15 Greatest NBA Players of All-Time (Ranked)

The National Basketball Association is undoubtedly the most popular basketball league in the entire world. With over 75 years of history now to its name, the league has long been used to seeing the absolute best grace the league with their presence, across a number of eras.

It feels, at least at the time of writing, that there is a strong level of parity in the NBA for the first time in a long time. Much of the 21st century has been dominated by teams going through periods of domination, be it the San Antonio Spurs, the LA Lakers, Miami Heat or the Golden State Warriors.

Dominance from one team is not new to the NBA, which has seen teams enjoy stints of being the best over the decades. This is down to the players that represent these teams, but more often than not, every incredible team is led by an absolute superstar, somebody that is regarded as one of the league’s greatest talents. With that being said, which 15 players are the best to have ever played in the NBA?

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Ranking Factors

Multiple things have been considered in ranking this list, such as:

• Overall impact on the game – Self-explanatory, what did each entrant achieve in their career?
• Amount of honours won – Be it MVP awards or NBA Championships, what did each entrant win?
• Fan reception and legacy – How do fans remember each entrant? How much of a legacy did they leave behind?
• Effectiveness on the court – Simply enough, each entrant was an exceptional player.

15

Oscar Robertson

The man who became the face of the triple double until Russell Westbrook came along in the 21st century, Oscar Robertson could simply do it all from the point guard position. An elite passer, underrated scorer and supreme rebounder, the ‘Big O’ was an integral piece of the Milwaukee Buck’s title success, combining with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to deliver a championship ring to the city.

Robertson’s first and only title came seven years after he won the NBA’s MVP award, while he was named to the All-Star team for 12 consecutive seasons. In fact, the Bucks guard also made it to the All-NBA First Team for nine years in a row, while he led the league in assists six times.

14

Nikola Jokic

Arguably the best player in the league today, Nikola Jokic’s resume speaks for itself. The Denver Nuggets star already goes down as the best passing big man of all-time, with the big Serb’s ability to control the game and set his teammates up from the center position being unrivalled. A three-time MVP, Jokic could well have won his fourth in the 2024/2025 season but only narrowly missed out to Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Jokic’s title win and Finals MVP award with the Nuggets in 2023 has also added to his legacy and cemented his place among the greats. A seven-time All-Star, Jokic is just 30, and could quite conceivably rack up the titles and further MVP awards before his career is done.

13

Kevin Durant

Now with the Houston Rockets, Kevin Durant will be hoping for one last swansong before he calls it quits on a glittering career. The 36-year-old is a former MVP of the league, having done so with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014. While Durant couldn’t deliver championship success in OKC, his rather controversial move to the Golden State Warriors did see him win two titles, including winning the Finals MVP award on both occasions.

A 15-time All-Star, Durant led the league in scoring for three years a in row between 2010 and 2012, before once again topping the charts a couple of years later in his MVP year. If Durant can deliver a championship to Houston before his retirement, then the man who many consider is one of the greatest scorers of all-time will have added to his legacy.

12

Hakeem Olajuwon

There has perhaps been no greater individual season than what Hakeem Olajuwon achieved during his 1993/1994 campaign with the Houston Rockets. The center would first be named to the All-Star team, before being named the league’s MVP at the end of the season. Olajuwon would also win the Defensive Player of the Year award as well as being named to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team. The Rockets legend would then enjoy enormous playoff success, helping to win the title and winning the Finals MVP award in the process.

Olajuwon goes down as one of the greatest two-way forces in NBA history, and you can only imagine how well his abilities would translate in the modern game too.

11

Shaquille O’Neal

The man many consider to be the most dominant NBA player of all-time, Shaquille O’Neal was the wrecking ball who led the Los Angeles Lakers to their iconic three-peat at the turn of the century. The center was at his absolute prime, bullying players into submission and completely ruining opposition teams’ game-plans.

O’Neal would win Finals MVP in all three years, while he would add a further championship ring to his resume a few years later while with the Miami Heat. O’Neal was named to the All-Star team 15 times, while he would lead the league in scoring twice. Such was his early dominance, that he was named to the 50th Anniversary Team by the NBA even despite only being a few years into his basketball career.

10

Steph Curry

Point Guard

Few players in any sport, not just basketball, can claim to have inspired a league-wide change in how the game was played. Stephen Curry, though, is one of those few. The point guard was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2009 and has remained there ever since, winning four NBA Championships with the team as one of Golden State’s best-ever players.

A lethal shooter, Curry’s prominence from the three-point line was something that other teams took notice of. Gradually, the three ball became a more important aspect of scoring in the NBA, with record three-point numbers having been seen in recent seasons as a direct result of Curry’s impact.

Curry has twice been the scoring leader in an NBA season and in 2016, the season that saw Golden State win 73 games, Curry became the first ever unanimous Most Valuable Player as a result of his stellar form.

9

Kobe Bryant

Shooting Guard

An MVP, a five-time champion and an 18-time All-Star, Kobe Bryant remains a revered figure to basketball fans and rightly so. The shooting guard was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft, but it was for the Los Angeles Lakers he became a legend, with Bryant spending his entire 20-year career there.

At six-and-a-half feet tall, Bryant could cause problems for any player that had the misfortune of guarding him in a game. Early in his career, Bryant was criticised for his high volume of shots, though as he matured in the game, Black Mamba became known for his ability to score, be it at clutch times, over multiple defenders, or both.

Bryant was known for his ego, but such an ego is arguably needed for a player to become as great as Bryant was throughout his career.

8

Tim Duncan

Power Forward

The first overall pick in the 1997 draft, Tim Duncan would, just as the aforementioned Bryant, spend his entire career with just one team. Acquired in the early reign of Gregg Popovich as head coach, Duncan would become a crucial cog in the system that saw the San Antonio Spurs be a dominant force for much of the 2000s and 2010s.

Such success, though, started in Duncan’s second year as a professional, when he was named Finals MVP after helping San Antonio win the title in 1999, his first of five championships. “The Big Fundamental,” as he became known for his efficient yet relatively simple play style, formed a core along with fellow legends Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

Duncan recorded over 25,000 points and more than 15,000 rebounds across a career that saw him average over two blocks per game as well. Duncan was a constant source of consistency, fitting seamlessly into Popovich’s coaching ideology. In his 19-year stint as a player, Duncan was twice named the league MVP.

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7

Wilt Chamberlain

Center

It would be impossible to ignore the only player to ever score 100 points in an NBA game on a list such as this. For Wilt Chamberlain, a century of points was one of a near-innumerable amount of records that he would set across his career. After spending a year with the Harlem Globetrotters, Chamberlain was drafted into the NBA in 1959.

Playing for the Warriors, first based in Philadelphia before a move to San Francisco, Chamberlain was a dominant scorer from his maiden campaign in the league. Chamberlain’s scoring would peak in his third professional season, when the big man averaged a staggering 50.4 points per game, along with 25.7 rebounds.

Interestingly enough, Chamberlain’s success in terms of titles came in a different era of his career, when he was more team-oriented and there was less individual dominance reflected in his stats. His two titles, one for Philadelphia and one for the Lakers, came in seasons that saw Chamberlain’s point totals drastically decrease, with improved assist numbers.

6

Larry Bird

Small Forward

Comfortable as either a small forward or power forward, Larry Bird was drafted sixth by the Boston Celtics in the 1978 draft. After a further year at college, Bird debuted the following season for Boston and made an immediate impact, with the Celtics winning over 30 games more than they had in the season prior and reaching the conference finals of the play-offs.

Bird spent his entire 13-year career in Boston, during which time he cemented his legacy as one of the best players of all time. “Larry Legend,” as he remains known, was a lethal three-point shooter and one of his era’s first players to really take advantage of what was a newly-added way of scoring at the time.

Injuries contributed to Bird’s retirement in 1992, but even in a career that was shortened by a few years, Bird finished his career as a three-time NBA Champion and a three-time MVP, the latter of which were won consecutively between 1984 and 1986. The front court that consisted of Bird, Robert Parish and fellow forward Kevin McHale, is often regarded as one of the NBA’s greatest.