NBA: Top 5 Current Players Who Could Post A 5X5
A five-by-five is by far the toughest stat line to achieve in a single game in professional basketball. Effecting 10 turnovers from the opposition single-handedly requires a high basketball IQ, immense agility, and quickness as well as the stamina to keep up a high level of defensive play for an extended time period.
So tough is the stat line to achieve, in fact, that ever since the NBA started recording steals and blocks in players' box scores (from the 1973-74 season), only 10 players have posted a five-by-five. Draymond Green is the only active player to post the stat, while only three players have done so on multiple occasions - Green, Hakeem Olajuwon (aka The Dream) and Andrei Kirilenko (AK47).
As it already indicates, only two-way basketball players who can ball unselfishly at a high level are putting up the stat line.
Honourable Mention:
LeBron James
While the King has had an illustrious 14 years in the league as a nightly triple-double threat, his efforts on the defensive end have been less than stellar in recent years, as he tends to coast through regular season games without applying himself too much on the less glamorous end of the floor.
At nearly 33 years old, LeBron James' best defensive days are almost certainly behind him, and even though he is in red hot form this season as an MVP frontrunner, the players in the next few slides are better defenders and also have more shots at making the stat line on account of being younger.
So without further ado, let's begin the countdown of the active players most likely to post a five-by-five before hanging up their boots.