Duckliver and sal29 left him off. Not that it really matters. So far, it seems like he is pretty solidly Top 5 along with Jordan, Bryant, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar.

Yeah but that’s just to spite him for being a fgt tbh

I dunno nuthin bout him, other than that he invested/owned wisely. Blaze Pizza freakin' rocks. Great, great pizza. Love the in-restaurant Subway-style assembly line presentation. Great quality ingredients, etc etc etc.

I'm keeping the tally going. If people submit another 5, I will repost.

Just a little aside: One time when I visited Toronto, I stayed at a friend's house. In the spare bedroom I was staying in, there was a poster of the 1992 Dream Team. Most of them I had at least heard of. John Stockton was one that I didn't know about much, really. His looks didn't exactly abate my curiosity. I read up about him and the kind of relentless work ethic that someone like he has dumbfounds me to no end. And what other all-time greats have said about him only adds to it. I've had my mental health issues and etc etc etc and I just don't have that kind of relentlessness to me. Like people who go years without missing a day of work - he's one of those people. Granted, I've had major comebacks where my attendance/tardiness decreased by 90% once I got the help I needed, but to be someone like him...I just don't see how people like him do it.

ETA:In my continued interest with Central/Eastern/Southern Slavic Europe, I have to say that I would be very interested to know how instead of 'merely' a Croatian team, if there had beena united Yugoslavian teamhow they would have fared against the 1992 Dream team. Get enough of those guys from all areas of the Dinaric Alps well-fed and trained and that spells gigantic trouble. As it was, Croatia won Silver Team USA still would have won, but they would have found a considerably more fierce opponent in a well-developed united Yugoslavian team. The gap in scoring would have probably been halved, compared to what it was. Actually, I just now checked and of the 8 Summer Olympics from 1968-1996, they won a medal at all but one of those (7/8). They actually won in 1980, although the boycott split up the competitive field.

Also ETA, in thinking of the immediate above, when I ran across the name of Nikola Djokic, I was wondering if that was the person I was thinking of, because I've never kept up with the sport of Basketball, really, and the person I was thinking of was Vlade Divac. I wonder how he would come up on such a list. I bet if this was extended to Top 20, his name would come up a few times. Even if not one of the top 20 most skilled players, his being one of the first transfers over from the European leagues to the NBA and being probably the biggest star of that crop would have his significance be "up there" as he was a trailblazer and undoubtedly an inspiration to a number of people in ways that should be fairly obvious.

Also ETAThe main thing I *do* know about Basketball is that in recent years, and I read this in Sports Illustrated so I think that's a pretty reputable source of information - is that as of at least a few years ago, Basketball had/has surpassed Football in terms of being the leading professional sport in terms of the number of injuries sustained by players. That makes sense because Basketball has gotten increasingly more aggressive and athletic at probably a faster rate than football over the last few decades, and with them playing on courts harder than a football field and with less padding than football players...it makes sense. Granted, there are not the tackles that there are in Football, but collisions happen, nevertheless. I wonder about the foresight/oversight within (and without) the NBA regarding this. I haven't really looked into it since, but I would think that this should be (and I am guessing is being or has been) addressed in an increasing array of rules the way that the NFL has seen rules instituted that increasingly restrict the types of allowable tackles. I should add that pre-season training NFL injuries still happen at the highest rate, at least as of the article that I read a few years ago, but in the regular season, Basketball has the most.

Sorry, major segues from me, here.

1A) Bron
1B) Jordan

They are both at the top of the pyramid, it just depends on what you prefer/ want when it comes to choosing them

3) Kareem
4) Magic
5) Wilt
6) Shaq
7) Duncan
8) Bird
9) Kobe
10) Curry/Russell



I wanna put Hakeem still top 10, but Russel has all the rings and Curry I feel has impacted the game far more than Hakeem has. He's the Greatest "small player" ever

Lebron doesn't even have an argument for top 5 lol

1. Mj

2. Tim Duncan. More rings, less choking

3. Kareem. More rings, less choking. Also just as good at stat padding

4. Kobe. More rings, less choking

5. Magic. More rings, less choking

Best longevity of everyone, highest expectations that were actually met (as a whole; by FAR the most pressure of any of the names doing it in the social media/lots of media days), seems like a great family guy, going to be #1 scorer.

Furthest thing of a fan of his politics, but I can't help but respect his game. If someone has him out of the top 5, totally fine, but to say he has no argument for top 5 I cannot agree with, you might not think it's strong enough but it's there.

He's certainly memorable.

1. mike
2. kareem
3. wilt
4. magic
5. bird
6. lebron
7. bill russell
8. kobe
9. hakeem
10. duncan

don't try to make any arguments for his game, you will always get a biased answer due to politics

LOL Jaydawg on suicide watch

honestly having lebron over kareem, bird or magic is like having albert pujols over lou gehrig, mickey mantle or joe dimaggio

Top 10 what? Best overall player? Best player for your chance to win?

Top 3 are non-negotiable

1. Michael Jordan
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Shaquille O'Neal
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Tim Duncan
6. Larry Bird
7. Steph Curry
8. Kevin Durant
9. Hakeem Olajuwon
10. Karl Malone or Charles Barkley

Anyone after Bird is pretty debatable.

I've never seen Bill Russell and Kareem play, they're likely somewhere in the top 10. I have seen a lot of Wilt film though. He's the only contender for the #1 spot other than MJ. He'd still dominate the NBA today.

Honorable mentions for TMac and Penny. Both had a chance for top 10. Shout out to Dirk, Pippen, and Wade as well. Vince Carter was pretty underrated as well.

1 Jordan

2-10 depends on how you rank and what’s important to you personally.

Now if you disagree with who is number one you are a moron who knows absolutely nothing about basketball and you should be ignored and laughed at.

This might be one of the worst top 10 lists I've ever seen... I'm being dead serious when I say this

We're gonna leave the obvious of leaving Bron off (which if anyone leaves him off top 3 their opinion is instantly invalid to me in basketball matters), but the fact that Kareem isn't on your list, and your reasoning is cause you never saw him even tho he was playing in basically every finals games in the 80's with ANOTHER all time great you didn't even list (Magic Johnson), but you say you've seen game of Wilt who was playing in the 60's...........


That you have Barkley and Malone at #10 (honestly the most laughable thing on this list). Then you mention TMac, who couldn't get out of the 1st round (LMAO), Penny Hardaway and fukn Vince Carter as being just outside the top 10?? LMAO


Also Tim Duncan > Kobe. i don't understand the logic of having Kobe over "The Big Fundamental" other than that you like the flash of a guard compared to the Greatest PF who ever lived

1. MJ
2. Doncic
3. Olajuwon
4. Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.
5. Bird
6. Magic
7. Kobe
8. Duncan
9. LeBron
10. Curry

1. Larry Bird
2. Dirk Nowitzki
3. Bill Walton
4. Luca Doncic
5. John Stockton
6. Steven Nash
7. Jason Williams
8. Pete Maravich
9. Kevin McHale
10.Jerry West

It's LUKA brah.. but to honestly speak on "Baby Bird", I like Luka he's a great offensive player. The issue with him and why he can't/won't be elevated to all time greatness is because he's literally a HORRIFIC defender. He's great on only 1 end of the floor. Everyone who is a top 10-15 player of all time, is amazing as a 2 way player. Luka just will never be that, he unfortuntely is too lazy and comes into camp/season out of shape, eats like chit, doesn't take care of himself, and is unathletic on that end.

Larry Bird was an underrated defender, but even then he has probably the "worst" defense out of all the other all time greats.... and he LAPS Luka on that end. It's not even a debate on who's better on that end

LeBitch isn't even the greatest player of his era, let alone top 3.

Karl Malone is 3rd on the points list with barely any 3 pointers. Put Jazz on the map, almost beat prime Jordan 2x with not a lot of support. Just lol

Unfortunately your reading comprehension sucks though regarding Kareem. Clearly he's top 10, just not in mine. Magic Johnson was ok. Jason Kidd was better, Steve Nash was better, AI was better. Watch Barkley in the Olympics and get back to me.

TMac and Penny would have surpassed Kobe if it weren't for injuries. Even Shaq said he'd been better off staying in Orlando for Penny alone.

It's pretty clear to me you don't know basketball history very well.

1a) MJ
1b) Kobe
3) Kareem
4) Magic
5) Russell
6) Shaq
7) Duncan
8)Bird
9a) Lebronie
9c) Wilt

Not a bad list

Malone haszero rings, and was consistently an underwhelming playoff performer.. To be in that upper echelon top 10 you gotta have at least 2 and he has ZERO. Him and Stockton were perfect for each other and he ate ALOT off of Stockton. Malone is a great player and an iron man. But he folded in literally every big moment of his career. EVERY BIG MOMENT

Malone competeting with Jordan in those Finals honestly just speaks to the lack of talent and the "Expansion Era" that Jordan feasted on also

TMac was a good iso player, who never was able to carry his team to ANYTHING in the postseason.. ever. Hardaway was a product of Shaq and a great team in Orlando, and one of Kobes biggest cases for top 10 is his longevity, so the argument that if player x played as long as Kobe then he'd be as good as Kobe is so dumb and stupid.

Jason Kidd being better than Magic Johnson LMAO.. At what exactly? Magic is a better passer, better leader, better winner, better showman, he's started the "big PG" mold. I suppose Kidd was a better defender and EVENTUALLY turned into a better shooter, but for a very large stretch of time Jason Kidd was an atrocious shooter.

Kareem not being in your top 10 is also so fukn stupid.. What reason do you not have him there? He has 6 chips, most MVPs, was the most dominate defensive player, most dominate offensive player, played forever, won everywhere he went.

If you honestly went to any person who is knowledgeable about basketball and said "Karl Malone and Charles Barkley are in my top 10 list ever" they would laugh in your face. What has either of them won? They won an MVP in the 90's because they got sick of giving it to Jordan lol that's literally all they've ever won... Carmelo Anthony is arguably a top 3-4 USA Basketball player ever, and no one has ever stated "ahh man it's because of that, that Melo is now top 10"

I would love to hear the explanation for Bird>Lebron

Accolades? Wins? Rings? Stats? Moments? Cultural impact? Skills? Defense?

Would really love to hear this lol

1. Jordan
2. Wilt
3. Kobe
4. Kareem
5. Bird
6. Russel
7. Olajuwon
8. Shaq
9. Magic
10. Robertson

The attempted assassination and possible crippling of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has put me in a mood, so this is the last I will be doing in terms of a tally. So, no commentary, other than to say that as far as stevemckenna's unranked list of 5, I gave each of them 5th place for 3 points as a sort of compromise with not giving them either too many or too few points and as far as zman's comments, outside his list, of Abdul-Jabbar and Russell, I inserted them into his list and also gave them 5th place.

Now, the tally, with both sets of data presented as one:


Jordan, Michael 173 20
Bryant, Kobe 85 18
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem 85 15
James, Lebron 66 14
Chamberlain, Wilt 52 14
Johnson, Magic 42 15
Duncan, Tim 41 15
Bird, Larry 38 15
Russell, Bill 33 11
O'Neal, Shaquille 31 12
Olajuwon, Hakeem 28 8
Doncic, Luka 12 2
Caruso 10 1
Curry, Stephen 9 5
Nowitzki, Dirk 8 1
Stockton, John 7 3
Walton, Bill 6 1
Barkley, Charles 5 4
Payton, Gary 4 1
Garnet, Kevin 4 2
Alcindor, F. 4 1
Pippen, Scottie 3 1
Jokic, Nikola 2 1
Nash, Steven 2 1
Williams, Jason 2 1
Ante...po, G. 1 1
Miller, Reggie 1 1
Drexler, Clyde 1 1
Robertson, Oscar 1 1
Durant, Kevin 1 1
Malone, Karl 1 1
Maravich, Pete 1 1
McHale, Kevin 1 1
West, Jerry 1 1

Just lol at including my top 10 list in whatever the fuk it is you are doing, Imran Khan.

Dylan
Dylan
Dylan...

1. MJ
2. Wilt
3. Kareem
4. Lebron
5. Magic
6. Russell
7. Bird
8. Kobe
9. Duncan
10. (Spot Reserved for Luka)

Again your reading comprehension needs a lot of work. I specifically asked "top 10 what". Best player ever overall is too debatable imo. Even Kobe said Durant was unguardable, yet you don't see him on many people's list. Then you need to consider who was best in their prime or their career.

If it's most rings, obviously it's Bill Russell. Scorer is Wilt. Best player ever is MJ. Most dominate is Shaq. Best fundamentals is Duncan. Best dunker is Vince Carter. Everything else can be debated. So feel free.

3 consecutive MVPs in 13yrs compared to 4 overall with 19yrs and counting
played harder teams and beat them
him and magic saved the NBA from going out of bussiness because nobody was watching that ****
breaks cheek in first half and comes back later to win game, Lebron literally has cried from falling on his ass
thats a start