How difficult is it to be from a substitute to a super giant? Only 6 players in the NBA did it, winning 5 championships at the top of the list

In the NBA, a team generally needs to have a roster of 15 people, but there are only 5 starters, which inevitably leads to some players playing as substitutes. Moreover, there are more playing time for the starter, so there will be more opportunities for performance and even a big contract. Therefore, many substitutes also want to become the team's starter. In fact, it is not too difficult to become the substitute. The difficulty is to become the super giant from the substitute. Looking at the NBA history, such players only have 6 players. Let's take a look at who they are!

6: Ginobili

As one of the Spurs' Big Three, although Ginobili plays as a substitute in the team, his role is greater than that of the starter, mainly because the team needs Ginobili to play as a substitute in order to lead the second team to score and the overall strength of the team will be stronger.

And Ginobili can also play miraculous results in many adversity moments. The so-called "good sports car, adversity Buddha, desperate demons killing the demons" comes from this. He can always stand up and help the team score at critical moments. Ginobili won the championship in a total of four times in his career. As a best sixth man, he can also be called a superstar.

5: McGrady

McDy was mainly a substitute in the Raptors at the beginning of her career. After all, the core of the team was already Carter. McGrady was just a high school draft player, so she did not get much trust from the team. After playing for a few seasons, she was sent to the Magic by the Raptors.

After coming to the Magic, McGrady made a complete reputation. After having sufficient room to play, he won the honor of scoring champion for two consecutive seasons. In that season when the average score was generally no more than 25 points, McGrady's average of 32.1 points was also considered by many people to be the most valuable scoring champion in the NBA. Later when he arrived at the Rockets, McGrady also scored a feat of 35.13 seconds. He entered the All-Star seven times in his career and entered the first round twice, which was also a model of substitute becoming a super giant.

4: Nash

When Nash first went to the Suns, he didn't pay much attention to him. Even the team did not give him much room for growth. In most of the time he was a substitute, Nash did not have enough time to show his talents. However, after he went to the Mavericks to partner with Nowitzki for a period of time to return to the Suns, Nash showed his passing ability at the historical level. In his first season when he returned to the Suns, he led the team to the league's first record and also won the MVP. In the subsequent season, Nash won the MVP again, and he was absolutely super huge after winning the MVP twice in a row.

3: Harden

After Harden entered the NBA in 2009, he started his career with the Thunder. At first, the team wanted him to imitate Ginobili's position as a Spurs, so Harden also started as a substitute. In the 11-12 season, Harden won the honor of the best sixth man. The Thunder also reached the Finals that year, but eventually lost to the Heat. Just when everyone thought that the Thunder reached the Finals was just the beginning, Harden was sent to the Rockets in the offseason.

After coming to the Rockets, Harden naturally became the absolute core of the team. He also won most of his career honors in the Rockets. He won the MVP in the 17-18 season and fought with the Warriors to tiebreak the West Finals. In those years, the Rockets led by Harden were also the Warriors' biggest opponent on the road to winning the championship. As a double-season guard, Harden's core attributes of ball holding are also historically level, and his crazy scoring performance in the 18-19 season also made countless fans amazed. But later, no matter where Harden went, he couldn't win the championship he had. However, even so, Harden was still a superstar in the league.

2: Antetokounmpo

In the 13th draft, Antetokounmpo was only ranked 15th and was selected by the Bucks. In fact, this is normal. Antetokounmpo was not as good as he is now and his skills were very rough, so he started from a substitute after joining the team. However, Antetokounmpo is a very hardworking player. He often practices after the game and doesn't have much rest during the offseason. In the end, his size became more and more powerful, and his breakthroughs were getting bigger and more impactful.

Since then, he first won the Fastest Progressive Player Award, and then won the MVP twice in a row. In 21 years, he led the Bucks to the second championship in team history. Now at the age of 30, he is one of the strongest players in the league, and he is absolutely super big.

1: Kobe

Finally, it was Kobe. Kobe played as a substitute in the Lakers for the first two seasons of his career. At that time, he was relatively thin, so Kobe was always training in his spare time, and his performance on the court was getting better and better. He could perform very well on both offense and defense, so the Lakers asked Kobe to partner with O'Neal. In the three years from 2000 to 2002, Kobe and O'Neal helped the Lakers win three consecutive championships. After O'Neal left the team in 2004, Kobe became the absolute core of the team. In 2008-10, Kobe led the Lakers to the finals three times in a row and won two consecutive championships. Kobe also won the honor of FMVP twice in a row.

Looking at Kobe's 20-season career, his story can be said to be very inspiring. He has become the best player in the history of the Lakers since he played as a substitute, won the championship 5 times and entered the All-Star 18 times, and is a true superstar.