Top 10 NBA players of all time

One of the biggest controversies in all of sports is ranking the legendary players of the old school NBA and the players of today on the same list because there are so many different factors and “what-ifs” that come into play. In today’s game, there are many factors that weren’t in play in the earlier eras of the NBA such as the 70’s and 80’s, but as we have advanced as a society, so has the game of basketball. For example now more than ever, analytics and numbers have played a huge role in measuring a player’s success, and rule changes have been implemented that greatly tip the scales in the favor of the offensive side of the game.

These iconic players have obviously played in different generations with different rules and technologies, So to create a list consisting of all of them depends on perspective and opinions. With this list, I have compiled a healthy mix of important factors to be taken into consideration which includes, the era played, the rules and regulations for that era, personal accolades, playstyle and the effect that the player had on the league. With that being said, these are my top 10 NBA players of all time.

Larry Bird is one of the most respected legends of the game, Larry Bird is a three-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Champion, and 12-time NBA All-Star. Larry did not have the average NBA players’ athletic or high flying nature. What he lacked, he made up with his excellent basketball IQ and shooting ability. He was a part of a two-way rivalry in the 80s between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics which made the NBA what it is today. Not many have ever been able to outshine his skills and shooting abilities at his height. He had a career shortened due to injury which explains his place in this ranking. Otherwise, Bird would have went on to set new records that would stand to this day.

The other half of the famous rivalry of the 80s, Magic Johnson was the flashiest player and greatest point guard of all time. He dazzled the world with his flamboyant playing style with the Showtime Lakers. Magic was also the leader of the historic 1992 Men's Olympic basketball team, nicknamed “The Dream Team”. Magic Johnson was the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA draft and continued to win the NBA Finals and earning Finals MVP as a rookie. Magic Johnson has been a very important player in the history of NBA, winning five championships, five NBA MVPs, and 12 All-Star appearances. His passing ability is still unmatched, and he still holds the record for most assists per game at 11.2. The average point guard was 6'4 inches tall and Magic towered above them all at 6'9 inches. He was a perfect point guard but with the body frame of a center. Although he couldn’t shoot the ball to save his life, Magic is still closely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

Tim Duncan did not play with the same flair and flashiness like many of the players on this list. However, he was the perfect team player for the greatest basketball system ever in the San Antonio Spurs. His famous “bank shot” and his astronomical figures during his prime are legendary in Spurs’ history, which led him to incredible success in the form of two NBA MVP’s, three Finals MVP’s, five NBA Championships, 15-time All-star selections, and the only player ever to be selected to both the All-NBA team, and All-NBA Defensive team for 13 consecutive years. Tim Duncan is the greatest Spur and widely-considered to be the greatest power Forward of all time.

Shaquille O’Neal in his prime, was a brute force of nature. Another Laker who is regarded as one of the most dominating players of all time, he bullied oppositions with his bulk and size. At 7'1 inch tall and 325 pounds, there is no generation of NBA basketball where he would not dominate. Shaq is a four-time NBA Champion, three-time finals MVP, 15-time NBA All-Star, and the NBA’s MVP in 2000.

He could have been at a higher position in this list had it not been for his lack of interest in fitness, and terrible free throw percentage. Shaq was notorious for his bad free throw shooting and other teams often would intentionally foul him as a tactic to combat O’Neal’s dominance inside earning him the alias of “Hack-a-Shaq”. Nonetheless there has never been a more dominate force in the NBA. In order for you to get a better idea at just how unguardable he was, I have included this clip of his famous dunk on Chris Dudley, enjoy.

With one of the most astonishing numbers of all time, Wilt Chamberlain is an automatic entry on this list. Chamberlain holds numerous NBA records in scoring, rebounding, and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He won seven scoring, eleven rebounding, nine field goal percentage titles and led the league in assists once. Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to average at least 30 points and 20 rebounds per game in a season, which he accomplished seven times. He is also the only player to average at least 30 points and 20 rebounds per game over the entire course of his NBA career. Chamberlain won two NBA championships, four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and was a 13-time NBA All-Star. With numbers that seem unimaginable in today’s game, he was statistically the most dominant player the NBA has ever seen and regarded by many as the greatest center ever.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 20 seasons in the NBA. During his career as a center, Kareem was a record six-time NBA MVP, a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA Team selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. He was voted Finals MVP twice and won six NBA Championships as a player and two more as an assistant coach. He was also voted Rookie of the Year in 1970, and using his trademark “skyhook” shot, he established himself as one of the league’s top scorers, and proceeded to win the scoring title in 1971 and 1972.

Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the most feared duo in the NBA at this time. With Magic’s legendary passing and Kareem’s outstanding scoring, the Lakers dominated this era of basketball with their only competition being Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. Kareem’s contributions were a key component in the “Showtime” era of Lakers basketball. Over his 20-year NBA career, his team succeeded in making the playoffs 18 times and his team reached the NBA Finals 10 times.

When you hear the name Bill Russell you think of a record that will never be broken and that is 11 NBA Championships. To go along with his 11 Championships, Russell is also a five-time NBA MVP, and 12-time NBA All-Star. Bill Russell is also widely known as one of the best defensive players ever, and his shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics’ domination of the NBA during his career. Only playing 13 seasons and winning the championship in 11 of those 13 seasons, Bill Russell is an automatic top 5 on anybody’s list because there is no denying the greatness of 11 championships. Especially when the next closest is Michael Jordan with 6, it is safe to say nobody will ever get as many rings as Bill Russell.

It was a close race between Bill and Kareem on this list but what put Bill over the top for me were his contributions to his organization and the black community outside of basketball. Russell was the first black player to achieve NBA super-star status in the NBA, he served as a player coach for the Celtics from 1966–1969, becoming the first black coach in North American professional sports and the first to win a championship. In 2011, Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments on the court and in the Civil Rights Movement.

Drafted 1st overall straight out of high school, LeBron James has been constantly building his case for the “Greatest of All Time”. He has easily cemented his place within the top 3 NBA players in any list. He is now in his 15th season and while other players his age have already begun to decline, he is having one of the best statistical seasons of his career. Last season he averaged 27 points per game, nine assists per game, and nine rebounds. At age 34, Lebron James almost averaged a triple double which is unheard of. His four regular season and three finals MVPs show his value to whichever team he is part of. LeBron has brought a championship to each of the three teams he has played for and is undoubtedly the best basketball player in the world at the moment. He is also a 15-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year in 2004, and scoring champion in 2008.

In pure raw skill sets and overall completeness, there isn’t any player greater than him. His lack of a greater number of championships is not a reason enough to place him any lower on this list. In his 8 straight NBA Finals appearances, he has faced three outstanding dynasties in Popovich’s Spurs that featured Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant’s Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. No other player can claim to have played and won against three dynasties in their prime.

Kobe Bryant has been an essential figure not just in basketball, but in all sports as an icon and ambassador of the 2000s. His game style, aggression and killer-mentality brought him to be known as the successor to MJ in the sport. Kobe Bryant is the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons and played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the NBA in scoring during two consecutive seasons and ranks third on the league’s all-time regular season scoring and fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list.

Kobe Bryant ranks ahead of Lebron James on many lists because of his similarity to Michael Jordan. Everything about him is a mirror image of Michael Jordan. His play style, mindset when approaching a game, even his position is all identical. He has even publicly admitted he structured his game around Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant came into the league at age 18 with no other intention but to dominate anybody in front him. That is the “it” factor that separates the good from the great and that is the reason why Kobe Bryant is number 2 on my list.

Michael Jordan is a cold-blooded assassin and the greatest basketball player of all time, his biography on the official NBA website literally states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered the most important person in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. After playing for three years at the University of North Carolina, he was drafted 3rd overall in 1984 and quickly emerged as a league star and entertained crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness. He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a three-peat.

Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season, and started a new career in Minor League Baseball, he returned to the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards.

Jordan’s accomplishments are the most impressive of any player on this list. He has been to six straight NBA finals, is a six-time NBA Champion, six-time Finals MVP, 5-time NBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, 10-time All-NBA Team and nine-time All-Defensive First Team. Jordan has been just as successful off the court as well. He fueled the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1984 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred as himself in the 1996 film Space Jam. In 2006, he became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the Charlotte Bobcats, and bought a controlling interest in 2010. In 2014, Jordan became the first billionaire player in NBA history, and third richest African American in the World behind Robert F. Smith and Oprah Winfrey.

Michael Jordan also has that “it” factor, the intangible skills you cant teach. That trait of dominance, and the mindset to be a stone cold killer, to be able to take over any game at any time and win. Michael Jordan has more of “it” than anybody on this list, and that is why he is the greatest basketball player of all time.

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