Kareem Abdul Jabbar should be on this list and many of the other showtime Lakers.

Wilt Chamberlain took a backseat at the tail end of his career.

Clyde Drexler on the Rockets days

Scottie Pippen’s entire Bulls career (minus Jordan’s retirement 1.5 seasons)

How can you forget DAVID ROBINSON after Tim Duncan joined the Spurs?

Who else Shaq? He played 59 games in ’05-’06. In the Finals, he averaged fewer points than Antonie Walker. Should I keep going, or do you want to put Walker and Wade on the same level? Wade carried the Heat in the Finals. 34.7 ppg, 2.6 steals, 7.8 rpg. And, c’mon, even Gasol would admit that he’s not the star–Kobe is.

Of course, there are plenty of teams with multiple stars who share the spotlight. This article is not about that. Spurs are a great example, but not for what this article discusses–a number one option player who changes his role to support another player(s). The reason the term back-up is used is to allow for variation. I included Jerry Stackhouse and there’s no way he was a #2 player on a good team (him and Jordan didn’t make the playoffs). You are correct, though, many of these players are stars, not backups. They may be stars, but not all stars shine as bright as others. Anyhow, thanks for the comments.

Shaq didn’t play a backup roll in Miami he was a star there too there just happened to be a second one in D Wade…much like him and Kobe on the Lakers.

Pau Gasol also was a star and not a backup at all.

Are you going to tell me Tim Duncan is a back-up player because Tony Parker led the team in scoring?

Is McGrady a back-up role type player (when healthy) just because Yao and Artest both put up better stats last year?

A report from Dime Magazine has rumors swirling that Allen Iverson may soon join the Charlotte Bobcats, a move that should be mutually beneficial. The Bobcats need a leading man and scorer, their current leading scorer being Gerald Wallace at 16.6 ppg….

Career 20.6 ppg
1999-2000 18.1 ppg”

…It’s funny, despite all the talks that year of Miller being the number 2 option behind Rose, I never really saw that to be the case. Rose just didn’t convince me all those years ago.