Ranked: The 25 greatest basketball players of all time

Few sports create more debate over who’s the greatest player than basketball, so, we decided to weigh in and make our own list! All stats provided by Basketball Reference unless otherwise stated.

‘The Answer’ is arguably the greatest pound-for-pound player in NBA history, even LeBron James has claimed that in the past. While he was unable to win a championship with Philly, his impact on both the city and the sport of basketball is unquestioned.

Baylor was the template for many to copy in the NBA, including Kobe Bryant who once told Baylor, “I’ve stolen so many of your moves, it’s not even funny,” during a statue unveiling at the then-Staples Center, per The Athletic.

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Jokic doesn’t look like he should be one of the best basketball players of all time, but, by now, his placement in our pantheon of greats is hard to argue against. His three MVP awards have all come in the past four seasons, and he won a chip, and the Finals MVP in the one season he didn’t win it.

Robinson is a hard one to rank as he is objectively a great of the sport, there are just so many others that could go ahead of him. Still, he was a two-time NBA champion, a 10-time NBA All-Star, a former MVP and two-time Olympic gold medalist, and helped start the Spurs’ dynasty.

Wade’s career is sometimes overlooked, as he played second-fiddle to LeBron James during the Miami Heat’s mini-dynasty. Hoops Hype describes Wade as, “One of the greatest shooting guards ever,” and we struggle to argue with them.

Complex describes Julius Erving as, “the godfather of the modern NBA,” pointing out how impactful he was in forcing the NBA/ABA merger in the 70s. Irving averaged 24.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 2.0 SPG, and 1.7 BPG across his career, making him undeniably an all-time great.

The seven-footer from Germany was perhaps underrated until 2011 when he carried the Dallas Mavericks to a Finals victory over the Miami Heat. Nowadays, more and more big men are comfortably shooting from beyond the arc, but few are as proficient as Dirk was during his career.

Malone sits third all-time in NBA points, just behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James. Company doesn’t come much more esteemed than that. If he had managed to win one of the Finals series he lost to Michael Jordan, Malone could have been even higher on our list.

Another player who never won an NBA Championship yet is undeniably great, Barkley was a physical freak in a league of physical freaks. Despite standing only 6’6”, he averaged 11.7 RPG across his career and was nearly unstoppable offensively too.

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‘The Logo’ is one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, hitting 47.4% of his shots across his career. That’s a good number to have over a game, let alone a career spanning well over a decade.

Until the season just gone, 2004 was the only time the Timberwolves had previously advanced past the first round of the playoffs. It also coincided with KG’s MVP year, showing just how important he was to every team he played on. The Athletic describes him as, “one of the very best and most versatile defenders of his or any generation.”

‘The Big O’ became the first player to average a triple-double across a season and until recently, he held the record for the most triple-doubles in his career. He was a 6’5” point guard playing in the 1960s and 70s, which is big even for today. He was so far ahead of his time, it’s almost laughable.

As Hoops Hype puts it, “Scoring comes so easy for him it’s almost ridiculous.” And it’s true, Durant stands at 7’0” tall but moves like a much smaller man at times. His ball handling and quickness are unrivalled for someone of his size.

Hakeem Olajuwon’s dominance can be summed up by the accolades he won during his career, which included, per The Athletic, “12 All-Star berths, two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVPs, a regular-season MVP and two Defensive Player of the Year awards.” What more do we need to write?

The Athletic has Bill Russell ranked fourth in their all-time rankings, which we understand, we just can’t bring ourselves to place him that high. Of course, he was one of the greatest to ever do it, but the competition level was so much lower it’s difficult to contextualize. Maybe we’ve got this wrong and he should be higher.

Irrefutably the best shooter of all time, Curry has changed the game of basketball forever. He has hit nearly 1,000 more threes than James Harden in second place and has shot at 42.6% while doing so. He’s also a four-time NBA Champion and two-time MVP.

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Duncan played 19 years in the NBA and, unless he was injured, only seemed to be consistently great. He was never the most exciting player to watch, but his cold efficiency made him a feared opponent and a five-time NBA Champion.

Wilt averaged 50.4 PPG during the 1961-62 season and over 22 RPG for his career. He was a physical mismatch for everyone in the league and still holds the record for most points in a game with 100.

There’s no denying Kobe Bryant’s greatness and impact on the NBA, but for us, he’s just a shade below some others on this list, hence us putting him seventh. He was a key piece on one of the most dominant recent teams in the early 2000s and Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson both called him the greatest Laker ever, per Complex, we just disagree.

By all accounts, Bird was not only one of the best players in NBA history, he was one of the greatest trash-talkers too. He knew how good he was, and his rivalry with Magic Johnson was one of the best the NBA has ever seen.

As Complex writes about Magic, “When you talk about best PGs in NBA history, it would be impossible to not have Magic Johnson as No. 1.” Magic was one of the greatest players in NBA history and possibly the most fun player to watch as well.

Has there ever been a more physically dominant sportsperson ever? Shaq towered over his opponents, using his raw strength and athleticism to win three consecutive MVPs at the turn of the millennium. While his size was a huge factor in his dominance, his skill and ball-handling is often overlooked, just don’t ask about his free-throwing…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been surpassed as the greatest NBA scorer of all time by LeBron James, but that doesn’t take away from his greatness. No one else in the history of the sport has won as many MVPs as Kareem with six, and per Complex, he remains the only player to ever win an MVP award despite his team not making the playoffs.

It pains us a little to put King James anywhere besides one, but we have decided to put him at two. LeBron is an icon of the sport, still one of the best players in the league even as he approaches his 40th birthday. There’s nothing James can’t do on a basketball court.

Six NBA Finals appearances, six Finals wins and six Finals MVPs. Jordan was a great player, but when the pressure mounted, he transcended the sport. He also won five MVP awards and a Defensive Player of the Year. He struck genuine fear into his opponent’s hearts, and he knew it.

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