The New Top 50
A lot has changed since SLAM first did this in ‘97.
Ranking the Top 50 NBA players of all-time is no easy task. Making a list like this is not an exact science and, as you could guess, people are already squabbling—on our website, on other websites and in barbershops across the country—over the list we published. But is it really fair to have the debate before the complete list and reasoning is available for all to see? We don’t think so, and that’s why we decided to post our Top 50 in its entirety online. If you’re a real hoops head, a fan of SLAM or just a collector of basketball history, you should still go cop the issue; the images and the layout of the list in SLAM #130 are dope (not to mention the other usual goodness inside).
In any event, using the overriding standard that we only grade the players on their careers up until now (in other words: imagine if every current player retired tomorrow—which in the case of this list was about May 15—where would they stand?), eight full- and part-time members of the staff were given several days to study their history and prepare their own views. Then when gathered in our company’s conference room and hammered it out. We referenced the lists we did in ‘97 (SLAM #19) and ‘03 (SLAM Presents the 75 Greatest Players of All Time) a bit, but we mostly started from scratch, taking into account changes to current player’s legacies over the past six years as well as new appreciations for players of the past.
There were—and still are—a few disagreements about where guys ended up, but for the most part this list represents the consensus of the SLAM editorial staff. Will it represent yours as well? We know you won’t be shy about letting us know either way.
1. Michael JordanIn case you were wondering, this was the least debated slot on the entire list. We’re not saying Michael Jordan can never be toppled, but for the time being, based on every consideration we could give, Mike is the one. Pure stats and their place in history? Try 30.1 ppg for his career (first all time). Or 2,514 steals (second all time). Honors? Rookie of the Year, 14 All-Star Games (MVP three times), 10 First Team All-NBA teams (nine First Team All-Defense), five MVP awards (plus six Finals MVPs). Dominant at both ends of the floor? Um, did you read the stats and honors above?! Championships? Six. Went head-to-head with other greats? Shoot, MJ ended one era (Magic-Bird-Isiah) before its time, and basically single-handedly kept a Hall of Fame lineup’s worth of stars (Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, John Stockton) from ever winning a ring. Entertaining? The most. Impact on the game? Ditto. Really, Michael Jordan is the perfect basketball player, and the only way he wasn’t finishing No. 1 was if we’d devised a new label for whoever we deemed “the best.”
—Ben Osborne2. Wilt Chamberlain
There was no farewell tour. In fact, he may not have realized he had played his last NBA game until long afterward. But for Wilt Chamberlain, the ’72-73 season was the end. It didn’t seem that way. Sure, the 36-year-old Chamberlain averaged a career-low 13.2 points per game. But he shot over 70 percent from the floor—a record that still stands—and he led the League in rebounding for the 11th time. Wilt entered the League as the Basketball Colossus and stomped the record books flat. In his very first game, he posted 43 points and 28 rebounds. He went on to win both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP. In ’61-62, he scored 100 points in a game, averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds, and played all but eight minutes of the season. He only won two NBA titles, spurned again and again by Bill Russell’s Celtics. But his personal numbers stood up. They always did. Chamberlain’s last-ever NBA game came against the Knicks, in Game 5 of the 1973 NBA Finals. He scored 23 points and pulled down 21 boards. His team lost.—Russ Bengtson
3. Bill Russell
I can’t prove that Bill Russell is into arithmetic, but I have a hunch he must love numbers. Russell’s gotta appreciate the number 1—that’s where he falls on the all-time list of chips won (11). He likes 2 also, collecting the second-most rebounds of all time (21,620). If he wasn’t into the digit 3, he’d better like it now, because that’s where we have him on this list. Four is special to Russ, too, it being the number of times he led the L in rpg (22.5 for his career). Five is near and dear—it’s the number of times he hauled in the MVP hardware, though he easily could have had a few more. And 6, well, 6 is the number that the Celtics retired along with him, after soaking it with sweat, tears and champagne over a 13-season career, while making the Celts into the storied franchise that they are. By being the greatest winner of all time, Bill Russell made the Celtics into a franchise of winners—long after his playing days ended. If you don’t believe me, just ask Kevin Garnett.—Tzvi Twersky
4. Shaquille O’Neal
A legend in his own time. A juggernaut. A true difference-maker if ever there was one. Made everybody he played with better. Shaquille O’Neal is a star amongst stars and has been one of the focal points of the League for his entire 17-year career. His stats are monstrous. For reference sake, here are a couple: Playoff averages of 25 and 12, 15 All-Star Game appearances, tied with Chamberlain for the most times leading the League in field goal percentage (9), won two scoring titles, ’93 Rookie of the Year, 2000 MVP, three Finals MVPs and four rings. Could have had more if not for the Kobe battles, but still, four rings is nothing to laugh at. At his peak he was a physical marvel, 7-1 and 330-plus yet agile and quick. An underrated shot-blocker. Arguably the best post scorer ever. Even now, he still routinely pushes around other big men with a physicality rivaled by only a few players in the history of the game. He made you laugh. Made Kings fans cry. He calls himself the LCL (Last Center Left). I believe him.—Khalid Salaam
5. Oscar Robertson
Big O was the only player ever to average a triple double for a season: 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 11.4 apg in ’61-62, his second year in the League. Read it and weep. He averaged 25.7 for his 14-year career, once led his team in boards from the backcourt and dished out the fourth-most assists ever, playing in an era when they were less often credited than today. And he had the undying respect of his peers. “Oscar would beat you anytime he had the ball in his hands at the end of a game,” says Elvin Hayes. “He was a complete player.”—Alan Paul
6. Magic Johnson
He wasn’t a very good shooter, nor was he particularly athletic by NBA standards. And if you’re only old enough to know him as the husky guy on TV who hawks rebate anticipation loans for predatory lending firms, you’ll be excused for not understanding what made him so wonderful to watch in his prime: No player in the history of the game better combined court vision, creativity, competitiveness and sheer joy. This dude now, I don’t even know who he is. Twenty-five years ago, he was everything basketball is supposed to be.—Ryan Jones
7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sometimes the numbers tell the story. Just consider the 38,387 points Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored in 1,560 games over 20 seasons, the most ever in the NBA, by a long shot. Some more numbers to ponder: 11.2 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2 bpg and 6 rings. But Cap also transcended the stats, as one of the most intelligent, enigmatic athletes ever and the creator of the sky hook, which Bill Russell called “one of the greatest innovations in the history of sports.“ Its brilliance, Russell added, was that “it was completely unique to Kareem’s physical abilities, proportions and coordination.” All of that made the shot virtually indefensible.
—AP 8. Tim Duncan
Tim Duncan is the best power forward to ever play basketball. Over 12 seasons, he’s accumulated one Rookie of the Year award, two MVPs, three Finals MVPs, four championships, nine First Team All-NBA appearances and 11 All-Star Game invites. And all for the same franchise. His career numbers are dizzying, but Duncan has never been about the stats. With his quick wit, quiet grace, no-nonsense approach to the game and always, always perfect positioning, Tim Duncan playing basketball is poetry personified. At 33 years old, his career is probably winding down. Enjoy him—and appreciate him—while you still can.—Lang Whitaker
9. Larry Bird
Larry Bird collected every accolade the NBA offered. At 6-9, 220, and long-armed, Bird had the body for ball and he was blessed with a natural command for it, if not abundant athleticism. Physical limits didn’t stop “Larry Legend.” You don’t average 24.3 ppg and 10 rpg without athleticism, but Larry did. You don’t average 6.3 apg and 1.7 spg as a forward, but Larry did. You don’t win three rings and last 13 seasons in the L with a bad back, but somehow Larry did. More than anything else he did, he always found ways to overcome, to compete, to win and to repeat.—Matt Caputo
10. Jerry West
Jerry West honed his skills in solitude, emerging from Cabin Creek, WV, to lead West Virginia University to the NCAA title game in 1960. West was rawboned, long armed and springy. His jump shot, especially off the dribble, was warm pie. West’s reticent aloneness both fueled and haunted him. His Lakers lost in the Finals his first six seasons, and each heartbreak added kindling to his astonishing drive to win. After more than a decade in the League, West’s ’71-72 Lakers won 33 consecutive games—still the record—and the NBA Championship. West chipped in 25.8 points and 9.7 assists on perhaps the greatest team ever. Modest yet self-assured, West was also the best clutch shooter the game has seen. He averaged a remarkable 27 ppg over 14 years, but upped that to 29 in 153 Playoff games—all before the three-point line. West was named an All-Star every year, First Team All-NBA 10 times. Here are two measures of the respect given Jerry West: He is the only Finals MVP not on the championship team. His image is the NBA’s logo.—Rus Bradburd
11. Elgin Baylor
Do you believe in basketball evolution? You should, you know. Because the NBA wasn’t always like this. And I’m not just talking about recent developments like three-pointers and Thundersticks. The fundamentals of the game have changed. They’re still changing. They’ve always been changing. But if you know anything at all about evolution, you know it isn’t just about small steps. Because that’s not how you get from Ralph Kaplowitz set shots to LeBron James dunks in a mere 60 years. Somewhere along the line, someone has to leap. And Elgin Baylor took the biggest leap of them all. Understand this, if you understand nothing else: Without Elgin Baylor, there is no Michael Jordan, no Kobe Bryant, no LeBron James. Elgin took a ground-bound game skyward, transformed the entire sport. True, he never won an NBA championship, despite playing in eight NBA Finals. But his 61-point outburst in 1962 remains an NBA Finals record. His 19.8 rpg average in ’61 is unsurpassed by any other non-center. Everyone since has just built on the foundation he laid.—R. Bengtson
12. Kobe Bryant
Perfectionism is the persistence of will in obtaining the optimal quality of spiritual, mental, physical and material being. Also referred to as Kobeism. When discussing KB24, there are a few things you have to take into account. One, he was constructed in a lab by commissioner David Stern and company. Sixty percent MJ, 20 percent Tiger Woods and 20 percent Jellybean Bryant (for physical attributes). Two, he’s only 30 years old and has 12 healthy seasons under his belt with three rings, 11 All-Star Game appearances and two scoring titles. Last but not least, how many players can give you 25-30 points when their defender is doing a great job stopping them? Kobe is the product of Michael Jordan as MJ was the product of Dr. J. Some may argue that there’s a different best active player, but truth is Kobe Bryant has the only set of keys to the best basketball player car and it’s going to be a few more years until he lets anyone else drive. For now he’s welcoming all students to ride alongside in the passenger seat. Put your seatbelt on and enjoy the ride.—Konate Primus
13. Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem the Dream, first thrust onto the basketball consciousness as a star for the great University of Houston teams of the early ’80s, went on to an NBA career that featured a dozen All-Star selections, the all-time record for blocked shots, two Finals MVPs, two Defensive Player of the Year Awards, the most steals in Rockets history and the ’94 League MVP Award under his belt. A rare talent who—due in part to his youth training as a soccer player in his native Nigeria—possessed superb footwork. One of the very few dominant players on both offense and defense, he scored nearly 27,000 points in his career and grabbed nearly 14,000 rebounds. Offensively, all the pump fakes and change of directions were designed to get his opponent off balance (seriously, the Dream Shake could have a write-up all its own) and out of position. Standing 7-0 with an athletic 255-pound body, he used both finesse and muscle, and combined quick hands, upper body strength and nimbleness to shut down opponents.
—KS
