to heated arguments over whether Steph Curry is a true point guard, this conversation cuts through modern analytics to reveal how all-time greats actually evaluate the game.
Inside the episode:
* Modern Spacing Debate: Would Shaq score 70 a night in today’s NBA, or would he hate the perimeter volume?
* Coaching Systems: Why Shaq believes Phil Jackson’s triangle offense wouldn’t survive today, and how Steve Kerr adapted it into Golden State’s random basketball.
* The Blockbuster Trade: Shaq swaps Hakeem Olajuwon for himself to complete KD’s all-time 6’10” roster.
* Pat Riley Lore: Shaq exposes the Heat’s brutal body fat tests and the personal exemption he demanded before getting traded.
* The Point Guard War: Shaq’s controversial take on Steph Curry and why Tim Duncan and Giannis are barred from the big man category.
* 1996 Bulls Retrospective: Ari Emanuel confronts Shaq on getting swept by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
* The Height Myth: KD reveals what happened when he stood next to Hakeem Olajuwon in real life.
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Watch the full live episode above, or stream on Apple Podcasts (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rushmore-podcast…) and Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7uFLsuRpmpuyzBSvxbIn14).

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