Fewest number of careers to cover all of NBA history?

[Connor B]

Hey guys, I thought of a dumb game but I'm curious about this so help me out.

What is the fewest number of careers we can use to cover NBA history from 1946-present?

Rules:

1. Players have to overlap at least one year to indicate that they played together/against each other (so Parish was still in the league when Garnett/Bryant were there)
2. ABA doesn't count, we are just using NBA.

So far I've got (working backwards),

Kevin Garnett (1995-present)/Kobe Bryant (1996-present)
Robert Parish (1976-1997)

I think so far that's the shortest number of players to get as far back as possible. ISH historians, use your expertise to get back to 1946. Can it be done with only two more players?

[SugarHill]

two players is impossible...even 3

[CavaliersFTW]

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350872

The NBA is 5 seamlessly overlapped player-careers old:

Joe Fulks (1946-1954) played against Bob Cousy for 4 seasons (1950-1963, 1969)
Bob Cousy (1950-1963, 1969) played with John Havlicek for one season and against him briefly 6 seasons later (1962-1978)
John Havlicek (1962-1978) played against Robert Parish for 2 seasons (1976-1997)
Robert Parish (1976-1997) played against Kobe Bryant for one season (1996-2014)

From the game played today, to the game played when the NBA was a barnstorming league struggling to find it's place in American sports as few as 5 players overlapping careers can be used to cover the entire span.