NBA: The 30 best trios in league history

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Penny Hardaway (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images) /

Best trios in NBA history: 26. Shaquille O’Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Nick Anderson

O’Neal: 28.4 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 2.4 bpg
Hardaway: 19.5 ppg, 6.9 apg, 2 spg
Anderson: 15.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg
Finals record: 0-1
Time together: 1994-1996

They were all young, incredibly talented, and most importantly, it appeared as though they had all the time in the world.

At the age of 26, up until he was 28, Nick Anderson was already an established, starting-caliber player. He was never going to lead a franchise to the promised land by himself or as one of the offensive vocal points but his double-digit contributions were valuable to them nonetheless.

The hopes and dreams of the Orlando Magic stood squarely on the shoulders of two incredibly young stars in Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway. Let’s start with the latter.

In two of his first three seasons in the league, Hardaway was already scoring over 20 points a night, while dishing out over seven assists as well. He was selected to two All-Star games and many believed it was only a matter of time before he became the best point guard in the league.

But for as great as Hardaway was, it was O’Neal who was the clear alpha. A fresh-faced Shaq averaged 28.4 points a night and 12.8 rebounds in those three seasons. They found themselves in the NBA Finals in their second year together but were sent home against the Houston Rockets. Despite the loss, many were expecting a dynasty-type run to take place. It possibly would’ve, if O’Neal hadn’t bolted for LA in year four.