top 20 basketball players of all time

top 20 basketball players of all time

The Captain won five more championships with Magic directing traffic during the Lakers Showtime era. As iconic as that image may be, fans should also remember that Reed was an MVP and Finals MVP twice and a seven-time All-Star. Mikan literally changed the game as the league widened the lane from six to 12 feet in 1951 to prevent him from scoring too easily. 50 Images. Career Averages: 22.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists. Career Averages: 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists. It's wild that it's even a debate. All have since retired. Wilkins recorded 26,668 points for his career, 13th in the all-time scoring list. The greatest player ever to lace a pair of basketball shoes is none other than Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Career Averages: 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, All-NBA: 2x First Team, 5x Second Team, 2x Third Team. Jordan owns numerous awards and records, most of which continue to endure to this day. He has led the league in assists four times in his career so far but his scoring ability is not one to be taken lightly as he averages nearly 19 points a game. Career Averages: 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists. Malone is second all-time to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in career scoring with 36,928 points and seventh in career rebounds with 14,968. No matter who was on the floor with him, Boston found a way to win, regardless. Pierce could score inside and out and was a fantastic defender as well. Without further ado, we look at top 10 NBA players of all time who have elevated the standard of the game for years to come. Many have said that there will never be another Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson etc. Don’t let his unassuming demeanor fool you. We begin with one of the greatest ball-handlers in NBA history. Kevin Garnett is the only player to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for six consecutive seasons, breaking Larry Bird’s mark of five consecutive. Even as an undersized shooting guard, Dwyane Wade played big especially in the biggest stage. With the 6-foot-3 point guard around, no part of the court is a safe zone for defenders because he can make a shot from virtually every area of the court. He’s one of the best we’ve seen period. No matter his size, Thomas was the heart and soul of the rough and tough Pistons who pummeled anyone on their way to winning back-to-back championships from 1988-89 to the 1989-90 seasons. If there was a Defensive Player of the Year Award back in the 1960s, Russell would have won it every year that it was handed out. The 20 highest paid NBA players of all-time. Dolph Schayes was one of the first superstars of the very young NBA. These 50 players were selected through a vote by a panel of media members, former players and coaches, and current and former general managers. Career Averages: 22.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists. Career Averages: 24.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, All-NBA: 1x First Team, 4x Second Team, 2x Third Team. He is the only player in league annals to be selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams in each of his first 13 seasons. Also read: Top 5 Greatest Point Guards of all time 10. Career Averages: 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 11.2 assists. Considered one of the greatest power forwards in the game, Elvin Hayes was both a scoring and rebounding machine. The greatest player of all time. The 50 Greatest NBA Players of All Time. But if you ask Isiah Thomas, the Pistons ringleader in the 1980’s who faced off against his Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest player of all-time especially if you consider his dominance from his high school days to his college career and all the way to the professional ranks. He’s an 11-time All-Star and a member of several All-NBA teams. The individual accolades came anyway as he won five MVP Awards. After Bill Russell retired, Havlicek carried the Celtics to a couple of titles and earned his place among the game’s elite. 13 years. He is considered one of the best international players we’ve ever seen grace the hardwood. He only won one MVP award even though there were at least two other instances when he could have won it. Wade promptly showed everyone since then that he was in the conversation for the top five shooting guards of all time. All ten coaches are also members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, with Fitch the last member inducted in 2019. The Glove could hold his own against almost every guard in the NBA during the 90s. He owns an MVP, a Finals MVP and a championship ring. When Julius Erving simply could not win a title with 76ers, the addition of the 6-foot-10 center was the final piece that gave Dr. J his highly-coveted championship ring and it was Malone who took home the Finals MVP award. No one has scored more points in a Celtics uniform than Havlicek and that includes the great Larry Bird. Is he the greatest? There are those who regard Russell as the greatest player in the game because of his unprecedented 11 titles. Entering his 18th season in the league, LeBron James has not shown signs of slowing down. He spent his entire NBA career with Philly, going down as possibly the greatest 76er of all-time. Paul is an excellent defender, leading the league in steals six times and accumulating 2,220, good for 7th most in league history. He may be undersized for a center but his heart towered over the other big men of his time. The two teamed up to give the franchise its first ever championship in 2006 as he won his fourth championship in seven years. Career Averages: 14.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 8.5 assists, All-NBA: 3x First Team, 2x Second Team, 3x Third Team. Charles Barkley is one of the most skilled power forwards to play the game. He’s a 15-time All-Star, a two-time MVP, a five-time NBA champion and a three-time Finals MVP. He should have been on the original Dream Team in 1992 but wasn’t included due to a conflict with some members of the team particularly Jordan and Karl Malone. BY Kevin Brown - USA Today Sports Images. Aside from the championships, Jordan is well-known for hitting one clutch shot after another, culminating in a number of game-winners and buzzer-beaters that are the stuff of legend. He averaged more assists per game than most, if not all, of his fellow shooting guards. Here are some more insane figures about Havlicek’s NBA tenure: he was a 13-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA pick and eight-time All-Defensive pick, making him easily one of the most decorated players in history. In fact, never has this discussion become as prevalent as these last few years after he claimed that elusive championship in 2012. His focus was in taking care of the paint and making sure that everyone was involved in the offense. That’s a testament to his complete game. Alongside the selection of the 50 greatest players was the selection of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History. Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers: Five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA MVP, 12-time NBA All-Star, two-time Hall of Fame inductee; Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks: NBA champion, NBA MVP, 12-time NBA All-Star, two-time Hall of Fame inductee; Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics: Six-time NBA champion, NBA MVP, 12-time NBA All … The New York Knicks have two championships which would not be possible without the presence of Willis Reed. Only three voting veterans (Bill Bradley, Johnny Kerr, and Bob Lanier) were not selected to the team. But can you imagine how many rings Chamberlain would have owned if he and Russell had not played simultaneously? 33 won three straight MVP awards, the only player in league history to accomplish the feat. They were chosen in 1996 by a panel of former players and coaches, current and former general managers, and media members. Looking at 6-foot-9 forward, you would never think that he can play in the NBA but, boy oh boy can he play! He grew and blossomed in Jordan’s shadow and was the most versatile player in the game during his time in Chicago. Career Averages: 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, All-NBA: 2x First Team, 3x Second Team, 3x Third Team. The five-time MVP was an assassin on the court, taking down opponents of all shapes and sizes. It resulted in the Spurs winning championships in 1999 and 2003 after which he retired as one of the greatest big men ever. Best Points Guards of All Time. Kevin Durant is already the second-best player in the game today and he is slowly climbing up the charts of the greatest players ever. Jordan led the Bulls to six NBA championships, winning six Finals MVP awards and five regular-season MVP honors while … He revitalized the struggling Celtics in the 80s and brought back the glory days of the 60s when Boston ruled the NBA. He played in 12 All-Star Games and led the league in scoring once and in rebounding twice. The Warriors’ first championship was accomplished due in large part to the mercurial but very talented Rick Barry. The 50 Greatest Players in National Basketball Association History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team or NBA's Top 50, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Believe it or not, the Kid is now retired and is arguably in the top 20 greatest of all time. The 7-footer changed the game as the NBA decided to widen the lane to limit his dominance over smaller players. He won the Slam Dunk Contest as a rookie and was a member of the All-Rookie Team. Career Averages: 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists. By. In the 1993-94 season when Jordan first retired, Pippen led the Bulls to a 55-25 record, won the All-Star Game MVP award and was a regular season MVP candidate, finishing third in the voting behind Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon and San Antonio’s David Robinson. That accomplishment alone is mind-boggling. For two straight seasons , Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double. Scratch that. Career Averages: 26.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists. Hayes also led the Bullets to a championship in the 1977-1978 season. Not only was he unstoppable on offense, but he was also an excellent defender as well. That pretty much sums up the legacy of Bill Russell, the man who owns the most championship rings in the game’s storied history. Career Averages: 20.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, All-NBA: 1x First Team, 2x Second Team, 2x Third Team. In this piece, which will regularly be updated using data and information as the driving force, we’re ranking the 25 greatest college basketball players of all time. The 1973 MVP was the center of the Celtics championships in 1974 and 1976. Top 20 Greatest College Basketball Players of All Time. Paul is a throwback to a time when point guards sought to create for others first and scoring second. [1] The 50 players had to have played at least a portion of their careers in the NBA and were selected irrespective of position played. Many believed that there were some deserving players who didn’t make the cut while there were others who shouldn’t have been in it in the first place. The Hall of Famer is most famous for his underhand free-throw shooting but he’s a legend because he’s one of the best passing forwards ever and one of the best scorers ever. The greatest gift that the ABA gave to the NBA is none other than Julius Erving. But it all boiled down to a choice between Kobe Bryant and Robertson but the Laker guard won by a hair mostly because of his postseason successes. We’d probably rank him number one on this list along with every other sports website. Curiously missing from the NBA’s official 50th Anniversary All-Time Team was a certain former MVP named Bob McAdoo. Soon, he would win three straight titles along with fellow superstar Shaquille O’Neal. 9 Most of all, Duncan will be remembered as a gentleman and a great human being. The 50 Greatest NBA Players of All Time. Bird overwhelms you with his cockiness, smarts, supreme confidence and ability to get off his shots with regularity. Wilt Chamberlain was a larger than life figure who is one of the most difficult to rank in an all-time greatest list. None of it is a product of the imagination. He’s a 14-time All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA team member. Career Averages: 20.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists. The Lakers would not have had Showtime in the 1980s without Earvin “Magic” Johnson. YOU MAY LIKE. Gallery. He was unstoppable and showed everyone that he was the league’s next great high-flying superstar. Who knows how much more he could have accomplished had he played five or more seasons? Although Jackson was under contract to the Knicks as a player in their 1969–70 championship season, he did not play that season as he was recovering from spinal fusion surgery.[66]. For his career, the 10-time All-Star recorded more than 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds, 6,000 assists and 2,000 steals. 11 championship rings. He also led the 1988-89 Lakers to the first back-to-back championship in 20 years. He has the most unstoppable fadeaway jumper off of one leg in league history. Stockton is also the NBA’s career leader in steals (3,265) and one of the most durable players in the game playing all 82 games of a season 16 times in his illustrious 19-year career. He was the second real giant (after Mikan) on the hardwood and it was only the Celtics who truly humbled the league’s unstoppable mythical figure with the defensive prowess of Russell, their own immovable object. O'Neal was the last to be active in the NBA, retiring at the end of the 2010–11 season. Had it not been for a certain No. For now, let’s just be witnesses and watch in awe of this phenomenon called LeBron James. 11-time NBA All-Star. [1] Forty-seven of the fifty players were later assembled in Cleveland, during the halftime ceremony of the 1997 All-Star Game. C. Jones with the Celtics as a player in 1964–65 and coach in 1985–86, Billy Cunningham with the Sixers as a player in 1966–67 and coach in 1982–83, and Pat Riley with the Lakers as a player in 1971–72 and coach in 1986–87. He also led the league in assists five times including three straight from 2004-05 to 2006-07. He has dominated the NBA since he came into the league at the young age of 18, fresh out of high school. He entered the league as a teenager who could barely contain his excitement to be playing hoops as a career. I know a few random players from the last 20 years, but not nearly enough. He led the Syracuse Nationals to the NBA championship in 1955 and was chosen to play in a dozen All-Star Games. If winning was the basis, then Russell wins that argument hands down. In the 1996 NBA Finals, with the Bulls up 3-0 in the series, Payton requested that he guard Michael Jordan and it resulted in two lopsided wins by the Seattle Supersonics in Games 4 and 5. Career Averages: 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, All-NBA: 3x First Team, 2x Second Team, 2x Third Team. Career Averages: 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists. For three seasons (1966-67, 1967-68 and 1968-69), he was the team’s playing coach, guiding the team to championships during those last two years. There wasn’t a better point guard in the league when Walt Frazier was on the floor in the 70’s. Can you name the top NBA players of all-time according to an ESPN poll of experts from 2016? 10 Tim Duncan, No. They were chosen in 1996 by a panel of former players … Ewing’s career shouldn’t be defined by his lack of championship rings and the fact that his Knicks team lost several times to Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Magic was perfect for L.A. and Hollywood with his trademark smile and passion for the game. It would have been the first quadruple-double in the postseason and the first and only in the Finals. He was a humble leader, encouraging teammate and a good friend to those who had the privilege of playing with him. Career Averages: 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, All-NBA: 4x First Team, 4x Second Team, 1x Third Team, All-Defensive: 7x First Team, 2x Second Team. When the playoffs came, his teammates knew that they could win any ballgame or series because of his mere presence. He won his only MVP award in 2008 and was the Finals MVP twice in 2009 and 2010. Five have since died: Red Holzman in 1998, Red Auerbach in 2006, Chuck Daly in 2009, Jack Ramsay in 2014, and John Kundla in 2017. He powered his way to 23.1 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. Jackson was the last of the ten to coach in the NBA; he announced his retirement after the 2010–11 season. Cousy led the league in assists for eight straight years, a mark that has never been eclipsed. Career Averages: 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, All-NBA: 3x First Team, 2x Second Team, 1x Third Team. O’Neal nabbed the Rookie of the Year award in 1992 and he never looked back since then. That’s why if there is anyone who deserves to be at the top of the greatest players list, it’s Jordan. The Suns had a 29-53 record. Patrick Ewing is one of the 10 best centers in NBA history. The 6-foot-6 legend took the league by storm the moment he set foot on an NBA hardwood. To this day, the Logo is one of the most revered players of all time. They have one child. The Human Highlight Reel not only had a cool nickname but he had a game that truly warranted the moniker. Career Averages: 21.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists. Generously listed at 6-feet, Allen Iverson attacked the basket with reckless abandon as if he was eight inches taller. Since then, back-to-back championships and three-peats became commonplace. He won a championship ring after Boston won its 17th title in 2008. His five-year triple-double average is one of the most insane statistics in league history. Career Averages: 19.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, All-NBA: 10x First Team, 3x Second Team, 2x Third Team. The Hall of Famers listed for each individual team are solely those inducted as players, and do not include those inducted in other roles. There was nothing he couldn’t do on the hardwood as long as he set his mind to do it. No one has eclipsed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six MVP awards and that’s for a good reason. It took years before anyone was worthy of becoming a Boston Celtics legend after Larry Bird retired until Paul Pierce landed on their laps as the 10th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. Career Averages: 26.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.2 assists, All-NBA: 3x First Team, 3x Second Team, 1x Third Team. Career Averages: 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, All-NBA: 4x First Team, 5x Second Team, 3x Third Team. But not all who made it to the top 10 of each list made it to my final 50. Danny Manning (Honorable Mention) The Iceman isn’t just a member of the X-Men, but a member of the Hall of Fame, too. DWYANE WADE: Recognized as one of the greatest shooting guards of all-time, Wade was the fifth-overall pick in the 2003 NBA … No other point guard may be as good defensively as Gary Payton. He has been married to Maureen Blumhardt since February 9, 1989. Just look at the accolades. Career Averages: 19.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 9.3 assists. … The 23 greatest players in NBA history. For nine consecutive years, Payton was an All-Defensive First Team member and won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1996, the same year he led the league in steals. Career Averages: 18.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists. Teams were chosen from among all single-season individual teams. Before Jordan tied him, Wilt held the record for the most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring with seven. If he had played his entire career in the NBA, he would have ranked higher on this list. Six championships later (with no loss in the Finals), Jordan sits atop the discussion of the greatest player debate despite James’ continuous assault upon His Airness’ accomplishments. And that’s from a white man who can’t run and can’t jump. Career Averages: 27.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.7 assists. He was the Knicks’ ringleader who gave them their only two championships in franchise history. Of course, I’m talking about George Gervin who confounded defenders with his cool and savvy game. An immovable object down low, Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most mobile big men in NBA history. Upon entering the NBA in 1950, Paul Arizin made the jump shot his signature move, one that was unusual in an era when players routinely took two-handed set shots. One of the elite scorers in NBA history, the Black Mamba is third in all-time career scoring with 33,643 points and the Lakers all-time leading scorer. Pippen was the creator on offense, allowing the Bulls’ point guards to be specialists, specifically shooters. Though Olajuwon won “only” two championships, the way he dismantled premier centers such as David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal on his way to those titles propelled him to the top of the elite big men of his day. ... Charles Barkley was born on February 20, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama, USA as Charles Wade Barkley. The Celtics legend is one of the most revered players to this day because of his intelligence, competitiveness and all-around ability to do just about anything on the court. A leader on the court as well as off it, Garnett anchored the Celtics’ stingy defense and let Paul Pierce and Ray Allen take care of the scoring. Despite his lack of height (listed at 6-foot-6) while playing the power forward position, he led the league in rebounds in 1987. Author: SI Staff Publish date: Feb 8, 2016. Career Averages: 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, All-NBA: 5x First Team, 5x Second Team, 1x Third Team. The Diesel led the league in scoring twice (1994-95, 1999-2000) and is currently eighth in all-time scoring. Atop the leaderboard of history-making and record-breaking is the kid from Akron who continues to add to his legacy with every game that he plays.

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