NBA Duos Tier List!

PODCAST VERSION: podcasts.apple...
STREAMS: / rustybucketsstreams

[@mathis8007]

How could you possibly forget Kuzma and Poole bro ??

[@chefcurry8983]

Fax

[@lazarmilosavljevic137]

He doesn't have SS tier so no point in mentioning them

[@mathis8007]

@@lazarmilosavljevic137 oh shi you right.

[@mihacebin4341]

@@mathis8007 i see two rings between them. Pretty clearly S-tier

[@namkeorb]

i know you are trolling, but he has monroe and drummond as duo so yeah why not

[@cletey2560]

Rusty if you did a video covered in baby oil… that would be cool I think

[@hellraiser420]

Nice try Diddy

[@mattmmixes]

Aye aye aye run for your life

[@BrianXu352]

Diddy snuck a phone up his ass

[@Austin-bk4ul]

Didn’t you get arrested?

[@kenthom9929]

Should he do it clothed or nah?

[@joeknapp9162]

Ngl Stockton and Malone in the same tier as Derozan and Lowry is WILD 😂

[@SwagnerCountsThings]

And then he put Kareem and Drexler on S because the Bulls "never played an elite big man guard duo" like wtf level of revisionists history is this?"

[@joeknapp9162]

@@SwagnerCountsThings Hakeem* but I kind of agree with that. Hakeem was the 2nd best player in the league in the early 90s and won 2 championships. He would have been easily the best big man the Bulls had to face and Drexler was a legit number 1 scoring option.

[@farmerbrownie]

The whole time I was listening to this I just kept comparing everyone to Stockton and Malone 😂.. C tier is insaneee

[@inazuma3gou]

Stock/Malone at C is criminally underrated. Where is Jay-Will/Chris Webber?

[@mattc5647]

They were better without J Will. J Will was like the 4th best playercon that team, honestly he might not be better than Bobby Jackson. Doug Christie was more impactful.

[@BigSlim4]

Ok I don’t like EDP and The Assist merchant as much as the next guy guy but C tier is kinda ridiculous

[@adilhoxha5443]

Yeah he’s a big Stockton and Malone hater

[@BigSlim4]

@@adilhoxha5443 me too but damn 😂😂

[@greekifreekifan870]

This is why you really can't let issues outside basketball affect how you think of players AS players. Ranking Stockton-Malone that low is stupid

[@Ari19904]

Lebron and Kyrie / AD over Parker and Duncan is actually mad bro tf you talking about 😂

[@soraito1858]

Stockton and Malone are starting to become the most underrated players in nba history

[@ILoveRealityTV6]

Book and CP3 are a B tier duo. That finals run was special.

[@tommartyn524]

I’m a suns fan and every team we faced was severely hurt. It was a fluke run.

[@Acoolyoutubename]

@@tommartyn524 your not a suns fan then

[@tommartyn524]

@@Acoolyoutubename I’m a suns fan. I’m not delusional. I didn’t state my opinion, I stated a fact. That was a fluke run riddled with injury.

[@Acoolyoutubename]

@@tommartyn524 you can find astericks for any teams run. real suns fans wouldnt be watching this guy anyways. unless they hate watching. which is what i was doing. the people who agree with you are the same people who think we should break up our team after one year. think bout it.

[@bunterrrr]

putting stockton and malone in C is just hating bro 💀

[@meep7895]

should be in F

[@therealneal3034]

@@meep7895nah, C stands for cradle so it’s perfect.

[@bunterrrr]

@@meep7895 just bc they're the dynamic dickheads irl doesnt mean they arent a good nba duo. they're the best pnr duo ever, both elite defenders and they made 2 finals

[@PricefieldPunk]

If Malone was a normal person they'd def be higher 😂 having KD and Kyrie and CP3 and Harden over Stockton and Malone makes no sense

[@penguinsinorbit2034]

they have a sub 500 playoff record as the longest tenured duo in nba history.. the definition of insanity is doing the same exact thing over and over again.. the fact they never though about going in a different direction is actually insane

[@greatestofantoniotimegreat1750]

Drop power forward and center live tier list!!!

[@laudononthemoon1938]

Did you listen to the intro

[@tarraleroach5410]

Explain how you have bird and McHale in a team and have lebron and ad on s team.

[@jphugo15]

Lebron glaze tax aka the lecheck must've cashed

[@Antonio12329d]

Well, they weren't exactly a duo, that might be a reason 😂 The only time McHale did something in the finals was against the young/inexperienced Rockets... He was non-existent in his 1st ring and a role player in his 2nd, so you cannot simply pick a guy who was good in only 1 ring, pair him with Bird and create a "duo" when those Celtics were a superteam with more stars. Same case scenario for the Tim-Parker duo, I see people crying that they won 4 rings when in reality, Tim won 3 of his rings with Parker being below average or non-existent, how's that an all time great duo?

[@cameronno6039]

The LBJ glaze is real. Magic + Kareem = 5 rings = A tier Wade + LBJ = 2rings = S tier??? Parker/ Duncan (A tier) won 2 rings over LBJ including 1 in MIA...

[@Ari19904]

LBJ + kyrie = one ring = S tier Parker + Duncan = 4 rings = A tier 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@cameronno6039]

@@Ari19904 Agreed. It's disgusting.

[@jphugo15]

Yeah this channel would be a lot better if he could stop tryna cover Lebron in Diddy's baby oil collection constantly

[@LegendGamer-dj8om]

@@jphugo15fr

[@LoudButtons]

Bruh, I'm saying. The LeBron bias is crazy. "Oh LeBron's in the duo? S TIER AUTOMATICALLY!" Shit is dumb asf.

[@Tomtainius]

This is a pretty good list! You seemed tempted but unable to put Giannis and Dame any higher than C simply because they haven’t achieved anything together yet. Where would you have put Giannis and Middleton if they were the option instead?

[@mattmmixes]

I feel like grading duos on accomplishments is weird there’s three other players on the court the two of them can only do so much.

[@emilioreyes4159]

stockton and malone are definitely b tier

[@diegodelcid2235]

Yeah, I get he hates Stockton's game and Malone's character (completely justified in the second case) but they were legit.

[@LegendGamer-dj8om]

@@diegodelcid2235fr..

[@Justfranktbh]

@@diegodelcid2235Malone character?

[@SDesWriter]

Rusty taking time off from his fried chicken training marathon to give the NBA record holder in assists and steals plus the third leading scorer in NBA history a C tier for 925 wins plus 2 Finals appearances and 85 playoff wins because if you aren’t shooting 3’s, he doesn’t believe you’re actually a basketball player.

[@comicthecon]

2017 kawhi was really his peak, if he never got injured I think the spurs would’ve won in the next couple years

[@simondelwal8279]

yea, spurs squads around him defo could’ve been even deeper than the raptors ever were, we missed out

[@mattmmixes]

The Zaza play changed his career

[@vulcanraven9701]

Maybe. At this point Kawhi is best known for blowing a 3-1 lead in an embarrassing fashion

[@imJB23]

@@vulcanraven9701no he's not

[@vulcanraven9701]

@@imJB23 he hasnt done anything since then.

[@SDesWriter]

One more time (for Rusty, who can't seem to understand how stats work)....Best year together #10) Hakeem/Drexler - (96/97) - 41/15/9 (GTFOH) #9) Steph/Green - (15/16) - 44/15/14 (🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣) #8) LeBron/Wade - (14-15) - 49/13/11 #7) Steph/Klay - (15/16) - 52/9/9 #6) Kareem/Magic - (81/82) - 43/19/13 #5) LeBron/Kyrie (16-17) - 52/12/15 #4) MJ/Pippen - (91/92) - 51/14/13 (6 rings and monster defense, arguably #1) #3) Bird/McHale - (86/87) - 54/19/10 (Multiple championships and great defense, arguably #1) #2) Luka/Kyrie - (23/24) - 60/14/15 * because 1 season is not enough to judge all-time, so if they don't get back to the Finals (and win), they'll obviously drop. #1) Kobe/Shaq (99/00-) - 57/19/9 The reason PRODUCTION matters is because most of the best years these "Duos" had were also with other players who were just as productive so it wasn't a "Duo" carrying the team, your simple ass just picked 2 guys off a really successful team and called them a duo.

[@EvilMendes]

How is tf Bird/McHale, Steph/Klay, Kareem/Oscar, Russell/Cousy, Magic/Kareem not in S tier?

[@Allfict]

I’m lost on how Malone and stockon are c tier but Jimmy and bam are b tier

[@SDesWriter]

Um….he doesn’t actually know anything about basketball. This is sn entertainment channel.

[@mastersplinter1950]

@@SDesWriter Am I nuts or has the quality of these videos fallen off super hard? Off season blues maybe

[@ezraprzytyk]

lebron and AD being S tier is wild

[@deebogaillard]

I think it’s spot on. Back in 2020, everyone said they wouldn’t win and yet they dominated. Like he said, injuries and poor roster moves keep them from winning more championships.

[@ixxac9814]

When talking about harden and Joel: if you didn’t execute you didn’t execute Kd and kyrie: 🙈

[@dsklizzle]

Ja and his Glock should have been S-tier

[@peytonterry8386]

Hakeem and Ralph Sampson did upset magic and Kareem to get to the finals that year. Should be noted for both duos.

[@boydbrooks5065]

If Moses & the Doctor are S I think you gotta have Bird & Mchale S too

[@tubbsthabarber4507]

Ranking signature moves would be dope

[@whenisdinner2137]

Yes, the Bulls famously dodged a big man and guard duo like Shaq and Penny by sweeping them by an average of almost 17 points per game and holding them under 60 in a game😂

[@LegendGamer-dj8om]

Why did you put Dwade and Bron as a duo? They wouldn’t have done what they did without bosh..that’s a big 3

[@at0mly]

putting steph and dray in a with some of those duos above them is pretty hilarious

[@AX5Terminator]

Stockton and Malone took Hakeem's rocket out of the first round before proceeding to sweeping a Prime Shaq w/ 3 other all-stars and Duncan/Robinson Spurs a year before Duncans FMVP year.😂

[@josemejia9831]

A duo that deserves a mention is Boogie and AD when they were both on the Pelicans they for sure probably would be in B tier them two were just insane to watch attack the paint

[@thecoolrich]

Thanks rusty!! Gonna hit the gym and watch this

[@Joe_Ma99]

Tatum/Brown are on a better team but they aren’t a better duo than Luka/Kyrie.

[@jtizzle124]

He values fit heavily, Kyrie and Luka will just never be an ideal duo in that sense. They can play off each other well but neither of them cover the other’s weaknesses in any facet.

[@TheRealTurkFebruary]

Regarding the Rockets vs Bulls of the 90s, there was 8 opportunities for those teams to play in the finals. One of those teams failed to make it out of their conference twice, and the other team failed to make it out of their own conference six times. I think it’s a very tired “what if.” There’s no doubt the Rockets matched up very well against those Bulls, but please spare me the “Bulls were lucky not to see the Rockets” BS. If they were so good, they wouldn’t have been knocked out of their own conference playoffs SIX times. How can we look back and think the Bulls would be helpless against the Rockets when they were routinely handled by lesser teams in the west?

[@ixxac9814]

Dwight Howard only has one all star season in Houston and it wasn’t anywhere near his prime he thought he was Shaq or something but quickly found out what he was on the bench of other teams

[@raghudurina2354]

Kd Curry is the greatest duo of all time. First and only time we’ve seen the #2 and #3 players in the world on the same team. And they proved they were great through winning chips in dominant fashion. Kobe was not in top 5 conversations when he played with Shaq. Pippen wasn’t either. And none of LeBron’s teammates have ranked above 4.

[@SDesWriter]

KD and Curry were lower scoring/rebounds/assists than Luka and Kyrie. Get Steph’s sweaty balls off your tongue and join reality.

[@olliephan3724]

Fox and Sabonis over wall and beal? Also how do you go from saying Roy hibbert and pg13 were the only team challenging the heat and then put them below jjj and ja?

[@ezraprzytyk]

kawhi and siakam should be here.. one of the most underrated duos ever.

[@shirishamatya3252]

How could you forget JaKuzzi and Poole Boy??

[@sgrey9181]

Bro in what world are Lebron and AD S tier but Bird and McHale are only A

[@sparr0wsne5t]

Great video dude. Was wondering which tier you'd put Haliburton/Siakam?

[@kylepatrick2231]

West and Baylor are a minimum A tier and putting them in B is an admission that you've never watched them or bothered to learn about them.

[@mcnastythegreat2305]

Summer league Lonzo and Kuzma???

[@namkeorb]

monroe and drummond dont count as a duo come on now

[@danielkent9139]

Bron and Kyrie in S tier while Timmy and Tony in A tier is a wild ass take imo. Forget talent, I care about results more than anything else and 1 Ring and significantly less regular season success =\= 4 rings and over a decade of regular season excellence. KD and Kyrie also deserve E or F tier for the disaster that was their Nets team.

[@rorank]

KD and kyrie in B tier is hilarious

[@baileymullens473]

cannot express how quick I clicked on this video

[@alexgettinger9181]

I normally agree with you on a lot of your takes, but some of these are just so wrong.

[@Ellivation]

Tony Parker actually has a decent 03 finals considering it was I believe his second year. 14/4/3 while playing alongside speedy claxson. He had a coming out party that year in the playoffs vs the Sonics *edit* just checked, it was the year prior (2002) vs the Sonics where he averaged 17/3/2. It was his rookie year. He came out the gate decent/good

[@thisismychannel4174]

kyrie and lebron over kareem and magic 💀 (hakeem and drexler over kareem and magic is ever crazier)

[@ChristianReardon-ti2ez]

Hot take, Steph having 2 entries and not being in S once is wild work,

[@JeffersonSteelflexx]

Day 19 of demanding Rusty make a video on the underrated greatness of Raymond Felton!!

[@minutmed33]

Daugherty/Mark Price, Coleman/Kenny Anderson, Webber with either White Chocolate or Bibby, Tim Hardaway/Chris Mullin, Zo/Larry Johnson, Nash/Amare, Big Dog/Ray Allen were all duos that were crazy fun to watch playing at some point; I have good memories of all of them :)

[@inazuma3gou]

Webber/White Chocolate - A tier Webber/Bibby - F tier

[@minutmed33]

@@inazuma3gou I'm a huge fan of J-Will AND Webber and definitely prefer this duo, but I can't deny (despite the fact that I never liked Bibby) the greater amount of success the team had with Bibby instead of J-Will. That's why I mention both duos. But yea, J-Will and C-Webb are both in my top 10 favorite players of all time.

[@inazuma3gou]

@@minutmed33 I am biased of course because I hated that Bibby was such a good boy. Nonetheless, I think it can be argued that J-Will/Bibby were better duo whereas Sacramento was better with Bibby.

[@mastersplinter1950]

@@minutmed33 Hardaway/Mullin was a trio with Mitch

[@minutmed33]

@@mastersplinter1950 Yea, Run TMC, I know 😁 Mitch unfortunately shared only 2 seasons with the other two; I'm glad the trio remains so emblematic tho, it's a testament on how great they all were.

[@Trevor_Schindler]

Rusty, great video as always but you gotta group your letter cells there in excel and center so your grey cells are even on both top and bottom. The top being skinner than the bottom kinda bugs me. 🤷

[@fakedan6568]

Kareem and Magic's peak didnt overlap much, but LeBron and Wade's peaks overlapped that much more for you to put them above the arguable best duo of all time, despite having far less rings and years played together??? Edit: Bossman, Bron and Kyrie over Magic and Kareem??? It feel like you taxed Magic and Kareem a lot for one of their flaws, which is fair, but you don't do the same for other duos. Bron and Kyrie have 1 singular ring together, and you can say a lot of that is attributed to injury, which is fair, but you taxed Magic and Kareem for circumstances that were also out of their control

[@trevmorin]

How come you didn't mention Phi Slamma Jamma when talking bout Glide and Dream

[@DrKnowNothing1]

MJ and Rip Hamilton on the wizards.

[@JoeBrooks-m1g]

Kareem and magic A tier is insane

[@huberthumphrey7499]

prime cj mccollum was definitely an all star level player, unfortunately both he and dame were traffic cones on defense

[@comet4334]

wheres the power foward ranking livestream?

[@SwagnerCountsThings]

And you also forgot to put Lebron and Ilgauskas in B tier as one of the best to never win a ring 🙄

[@JERWINIVANCORBETA]

IMO Luka/Kyrie & Brown/Tatum are just in the same tier. The only difference between them is the roster surrounding them which of course the Celtics is better last year. Legit could potentially be an iconic rivalry if the improved Mavs make it out the west next year again💯

[@anthonydubois4671]

What about Khris and giannis?

[@alsorustybuckets]

shit that's a good one.

[@bucksin6always]

Giannis and Middleton should be on here instead of Giannis and Dame tbh

[@SwagnerCountsThings]

Dude sold so hard at the end. Juat fell completely apart. Even considering that you are valuing rings and peak over longevity, you made some heinous decisions. Putting AD and LeBron in S tier is criminal. Their finals run was historically easy and they have failed to deliver since. And the best ability is availability so you cant just brush over that and call yourself credible. And thats just one example of you fumbling it. I get that it was a long video and it wasnt scripted, and by the end of it you just wanted to be done, but that lost is just unacceptable and i would bot be proud of it.

[@Studentofthegame3]

Bro at a certain point as a grown man you have to put your bias to the side to make a functional ranking video. This isn’t twitter or espn, the people that come here and watch your videos like when you’re able to formulate consistent points and give reasonable criticism.

[@SDesWriter]

You know this list is bullshit when he has the same guy listed in two separate duos with different teammates during the same time in the same tier. I hate to break it to you buddy, that’s called a trio and right smack in the middle of it, KD was actually the best player on the team. GS had no great duos, they had a great team. Check the numbers....Nevermind, I'll fix it for you.

[@idle.michael]

anyone know what website he used for this ? i’m curious cuz i wanna do my own

[@UnknownCoast]

love the channel but Stockton and Malone in C tier is low key disrespectful

[@donali9020]

Stockton and Malone at C is just straight up hating

[@itzhakira5022]

Kyrie has lost 2 championships due to injury, 2015 & 2021.

[@sttownse83]

Was waiting the whole time for Nash and Stat 🙄

[@manninglemoine5125]

Easy idea...do trios next

[@sgrey9181]

The Jerry West Elgin Baylor disrespect will not be tolerated, put those legends in A tier, they absolutely deserve it. If Tatum and Brown are in A tier, Jerry and Elgin absolutely have to be as well

[@JoeBrooks-m1g]

Paul George has to be the most overrated 3 pointer shooter imo.

[@quadavis4]

Draymond getting too much credit, him and Klay both benefited from playing with Steph

[@imJB23]

Team game

[@SDesWriter]

It’s not just about curry, you had Thompson/green/curry plus Iguodala, then KD, then Wiggins for a season where he played out of his mind plus Poole. Pippin and Jordan were a duo who carried a team of role players. McHale and Bird were a duo who carried a pretty good Center and a couple of good role players. Magic and Kareem carried a good Lakers squad and last year Luka & Kyrie carried a team of castoffs into the finals with more points/assists/rebounds than any of them. Curry was a great shooter, but there never was a dynamic between him and one other player that carried Golden State .

[@ixxac9814]

When you said cp3 is the 3rd best pg I instantly lost respect for your opinion

[@SwagnerCountsThings]

Rusty absolutely sold this entire list by putting Hakeem and Drexler in s tier because "Michael Jordan and the Bulls never played a guard big man duo" and then unashamedly put Karl in Stockton in C tier. get out of here!

[@kirkiedakingpin]

Rusty I know you personally don’t like Malone and Stockton. Malone for real reasons. They are atleast a b bro

[@martinam4103]

Stockton and Malone are an A!

[@Sanchw1ch]

Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph

[@f2pgamer994]

why isnt availability taken more into consideration?

[@Josh-07]

as much as i think kareem is overrated as well having them A tier just seems like agenda pushing. 5 chips as the best duo on the team really deserves s tier almost regardless of talent

[@spaceghostflame3500]

I think Rusty has a crush on Bron Bron

[@shafiksunderani4230]

I think Rusty you may have let your off court bias impact Malone & Stockton.... C tier is harsh ... They belong in A or B tier. MJ et al., was a factor in their success

[@frankgori9582]

Bron/Wade appears to be missing

[@Sukinero]

Bro you didn’t even rank Jalen brunson and Julius Randle

[@lengman_1]

It's really a shame this man doesn't have 1M subs. The content is amazing. Been watching since the beginning👍🙏

[@samirbhatia5211]

Dwade was hella washed on the last ring. Ur knocking Kareem and Magic down then LeBron and dwade should also be a tier

[@PricefieldPunk]

Wheres Arenas and Crittenton? Dual Guns akimbo

[@ivanthaboi]

I hate Stockton and Malone but I'd still put them in like B or something. Respect for the hate tho game recognizes game

[@kirkiedakingpin]

Bam and Jimmy should be c. If Karl and John are c

[@seananthony7494]

Duncan and Robinson

[@christopherdino3232]

Have curry and klay and then curry and draymond is dumb cuz he was never a duo with either of them they were all a trio

[@Bobsyagod]

and then a quartet with KD

[@username-ds6kf]

Hey man Milwaukee is further west than Memphis

[@jcflores3842]

where’s the rest of the gang

[@AustinMulkaMusic]

You are smarter than me. And so I am going to trust your judgment. But, I would not feel comfortable arguing with anyone or saying publicly that LeBron and Dwayne Wade are S and Steph and Klay are A. Doesn’t sound right.

[@jphugo15]

Why is a player not being at his peak apply against the duo's ranking? Bro thought he cooked with the Magic & Kareem hot take.

[@mastersplinter1950]

Doubling down on his Kareem hate vid

[@gamingsquad2326]

Dwade was only peak wade in 2011 too……..

[@gflow7501]

Terrible list

[@kirkiedakingpin]

Parker and Duncan are s their. R championships

[@mattc5647]

Im not normally like this, and I respect peoples opinions. But this is so bad dude.