The 100 Greatest NBA Players Of All Time

With this year’s playoffs upcoming now is a good time to update our all-time player rankings. With 3 active players currently in our top 10, those players and many others in the top 100 can build on their legacy in the coming months. We’ve listed the greatest NBA players of all time and listed the relevant stats and accomplishments we leaned on. None are the end-all since there is some nuance to how many years a player played. Longevity is certainly an aspect though. A player like Nikola Jokic is just entered his prime as well, so I would expect him to rise in the coming years for example. Other players in their early 30’s now will likely have some decline years that will bring them down as well before this is over if they play longer. We’ve listed games as a distinction for longevity or how much value overall a player has provided as even some of the mid-30s guys have most of their value banked.

As always PER is my personal favorite per possession statistic, mainly because it is adjusted by year and to a player’s era, under the rules they played in and places them compared to the players of that day. It’s not used exclusively though as you will find players that have higher PER’s and rank lower. It’s just a tool that I believe provides value to see in relation. I’ve also listed Box Plus Minus when available to bring in some team value and defense. Players that overlapped in the late 60’s and early 70’s aren’t a complete record though.

I’m not a championships-only guy like some, but we’ve included that as well for reference in our Jeet Kune Do approach. Make of it what you will. Let’s be honest no one is really a championships-only guy or Bill Russell going against 7 other teams and shooting 44% most years would be clear #1. Even the ones that say it’s all that matters don’t have him or Robert Horry ranked and put their money where their mouth is. There is always more to it. Let’s get real here, where you play, who you play with, who your coach it, who your GM is, luck etc, matters a lot more as to who wins championships. That is almost all out of the control of players. They can only control how well they play ultimately. How much can you really penalize Charles Barkley for example when his best teammate in his prime was Kevin Johnson and it coincides with Michael Jordan’s prime? It’s matters some but not all to me at least.

450 Minimum Games