Hoops Habit
Fansided

NBA: The 30 best trios in league history

By Hans Themistode

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
13 of 31
Next
Hakeem Olajuwon (L) and Cylde Drexler
Hakeem Olajuwon and Cylde Drexler (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

Best trios in NBA history: 19. Hakeem Olajuwon, Cylde Drexler, and Mario Elie

  • Olajuwon: 23.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 2.6 bpg
  • Drexler: 19.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 5.3 apg
  • Mario Elie: 10 ppg, 2.7 rpg
  • Finals record: 0-1
  • Time together: 1995-1998

The Houston Rockets always get the short end of the stick. Their championship dynasty of the mid-1990s began once Michael Jordan was over on the baseball diamond attempting to hit home runs.

Just on the tail end of back-to-back titles, Clyde Drexler joined the crew which formed a three-headed monster in himself, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Mario Elie.

In four seasons, the Rockets didn’t have a ton of success in the regular season. Only once did they surpass the 50 win mark. They did, however, take home an NBA title in their first season together in 1994.

Clearly at the back ends of their primes, Drexler would have only one season in which he averaged over 20 points in the regular season. It was the same in the playoffs as Drexler averaged 20.5 in his first postseason run with his new squad but followed that up with declining averages of 16.6, 18.1, and 15.0 points per game.

Olajuwon did most of the heavy lifting during their time together. The colossal big man registered back-to-back seasons of 27.8 and 26.9 points respectively. He fell off in year four as age and attrition began kicking in. Still, his 16.4 points and 9.8 rebounds were more than respectable.

Elie was never an All-Star. In fact, his best scoring season came in 1997 when he put together numbers of 11.7 points. Still, he was a reliable shooter from deep, nailing 38 percent from behind the arc before falling off a cliff in year four, averaging just 29.1% from distance.

The regular season success, as previously mentioned, wasn’t overwhelming. Outside of their championship year, the Rockets failed to make it out of the second round of the postseason. Regardless of that, they still managed to pocket a title and put up solid but not overwhelming numbers, outside of Olajuwon, in the process.