Top 10 Greatest Players in NBA History

The debate that rustles more feathers than a Tundra swan

Here we are. Revisiting/adding on to the only debate where you’re guaranteed to have multiple wrong or controversial opinions before you can even formulate them in your head. The conversation surrounding the best to ever grace the NBA hardwoods is so packed with worthy contenders, that a lot of the sport’s seminal and iconic figures can get left of that psychologically satisfying top ten. So to ensure as many noteworthy names as possible get their due, here are some honorable mentions in no particular order:

Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry

Now onto the list.

No. 10 - Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002)

The Dream became the NBA’s career leader in recorded blocks during the 1995-96 season and holds that distinction to this day. His impeccable speed, footwork and agility made him a premium player at the center position. Hakeem’s body of accolades is one of the most impressive in league history; he has one regular season MVP, twelve All-Star nods, one Defensive Player of the Year award, twelve All-NBA selections, nine All-Defense teams, two rebounding titles and three blocks titles. But his crowning achievement came in the heart of the 90s. With Michael Jordan out of the league for a year and a half, Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets won back-to-back championships, with the Dream winning Finals MVP on both occasions.

No. 9 - Larry Bird (1979-1992)

Before LeBron James, the “Hick from French Lick” was the greatest small forward to ever lace em up. His almost outlandish shooting efficiency made him ahead of his time, though his career 3-point clip of .376% is especially impressive considering he suffered an early slump, dipping below 30% in four of his first five seasons. Bird filled up the stat sheet in every possible category, and led the Boston Celtics to three NBA titles in a six-season span. He didn’t accrue as much hardware as Magic Johnson, his legendary rival since before draft day, nor did he have the longevity of the bulk of the players on this list, but Bird’s peak remains virtually unrivaled.

No. 8 - Bill Russell (1956-1969)

The cornerstone of an irreplicable Celtics dynasty, Russell is the greatest winner in sports history; he won 11 championships in just 13 seasons. While his offensive skillset was pretty anemic, especially by a center’s standards (.440% shooting for his career), his all-time elite defense made him legendary. To this day, he ranks first all-time in regular season defensive win-shares (133.6) and in rebounds per game in the playoffs (24.9). He also won five regular season MVP trophies and garnered eleven All-NBA appearances. But his most enduring legacy, perhaps, is his civil rights activism in the age of nascent American race relations.

No. 7 - Shaquille O’Neal (1992-2011)

The Big Diesel was arguably the most physically dominant force to ever set foot on the hardwood. Though he never led the league in rebounding, and couldn’t shoot a lick from beyond the paint, he was an absolute terror in the post. This compilation of Shaq breaking backboards has racked up 19 million views. He three-peated as Finals MVP alongside Kobe Bryant; their Lakers team remains the most recent in North American pro sports to complete a championship three-peat. He won a fourth ring as Dwyane Wade’s sidekick in Miami and also accrued 15 All-Star nods and 14 All-NBA selections.

No. 6 - Tim Duncan (1997-2016)

The greatest power forward of all time by far, the Big Fundamental is Bill Russell’s only true competition with regards to impacting winning. Duncan ranks second to Russell all-time in defensive win shares (106.3), and won fifty or more games in every season of his career. Seriously. Even in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign, the Spurs went 50-16. Only the 1998-99 season, which was shortened to 50 games played, doesn’t count, though the Spurs’ 37-13 record indicates they were clearly on pace for 60 or more. Duncan is also one soul-crushing three pointer away from having the same Finals record as Michael Jordan. At the power forward position, Duncan had a virtually complete game; post offensive prowess, elite defense and shot-blocking, passing, and, as seen in this playoff bout with Phoenix, even a sneaky touch from long range.

No. 5 - Magic Johnson (1979-1991, 1996)

The cornerstone of the Lakers’ ‘Showtime’ dynasty, Magic is unquestionably the greatest point guard to ever put it on the floor. Standing at 6’9”, freakishly tall compared to most players at his position, he showed a readiness to compete at the highest level from day one. When his Hall of Fame teammate sprained his ankle heading into Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals, Johnson slid into center to deliver one of the most legendary performances in sports history. Magic remains the NBA’s all-time leader in assists per game.

No. 4 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-1989)

The Captain reigned as the NBA’s all-time regular season scoring champ for nearly forty years. Though his hold on that throne finally slipped, he remains utterly unchallenged in several other categories; his six regular season MVPs are the most all time, he still has sunk the most field goals in history (as of this writing), and had blocks been tracked as a stat when he entered the league as Lew Alcindor, the skyhooking superstar might have very well clinched a lofty lead in that area also.

No. 3 - LeBron James (2003-present)

He’s just a kid from Akron. At least, that’s what the King still calls himself. Humility is a virtue, but James, who was dubbed the Chosen One as a high school junior, deserves to pat himself on the back. He’s now the NBA’s all time scoring leader, he’s won three Finals MVPs with three different teams (a feat no one else has achieved) and, punctuated by the single greatest defensive play in basketball history, led his hometown Cavaliers back from down 3-1 to slay the 73-win Warriors and bring Cleveland, Ohio its first professional sports championship in 52 years.

Many will dispute LeBron being ranked outside the top 2, and yes, his underperformance (to put it mildly) against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals is a decently sized splotch on his résumé in my estimation. At the end of the day, this is just my opinion. Do I predict he’ll climb any higher than this? No. Is it totally inconceivable? Absolutely not.

No. 2 - Kobe Bryant (1996-2016)

The next dullard who dares to suggest that this is an emotionally charged reaction to Bryant’s tragic death needs to log off the internet for a few thousand years. When airheaded pundits in legacy sports media aren’t retconning Bryant’s historical status and ranking him outside their top ten, they’re conceding that he’s the “closest thing” to Michael Jordan. I’m no math surgeon, but if Jordan’s the GOAT and Kobe’s the closest thing to him, wouldn’t that make Kobe #2? Last I checked, #2 was closer to #1 than #10.

Regardless of where you rank the greatest Laker ever, you cannot deny he put together one of the most legendary careers in sports history. We all know the seminal portents of it by now; the five NBA championships, the two Finals MVPs, the lone regular season MVP (God knows he should have won more), the 81-point classic in 2006, the 60-piece to cap off his career, the game-winner against Phoenix, and the no-flinch when Matt Barnes faked a ball at his head. There are so many essential moments in Bryant’s career that are so easy to recall, but here’s something about Kobe you might not have known; in his playoff career, his Lakers beat twenty five 50-win teams. No player in NBA history has beaten more. Bryant spent the entirety of his prime competing in a supremely loaded Western Conference, and still came out on top, shining the brightest when it mattered most. And he got there by outworking, out-hustling and outplaying every last adversary in his way. Even when Shaq fouled out in Game 4 of the 2000 Finals, it was Kobe who stepped up in overtime to lead the Lakers to a crucial victory that helped decide the outcome of the series.

When you mourn Kobe Bryant, you mourn a life unfinished. But when you celebrate Kobe Bryant, you celebrate a life lived to its fullest. RIP Mamba.

No. 1 - Michael Jordan (1984-1993, 1995-1998, 2001-2003)

In a debate almost overly crowded with noteworthy names, this final selection has to be kind of anticlimatic at this point. I thought about putting Kobe at #1, just for the sake of breaking the monotony. But I can’t kid myself. Jordan dominated the sport on both ends of the floor, unlike any player before him or since. He won ten regular season scoring titles, and is one of only three shooting guards to win Defensive Player of the Year. He still ranks first all-time in points per game in both the regular season and the playoffs. And of course, he won 6 championships, a record six Finals MVPs, and never allowed a Finals to go to seven games. Jonny Arnett, one of my favorite basketball YouTubers put it best; Jordan “dominated the regular season like he was Wilt Chamberlain, and dominated the playoffs like he was Bill Russell.”

Jordan also ranks first all-time in win shares per 48 minutes. His résumé simply can’t be challenged. Its also worth noting that while Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were almost equally instrumental in legitimizing basketball at the pro level, Jordan was the figurehead of a movement that globalized the sport forever. He was so popular and iconic that the NBA’s television ratings peaked during Jordan’s last title run in 1998 and never reached those highs again. I don’t mean to suggest cultural impact inherently supersedes basketball on the court, because Dr. Michael Eric Dyson actually uses that metric to argue for Bryant as the GOAT. But c’mon. The shoes, the tongue-out dunks, the dunk contests, the iconic brand he created. Jordan isn’t just the best to ever dribble a Spaulding. He was bar none, the greatest cultural and commercial force the sport will ever know.

I’m certainly not one of those mindless dogmatists who thinks the door is slammed shut on this debate. But I won’t hold my breath on finding someone who can usurp his Airness as the greatest to ever play the best sport in the world.

I’d encourage you to drop some names I overlooked, but whoever is reading this is already inflamed enough.

Imagine you’re a fire and the only thing I have to extinguish it is a flamethrower; Kevin Durant is not top 20.

Peace.