The 10 greatest basketball players of all time · Kareem Abdul-Jabbar · Tim Duncan · Shaquille O'Neal · Larry Bird · Bill Russell · Oscar Robertson · Wilt Chamberlain. Read Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Britannica essay on the New York Rens. Ranking of the best NBA players in history. From Michael Jordan to LeBron James to Steph Curry, These Are the 30 Greatest Basketball Players of All the times.
When the Complex Sports team began drawing up this list, we had no doubts as to whether LeBron deserved a higher position than MJ. We also don't particularly worry about why Tim Duncan, for example, deserved to be in the top 10 ahead of Kevin Garnett and Kevin Durant (for now). Instead, the politicking and petty attacks against the other basketball player's intelligence became very heated, over multiple Zoom calls and text threads, as we tried to correctly rank Shaq and Kobe and a group of bases at the bottom of our list of the 30 best NBA players of all time. It will surely make the most die-hard basketball fans feel and, in our humble opinion, it will do much better than some of those other classifications that circulate on the Internet and that will remain unnamed. Almost until the deadline, we debated whether Shaquille O'Neal, unquestionably one of the best great men in NBA history and a true disruptor on the court, deserved to occupy a higher position than the late and great Kobe Bryant.
O'Neal was physically and statistically unlike any other center the NBA has seen. But how much more credit do you give Bryant for winning more rings and making legitimate comparisons to Michael Jordan? It bothers me that people are surprised that Allen Iverson is included in this list. AI is, without a doubt, one of the 30 best NBA players in history. Member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team.
The list is endless, but Iverson's cultural impact on the current, and even future, generation of NBA players is more significant than their numbers on the court. LeBron James has called it the best pound for pound in history. Dwyane Wade has said that AI is part of the reason why he used the No. You could go on and on with former and current NBA stars talking about why Iverson was so great and means so much to them.
As for me, I will never forget the first game of the 2001 NBA Finals. To this day, that's still one of the most amazing individual performances I've seen on a basketball court. For a boy of his size to lose 48 points on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers favorites is absolutely incredible. The legacy of ZF Zeke has been somewhat tarnished over the years by the opinions of his teammates and the off-court issues that he raised while in the Knicks' main office.
However, there's no denying what he did on the court as leader of two of the most hated champion teams in NBA history. The Bad Boys wreaked havoc on the NBA's Holy Trinity, consisting of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, and most of the damage caused was by order of the god of point 6'1.Detroit won back-to-back championships amid what many call the toughest era of NBA basketball and kept Jordan scratching and scratching for years before he finally succeeded. that the Bulls would overcome the situation. Thomas was a diabolical general who could score whenever he wanted and turn his team upside down to lead them to victory.
He's still in the top five in assists (averaging 13.9 points in the eighth game) and he's still getting into MJ's shoes. The fact that Zeke is not on the Dream Team is the biggest slap in history, it's not an exaggeration, but he rightly earned a spot on the NBA 75 team. CEO Nikola Jokic has silenced critics and skeptics. All the detractors who ridiculed him for winning consecutive MVP awards and discredited his resume because of his team's playoff results have been silenced.
There is no longer any doubt about the greatness of Nikola Jokic. There's only one man on this list with a 30-20-10 game in the NBA Finals. Jokic had already established himself as one of the best players of all time, but now he enters the conversation as one of the best players in history, regardless of the position he is in. He will be considered the best passing player the game has ever seen and, when all is said and done, he could make a race to become the best international player in history.
Two MVPs in the league, one MVP in the finals and taking a franchise to the top of the sport for the first time in history. Not bad for a second-round election. J was everyone's Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. The NBA merged with the ABA in 1976 because of the Doctor (there were also many other great players like George Gervin) and continued to sweep another league after winning two chips with the Nets in the ABA. He helped the Sixers reach the finals during their first season in the modern NBA, but lost to Bill Walton's Blazers in six games.
J floated in the air as his long limbs cut to the brim and his hair fluttered in the wind. I can only imagine what that crap looked like in those days. It was probably like seeing an alien. Sometimes I see his layup inverted during the fourth quarter of the fourth game of the 1980 final against the Lakers and try to figure out how the hell he was able to stay in the air so long.
And it's not all style and talent either. The numbers of Erving's career are as impressive as his works. It averaged 24.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 2.0 SPG, and 1.7 BPG. He was also part of 11 NBA All-Star teams, won three MVP awards in the NBA and ABA, and was part of the 75th anniversary team.
J is the godfather of the modern NBA. AD Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon's inclusion in this part of the The list needs no explanation. He's one of the best great men in history. You could argue that Olajuwon only won his two NBA titles while Michael Jordan was retired, but if you do, you don't understand how difficult it is to win a championship.
Olajuwon was not only the MVP of those two NBA finals, but he also took home a league MVP in 1994, participated in 12 All-Star games, is the NBA's all-time leader in blocks with 3,830 and is a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team. It's still baffling to see the best moments of the past and to see how smoothly Olajuwon, a true dominant force on both sides of the ball, was able to move in the paint for a player of his size. Even more impressive for the context of Olajuwon's career is that he did all of this when great men were running the NBA (aside from Michael Jordan). The Dream Shake will forever be one of the most iconic plays in NBA history and, for that, we will always be grateful to Hakeem Olajuwon. ZF For me, Kevin Durant is the most skilled offensive player in history.
There's practically no formula to stop it. He has the full offensive package with no weaknesses. He can shoot from anywhere on the court, he can reach the hoop as he pleases and, if you end up disputing his shot, it probably doesn't matter, because he can easily pass over you. KD has only averaged less than 25 points per game once in his 12 seasons and that was the case in his rookie season.
He played for a Warriors team 73-9, twice MVP and the undisputed best shooter of all time, Steph Curry, and turned him into about Robin. You can call him a snake, a cupcake, or whatever, but you can't deny that the numbers he's consistently produced earned him a spot on the NBA 75 team. If he wins another title in Brooklyn, he could be in the top 10 at the end of his career. Dominant seems to be the only adjective to describe Shaq's career.
Shaq, obviously a member of the NBA 75 team, is one of the most skilled players in history at touching a basketball and we've all seen the video of him cooking MJ in a one-on-one match before the All-Star Game. The beauty of Shaq's dominance is that, after two dribbles, you could tell he was about to hit you with a dropstep on the pole, but you weren't going to stop him even if you knew he was coming. It was a bucket or a fault. We may never see someone big, 7'1 and 365 pounds who is as explosive, athletic and fast as Shaq.
He was truly one of a kind and, without a doubt, one of the most entertaining players on and off the court than the NBA has seen. There will never be another Shaq. Dive down here to dive into the 75 greatest of all time. For years, while James accumulated NBA Most Valuable Player trophies in Cleveland and Miami, and championships in Miami, Cleveland and Los Angeles, we've seen him score like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, pass as Magic and enthrall like Jordan.
We know what Good thing it's LeBron. He won a record 11 NBA championships. He won the MVP award five times, behind only Abdul-Jabbar's six. Russell led the NBA in rebounds five times, averaging 22.5 rebounds per game over his career.
He reached the All-Star Game in 12 of his 13 seasons, falling short only during his rookie year, when he missed part of the campaign to play on the Olympic team of 1956. He led the United States to the gold medal that year and then guided the Celtics to their first NBA title months later. MORE Larry Bird's childhood home still stands, a small gray bungalow at 983 Washington Street, just outside downtown French Lick. There is a large driveway and there is a border and a board at the top of the separate garage. It's not the original border and board; the Bird family left the house a long time ago, but the new setup still serves the same purpose it had when Larry was filming every day until it got dark.
MORE Jim Petersen was the first of many victims in Olajuwon's history of dominance in the NBA, which included 12 spots in the All-Star Game, two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVP, a regular season MVP and two Defensive Player of the Year awards. But that story begins long before Olajuwon, the No. MORE Robertson didn't score, but he was the original perimeter goal scorer. The league is now ambiguous as to position, but Robertson, who is 6 feet and 5 feet tall, was the original “grand guard”.
Before Kobe Bryant was a four-time All-Star MVP as a point guard, Robertson was a three-time All-Star MVP. Before Tim Duncan was “The Big Fundamental”, there were the fundamentals of “The Big O. PLUS You can't talk about Jerry West without the Lakers being in the same sentence, of course.” Between his 14-year playing career and his management in the main office, where he was the architect of five Lakers titles, it could be argued that there has never been a Most shocking laker. MORE Erving was the brilliant and telegenic face of two leagues during his 16-year professional career, leading the ABA for five seasons with the Virginia Squires and the New York Nets before going to Philadelphia and the NBA in 1976 as part of the merger between the NBA and the NBA.
J became one of the first black athletes to gain national support and seemed to have time for everyone, from fans to the media, to get off the court. MORE Without Robinson, the Spurs could have different colors and a different name in a different city, playing against people who had no idea what the Spurs meant to their region. For all these reasons and more, David Robinson, two-time NBA champion, 10-time NBA All-Star, former MVP and two-time Olympic gold medalist, It's the No. MORE To help explain how a slender and unknown 18-year-old Greek became one of the league's all-time best players in just eight seasons, Antetokounempo took some time to reflect on his career.
Antetokounempo, who was gradually analyzing each year of his career, broke things down to give an idea of how he got to this point in his career. This is Antetokounempo's career, according to his own eyes. MORE Often, work ethic determines how high the ceiling of a person. And Wade's ability to work and his desire to constantly improve became the cornerstone of one of the best shooting careers in NBA history.
It was humility that brought him to the gym every night. He had a difficult childhood and came from a broken home. Wade spent the first part of his life sailing around Chicago's south side. MORE Paul's best time was spent primarily in Los Angeles, the star point guard and vocal leader of the Lob City Clippers teams.
Along with Blake Griffin, he turned a weak franchise into a regular and marginal contender for the playoffs. The Clippers didn't make the playoffs in 13 of the 14 seasons before they arrived. They made the playoffs in their six seasons there. MORE So what is Pippen's legacy? Six-time NBA champion? Hall of Fame member? A player in the top 75? A story of poverty to wealth, unique in the United States? Is he a star on his own merits? Or is he “just one of the best complementary players in NBA history”? All of those things, of course.
Scottie contains crowds, that has always been his strength and his weakness. MORE It's not about whether you'd rather have Mikan than Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This list is also about that player's impact on the story. of the NBA.
And honestly, Mikan is probably too low on our list at No. In terms of impact on the NBA, Mikan is undoubtedly in the top five. You could even argue that it's in the top three. He may not like children (not even Generation X), but Mikan is very important to the NBA and their story.
MORE NBA fans knew. And the tenacious fans of the Knicks, one of the most unsatisfying supporters in professional sports, never took that for granted. Because from 1985 to 2000, Ewing was his, the city's crown prince, one of the most talented players on the planet who managed to achieve the impeccable and necessary balance of a star with courage. Over time, Nash would do his bit to the base position, accelerating the pace at breakneck speed, offering a model of creativity for Steph, Dame and Trae and subsequent generations.
But first, I wouldn't shoot hard enough. MORE As a basketball player, Cousy remains one of the best Hall of Famers of all time, a 13-time NBA All-Star, a member of six champion teams that averaged 18.4 points and 7.5 assists per game in his career. It was not for nothing that he was known as the “Houdini of hardwood”, since the mere expression of that nickname invited us to imagine the base of 6 feet 1 and 175 pounds exhibiting all kinds of dribbling behind his back, counterattacks and shots from any hand. Walt Frazier once hated attracting attention. Now it seems impossible with the way Frazier has rhymed on Knicks broadcasts for decades, but the Hall of Fame guard avoided attracting attention when he was young.
So, as legendary MSG photographer George Kalinsky recalls, more than 50 years ago, a budding Walt Frazier set out to change his brand. MORE There are few Hall of Fame talents who have been singled out both for their mistakes and for what they do well. The turnovers, the inefficient shots, the questionable decision-making at the end of the game, all come to the surface of any discussion about Westbrook. Westbrook plays the game in a relentless take-it-or-leave-it way that doesn't go well with the often absurd discourse about basketball on social media.
MORE In high school, I knew it was a gift. I didn't know where I could take myself, but I felt like that was the only thing I could do. I could shoot and run all day long. My first love was baseball, but I got over it when I grew up. I wasn't going to play soccer, so I knew basketball was perfect for me.
In high school, I knew that maybe I could get a D-1 scholarship somewhere. The ultimate goal was to get a free education and save (parents) Saul and Carrie some money. MORE The main thing Wilkins is proud of when he recalls his 15-year career was that he never voluntarily took a night off. Even in games where Wilkins didn't play well, he felt that it was his responsibility to always give the best possible show, as he felt that he would disappoint his teammates, the organization and the fans if he didn't. HOME There came a time when Howard, the No.
All that changed near the end of his stay in Orlando a decade ago. A request for an exchange that turned murky; a tremendously uncomfortable press conference with then-Magic coach Stan Van Gundy; a one-year stint with the Lakers, where he says he initially preferred not to go; a second nomadic act; and several serious back surgeries have changed his environment and, as for the last one, his supernatural athleticism. More Schayes also had very modern elements in its game. He was a power forward face up who dominated the league where the most important players were close to the rim, and he used his jump shot to open access lanes decades before the 3-point line was introduced and a half a century before the NBA discovered how to effectively use perimeter shots to space the court.
MORE: The boy from West Baltimore learned to survive. He navigated the streets to avoid shootings, drugs and police brutality. He became so immune to the danger that surrounded him in his childhood that it was just another day when someone he knew succumbed to violence. To become one of the best basketball players in NBA history, Carmelo Anthony had to persevere.
When the Anthony family moved from Brooklyn to Baltimore when he was 8 years old, they fell in love. of basketball. The gym was his sanctuary and the place that would eventually change his and his family's fortunes forever. MORE Webber did a lot in his NBA Hall of Fame career and, with the support of the right people, he dared to be different and not fit the stereotype of the power forward game he had before.
Webber could physically play at the post, which was expected of a 6-foot, 10-245-pound forward with a variety of ways to score. But while Webber was physically imposing, he was also skilled and agile on the court. MORE Any player selected for this 75th anniversary team will have an astounding list of accomplishments on their resume, credentials that suggest that success on the basketball court came easily to them. Billy Cunningham, the great player of the Philadelphia 76ers, is no exception.
MORE When you have the nickname “Tiny”, you might not expect much, especially an achievement of a unique magnitude. But becoming the only player to lead the NBA in scoring and assists in the same season makes everyone forget about measurable height and weight. And Nate “Tiny Archibald” achieved that and more in a race that included him averaging a historic 34.0 points and 11.4 assists during the 1972-73 season. MORE Nearly everyone faces at least one obstacle in life, but Mourning encountered an absurd number of overwhelming obstacles along his path to that championship 15 years ago.
Those barriers included the destruction of a children's home, time spent in foster care, and potentially fatal kidney disease. He overcame his difficulties with the same intensity with which he demonstrated as a founding player with the Charlotte Hornets, the Heat and the New Jersey. Nets. MORE Before Wali Jones ran on the same backcourt as Harold Everett Greer, he was forced to defend it.
In 1964, “freedom of movement was not part of the basketball lexicon”. That meant that Jones, then a rookie in the Baltimore Bullets, was allowed to hand check, grab and hold Greer with relative impunity. So what kind of emotional response elicited a constant beating in Greer? Silence. MORE English used its 6-foot, 7-foot frame to score in a variety of ways. He could aim and use his high throwing point to overcome defenders with a jump shot.
He could also be astute at painting and score points with the mid-range jump shot. But no matter how English scored, it made it seem like they never pressured him to do a move. English kept the ball above his head on his throw and, with one hit, the ball disappeared. MORE Jerry Lucas played his first basketball game when he was in fourth grade.
In Middletown, Ohio, his elementary school had only one sixth-grade team, so Lucas played well. But I didn't play much, mostly I practiced with the equipment. Finally, he threw himself to the ground for the last 15 seconds of the last game of the season. And I wanted to be the best player I could be.
MORE For some reason, with Parish, there's the idea that he benefited more than he contributed to it. The Celtics wouldn't have been the team they were without him. And this is one of the most important teams in NBA history. The Celtics of the 1980s are considered to have played one of the best basketball stages ever seen. MORE The breadth and depth of Wilkens' basketball career is virtually unmatched, and while The Athletic's roster was created solely because of what these 75 men achieved in uniform, it's impossible to talk seriously about Lenny from Brooklyn without taking into account his supreme talent as a master of the game and male leader.
With five championships, three MVPs, nine selections for the NBA's first team and inclusion in the NBA's 75th anniversary team, Magic had one of the best careers in league history. The three-time MVP and MVP of the 1983 Finals was selected 13 times to the All-Star Game and eight times to the NBA, a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team and a rebounding machine practically unmatched during the 70s and 80s. When the man who won the title of “Best Shooter in the World” got out of the corner and moved his right wrist to shoot one of the most successful shots in NBA history, there was no one in the Miami Heat arena who didn't think he was going to fall except Walter Ray Allen. He is a three-time NBA champion with a Finals MVP, a 13-time All-Star, a seven-time NBA member, a three-time defensive team member, an NBA scoring title and a place on the 75th anniversary team, something Wade told us he still can't believe. This man won three games in a row, left to play baseball, then came back to win three games in a row again, and then came back one more time and was one of the oldest players to average 20 PPG and score more than 40 in a game. So what is Pippen's legacy? Six-time NBA champion? Hall of Fame member? A player in the top 75? A story of poverty to wealth, unique in the United States? Is he a star on his own merits? Or is he “just one of the best complementary players in NBA history”? All of those things, of course.
While Kareem scored a whopping 38,387 points during his playing days, I can't forget the fact that he spent much of his career receiving passes from Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson, the two best point guards of all time. As a basketball player, Cousy remains one of the best Hall of Famers of all time, a 13-time NBA All-Star, a member of six champion teams that averaged 18.4 points and 7.5 assists per game in his career. Over time, Nash would give his touch to the position of point guard, accelerating the pace at breakneck speed, offering a model of creativity for Steph, Dame y Trae and subsequent generations. Winner of the NBA 75 award, five-time champion, three-time Finals MVP, two-time regular season MVP, 15-time All-Star, 15-time NBA team selection and later All-Defensive, Duncan played all 19 seasons in San Antonio and constantly put numbers up as if he were a robot with a personality, as described by the media, up to the task.
Older players may be embarrassed to put a 26-year-old player, after just eight seasons, above several worthy legends, but Giannis Antetokounempo is a two-time regular season MVP, defensive player of the year, and has just won his first Finals MVP title after writing the best closing performance we've ever seen. Oh, and the 12-time All-Star also helped start true free agency in the NBA through a historic antitrust lawsuit, an achievement as impressive as his astounding exploits on the court.
