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Let's review the numbers, shall we? At 19, he was the first guy in more than twenty years to be drafted into the NBA out of high school. In his eleven seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he has averaged 20.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, and five assists a game. He's a nine-time All-Star with an MVP trophy back home on the mantel. But what makes Kevin Garnett a true once-in-a-lifetimer is his insane versatility. The dude is nearly seven feet tall, and there's not a position that he can't play as well as anyone else in the league. Power forward? Check. Center? Check. Point guard? "I'm not a point guard," he says. "But can I play it? Damn right." He has also built a reputation as maybe the most affable guy in the NBA. "A lot of people want to get respect," he says, "but they don't want to give it. It's kind of a lost art. I'm nice because I'm nice." Despite his achievements, Garnett bears the weight of his team's struggle to bring home a title. "People get on my back about still being here and not winning a championship. I'm being crucified for being loyal, and that's ass-backward to me." So is he sticking with the T-Wolves forever? "As long as the organization brings talent in here, I'm ready to rock."
— Raha Naddaf

Martin Schoeller/GQ

The average man will see a team like the '86 Lakers about as often as he sees Halley's comet. "We were unbeatable that year, and we knew it from the beginning," says James Worthy, no-brainer Hall of Famer and third-best player on the team. "We ran fluidly, automatically, and without hesitation. It was the peak of Showtime." "We had Hall of Fame guys on the bench," recalls Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the second-best player on the team, who, that season, played in his sixteenth All-Star Game and won his fifth NBA championship. "I mean, we played one game where we held a team to four points in a quarter. We could attack from everywhere." "Oh, Showtime was changing the game, man!" says Magic Johnson, who led this team, perhaps the greatest of all time, by filling the box score with twenty-four points, twelve assists, and six rebounds per game. "We'd get out on that break, man, and it was over. The fans… Oh, we were selling out everywhere. People were caught in the excitement—a fast-breaking team that was about making the right pass, making the right play. It was beautiful to watch." In case you're wondering, Halley's comet's next pass is in 2061.
— Trent MacNamara

Martin Schoeller/GQ

"I wanted to pass like Magic, jump like Mike, shoot like Bird, and cover the ball like Zeke," says Ben Wallace. "But none of that worked out. So I decided to play defense and rebound." Of course, about 900 other undersized, airball-prone, undrafted centers from small colleges have made that same decision in the past ten years, and 897 of them are selling insurance. Big Ben, meanwhile, is starting in All-Star Games (the first undrafted player to do so); racking up rebounds (1,000 per year); pulling down $15 million a season from his new team, the Chicago Bulls; and inspiring 85-year-old midwestern grannies to, ahem, wear their hair out. What makes him the exception? Part of it is that physique, which is known, simply and aptly, as "the Body." (He's six nine, 240, and can be fairly described as an immovable object in the lane.) And part of it must be mental, known only to Ben. But the biggest part? Wallace grew up playing with seven older brothers who, today, are the only people he won't (or maybe can't) guard. "They're all a little too big," he says. But as we all know, Ben's brothers are not guarding Shaq. He is.
— Trent MacNamara

For the entire article, pick up the November issue of GQ.