Thanks to a line from Dom2K’s youtube channel, (link here) we’re going to tier the Top 30 NBA Players off All-Time. I may do all 100 I’ve listed at some point, but for now, this works. I’ve provided a link to my last revision of the Top 100 of All-Time here as well, although searching through the site you can find the original list I did in 2015 and how the list evolved from that. What Dom2K said is there’s a little gap between the best players of all-time. As a result, these tiers will have more negatives and even nitpicks to decide between each. No surprises either (as my Top 100 is no secret), so here is the list in picture form. In the picture I listed them based on rank, but in the article I did it alphabetically. Let’s go through it.
S – Michael Jordan
While not the undisputable best player of all-time anymore, he’s still the best player of all-time, if that makes sense. LeBron can catch him for sure though. I don’t know what good things I can say about MJ that haven’t been said already. The combination of accolades, regular statistics, playoff statistics, records, memorable games/moments, advanced metrics and whatever else is purely in MJ’s favor.
A+ – LeBron James
It’s actually incredible that LeBron’s ceiling at this point is still “greatest ever”. His lack of Championships will still probably always have him falling short of MJ, no matter how ridiculous the teams LeBron has to deal with though. But MJ vs. Lebron is a whole different article (I’m waiting till LeBron retires for what it’s worth).
A – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell
Abdul-Jabbar probably doesn’t really need explanation. Kareem is above the next tier as Of course there’s just one cog that connects the 11 Boston Championships together, and that’s Russell. And no, his teams weren’t much stronger than Wilt’s if they were even stronger at all. They named the Finals MVP after the man!
A- – Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson
All in the same tier for the same specific reasons. All were clear winners who could win in different eras with different pieces (Magic in 1980 and the late 80s, Bird in 81 and then in 86, Duncan won titles fifteen years apart, and as a clear top guy 99 and 07 were vastly different). Each were the alpha dog for a few seasons (Bird from 84-86, Magic from 87-89, Duncan from 02-03). Each have memorable playoff/Finals games and Finals MVPs. And each have a nitpick/negative that often hurts them in an all-time ranking (Duncan for not being completely destructive/superior coach and system, Magic for a shorter career, his actual unclutchness after his 1st ring and a mess defending man to man on quick guards, Bird for arguably feasting on horrific defenders his entire career).
B+ – Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Moses Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jerry West
All here for many different reasons. The one uniting factor is that at some point, these are all great players, even arguably the best for a year or a few. The difference between them is their negatives. These negatives are much bigger than the A- group. So let’s go over why each are both this high and this low. For Kobe, he’s this high as he was the best or 2nd best player on five championship teams, probably had a best of all-time ceiling at one point and at times was an unstoppable scoring machine (and in the three-peat with Shaq, proved to be an incredible all-around player). He’s this low because with Shaq and Phil Jackson, and in his prime or near-prime he outright missed the playoffs (with modern playoff rules), he’s been outright smashed or embarrassed in multiple playoff series as the clear top guy and his advanced metrics always pointed to someone with crazy great help. Kevin Durant might have capped his ceiling here with his move to the Warriors. It’s impossible to really gauge if he could have won the whole thing without being a part of the Warriors superteam (he had failed several times so far). But he’s this high because his accolades, as well as how he’s played in the Finals with these Warriors, speak for themselves. Malone was the outright best player before Bird in the early 80s, but his peak crashed and team after team gave up on him. Shaq was an absolute monster at his peak (2000 MVP is still one of the best MVP seasons out there), but small injuries, really bad playoff losses (from his rookie year through his last in Miami, he’s been swept out of the playoff six times! Six!) and reliance on a top tier guard (Penny, Kobe and Wade, all at elite status) holds him back. Hakeem’s ’94 Championship is one of the best all-time one man and role player title teams ever. He defeated all his top rivals at his position (Ewing, Robinson and Shaq) as well as other Western Conference top guys (Malone twice, Barkley twice) in a two-year period. He was a destructive defensive force. Also forgotten, his dominance of the 1986 Lakers that got the Rockets into the ’86 Finals. He’s held back because some of the problems the late 80s Rockets had can be attributed to him and his offensive advanced metrics aren’t great (post-moves aside, he was a ball stopper on offense which would not fly later on). Jerry West doesn’t get the love Oscar gets despite 30-8-5 (or 31-7-6, whatever you want to use as a peak year) with good percentages on a more talented team that made the Finals year in and year out as opposed to averaging a triple double on a team that isn’t as good. Almost reminds me Westbrook vs. Curry. But West lost in most of those Finals and you have to hold the time period somewhat against him.
B – Wilt Chamberlain, Stephen Curry, Julius Erving, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Oscar Robertson
All of these players dominated a certain aspect of the game at some point, all of them in some way validated their careers with a championship and some unique scoring record or clearly defined skill, and all of them can have their legacies torn apart with very valid arguments. Wilt of course has the sheer force of numbers on his side, but a deeper look at statistics in the 60s show how meaningless that is. For all his scoring records, the regular seasons where a Wilt team actually won the title he scored 24.1 PPG and 14.8 PPG. Remember, the Warriors were 10-28 when Wilt was sent to Philly. He scored the most points because he shot the most (his FG%, while very good, isn’t historically super incredible or anything). He rebounded a lot because the league as a whole was on average short and not that athletic. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t great, but his numbers are never put in perspective. I’ll skip to Oscar because a lot of the same can be said for him. Had he average a 30-9-9 instead of a triple double no one would talk about him historically as much as he is (complete side note, isn’t it funny how Westbrook did a 30-10-10 and won MVP, but the very next season he did the same thing with even a slightly higher shooting % and no one cared. It was the “story” that mattered). Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA history and is single handedly changing how NBA defense works. Great shooting more than anything else matters in basketball. Letting Durant have his team though may hurt him legacy wise (could he have followed up with a 2nd ring or 3rd ring without him?). Dr. J didn’t dominate the NBA like the ABA, and Moses led him to the title. He and David Thompson created the MJ prototype though. Kevin Garnett has been called the greatest defensive player of his generation (I disagree though, I’d pick Duncan) and his MVP season was a sight to behold, but Minnesota as a franchise held him back and he only got Minnesota past Round 1 once. He also needed some offensive help for the Boston title team, although defensively he was amazing there. Dirk Nowitzki saved his legacy in 2011 with one of the greatest playoff runs ever, but his meltdowns in 2006 and 2007 are big red flags.
B- – Charles Barkley, Karl Malone
Both would have rings if it weren’t for MJ. Malone was a better defender (much better) and fundamental basketball player. Barkley was a historic rebounder and had a competitive streak just short of MJ’s. Both are the best examples of top guys who came up just short of being the man on a title team (something the entire previous tier avoided, although Oscar won his as a 2nd guy).
C+ – Isiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Scottie Pippen
All three have massive, glaring red flags for their careers that shines a huge light on their otherwise fantastic careers. I can’t even project Isiah’s career today. His advanced metrics are a disaster, but some of that is in part to how the Pistons played. He couldn’t shoot from the outside at all. He’s known (and rightfully so) as the team leader and the Pistons won a lot with him at the helm. And the broken foot story is one of legend. When you have a great defensive that beats people down and you can do enough to win that’s all that matters, but I have a tough time projecting Isiah to have tons of success on a team not built that way. D-Wade’s two peaks are ridiculous (the 06 Finals and the ’09 and ’10 seasons) and really the true best MJ impression we got since MJ…but his peak was so short and he wasn’t getting out of Round 1 at that point until LeBron came around. Scottie Pippen is on my all-time defensive team and probably got screwed in ’94. Other than ’94, he ended up being a guy who didn’t fit or someone who couldn’t quite get his team over the hump. To be fair, he wasn’t in his prime post-MJ either.
C – Elgin Baylor, John Havlicek, Bob Pettit
The old guard. Havlicek did quite well for post-Russell Boston, even winning the 1974 Finals MVP. Of course, he snagged eight rings in total and two as the top guy. There’s a Shaq-Kobe similarity there. He’s probably the hardest player to rank. Baylor is often known as the best player not to win a championship (I have that as Malone and Barkley), but he’s also tough to rank as his greatness is tied into Boston beating him and West over and over. He’s credited with taking the game above the rim so there’s that. Bob Pettit is probably the easiest to rank. While he wouldn’t survive today, his Hawks were one of the team to beat Russell’s Celtics in a playoff series. He pretty much dominated the era before Wilt and Russell and didn’t get wiped out by them (as players such as Bellamy and Johnston did). 2 MVPs and 11 All-NBAs, 10 of them first team! I’d rank him higher if it weren’t for his era.
C- – Chris Paul, David Robinson, John Stockton
Three players who at times had out of the world statistics, but never could cross the finish line in first. Chris Paul’s 2008 and 2009 seasons are incredible, especially advanced metrically. He was robbed of the 2008 MVP. His 2008 season is one of four ever to boast at least 20 PPG, 11 APG and 50.0% FG. But, somewhat similarly to Isiah, he could never truly dominate (I assume because of size). He just played in his first Conference Finals (and for all the talk of him being a second guy, he put up a 41-10-7 in the Game 6 Semi-Final clincher to get there)…but unfortunately injuries prevented him from finishing it. It’s a shame really. David Robinson actually win a couple championships, and in 1999 he was an important second guy, but Tim Duncan promptly took over. Robinson of course was supposed to be THE NBA star, but it never quite happened and worse yet, Hakeem bulldozed him in 1995. Stockton’s a weird case because some of his numbers are inflated (assist totals in the early 90s weren’t scored strictly) and he rarely was incredible. He was just very good for a long time. He caught a break in the late 90s with Shawn Kemp heading to the East (Stockton could not deal with Gary Payton, as evidenced by the 1996 Western Conference Finals) and got to feast on horrible PGs in the Western Conference playoffs for two years. His very good, but not great reputation is evidenced by all his All-NBA 2nd and 3rd Teams (and even Defensive 2nd teams), but rarely a 1st team. He had no real weaknesses, but never dominated or took over either. And it wasn’t enough for him and Malone to get the ring. But he was always just really good.