Top 15 NBA Players of All Time

After Steph Curry won his 4th ring and Finals MVP, I’m adjusting my top 10 to include him in it. He has some records no one else has - only Unanimous MVP, Most 3-Pointers of all time and greatest shooter ever, greatest regular season record of 73-9, and greatest playoff run of 16-1. Here’s my full list, let me know your thoughts:

  1. Jordan
  2. Lebron
  3. Kareem
  4. Bill Russell
  5. Wilt Chamberlain
  6. Magic
  7. Kobe
  8. Shaq
  9. Duncan
  10. Curry
  11. Bird
  12. Hakeem
  13. Durant
  14. Oscar Robinson
  15. Julius Erving
 

It is a little unfair to compare people who play different positions but if we must, I would move Curry much higher on that list.  I put him in the top 5. He is the best shooter in the history of the game and changed the way basketball is played today.  He won a championship without Durant and then with Durant and then without Durant...And his team was dogshit two years ago when he played only 5 games.

I would also add that it seems like Curry does not make many mistakes, especially in these playoffs.  The Celtics had Horford covering him. I get that Horford has the length to contest some jumpers but Curry went past him to the hoop pretty easily.

 
anonymousmonkey1.2

He wasn't even the best player on his own team for 2 of his championships... no disrespect to Curry but if you're not even the best player on your own team you can't be top 5 all time.

Durant is better?   Durant has only won one championship and it was when he played on a team with Curry.  He did not win before he joined the Warriors nor did he win after he left the Warriors.  In fact, the Nets were bounced pretty early in the playoffs.  

 

This list is based on "greatness", not "best" player. If it was just who's the best player, I'd have T-Mac, KD, Anthony Davis etc. way higher. KD is the "best" player on the Brooklyn Nets with Kyrie (arguably not less talented than Steph, if not more so). Why are the Nets trash?

Curry was a smart enough teammate to defer to Kevin Durant during their run, to energize him, and make 3 finals and win 2 as a result. Oh and it's not like Curry was a slouch during the run either. Curry wins as the alpha, wins as the point guard and facilitator, wins leading the team like this year. He just does it all. It's why he's great.

 
financeabc

It is a little unfair to compare people who play different positions but if we must, I would move Curry much higher on that list.  I put him in the top 5. He is the best shooter in the history of the game and changed the way basketball is played today.  He won a championship without Durant and then with Durant and then without Durant...And his team was dogshit two years ago when he played only 5 games.

I would also add that it seems like Curry does not make many mistakes, especially in these playoffs.  The Celtics had Horford covering him. I get that Horford has the length to contest some jumpers but Curry went past him to the hoop pretty easily.

Anyone who puts Steph Curry t-5 all time is a casual.

Array
 
BobTheBaker
financeabc

It is a little unfair to compare people who play different positions but if we must, I would move Curry much higher on that list.  I put him in the top 5. He is the best shooter in the history of the game and changed the way basketball is played today.  He won a championship without Durant and then with Durant and then without Durant...And his team was dogshit two years ago when he played only 5 games.

I would also add that it seems like Curry does not make many mistakes, especially in these playoffs.  The Celtics had Horford covering him. I get that Horford has the length to contest some jumpers but Curry went past him to the hoop pretty easily.

Anyone who puts Steph Curry t-5 all time is a casual.

Well, then you can put Ja Morant in that category.  

 

Thank you... Top 5 greatest of all time yet you're not the best player on your own team... have some common sense. The only serious debate is whether curry is top ten or not.

Personally I don't think he is but it's at least debatable. MJ, Lebron, Kareem, Wilt, Russel, Shaq, Bird, Magic, Kobe, and Duncan are all better than him imo. Curry revolutionized basketball and should be remembered forever. Realistically tho, he still is not top 10 let alone top 5

 
Most Helpful

Bird is definitely in the top 10. From 1981-1988 he either won the MVP or placed runner up, won 3 Rings (3x FMVP), made 10 All NBAs, 13x All Star with stretches of being consistently in the 50-40-90 club (3s weren't as prevalent then but still showed his shooting prowess). Not to mention him and Magic essentially "saved" the NBA and helped bring it back to prominence/popularity. 

Might be unpopular but if Curry was to unseat someone from the top 10 it'd be Kobe

 

A counterargument to the rings point is that Bird was the undisputed #1 on all 3 of his wins while Kobe was arguably the undisputed #1 in only 2 of them. Bird at his time was also considered by his contemporaries to be the best player in the NBA alongside Magic and probably would've been ranked higher had he not injured his back so early. IMO, after MJ, Lebron, and KAJ, the rest of the top 10 is pretty fluid and you can make an argument for most of them based on what you value the most.

 

Dream above curry

Currys last 3 rings are directly or indirectly related to KD pulling the ultimate snake move of all time (joining a 73-9 win team after losing to them). Wiggins is a byproduct of the KD trade. Curry’s 1st ring was because kyrie and love were injured, so he beat up on Lebron and a bunch of bums.

with that said, he’s still top 15. And obviously best shooter of all time 

 

Disagree with your take. You can point to every ring ever won and discredit it with the logic you pointed out. Hakeem won but you could argue only because Jordan was retired. This ring by Steph was definitely deserved, Wiggins made huge strides only after he was on Golden State. And KD needed the warriors more than they needed him, as they won before and after him. And injuries, yeah but every year there are injuries. And Steph was injured in 2016. I think for now he deserves the #10 spot.

 
Blake-Hill

Disagree with your take. You can point to every ring ever won and discredit it with the logic you pointed out. Hakeem won but you could argue only because Jordan was retired. This ring by Steph was definitely deserved, Wiggins made huge strides only after he was on Golden State. And KD needed the warriors more than they needed him, as they won before and after him. And injuries, yeah but every year there are injuries. And Steph was injured in 2016. I think for now he deserves the #10 spot.

Fair points, but I’ll stand by my opinion that Curry doesn’t get more than 1 ring if KD never pulls the ultimate bitch ass move  and joins a 73-9 team.. the same team that he (and westbrick) choked against the year prior. Dude could’ve joined literally any other team. But nah, he joins the 73-9 team that beat him 

 
UCSDThrowaway

Dream above curry

Currys last 3 rings are directly or indirectly related to KD pulling the ultimate snake move of all time (joining a 73-9 win team after losing to them). Wiggins is a byproduct of the KD trade. Curry's 1st ring was because kyrie and love were injured, so he beat up on Lebron and a bunch of bums.

with that said, he's still top 15. And obviously best shooter of all time 

Curry has proven that he will win regardless of who is on his team.  That is greatness!

 

1. MJ

2. Lebron

3. KAJ

4. Russell

5. Magic

6. Shaq

7. Bird

8. Tim Duncan

9. Steph

10. Wilt

11. Kobe

12. Hakeem

13. KD

14. Jerry West

15. Giannis in 3 years

Reasons:

Once you get to top 15, "# of all-stars over 20 years" doesn't mean shit - it just means you had a year where you played pretty well but didn't do anything. That can get you into top 25 but not top 10.

Rings, degree to which you were era-defining, deep playoff runs, and skill should be the primary metrics for getting into top 10.

1960s era basketball is WAY overrated outside of Russell. 2010s basketball is WAY underrated. Teams are 10x more talented now than they were even in the 90's. Go look at the 1990s and outside of the All-NBA teams (which are what we remember), there simply weren't that many good players. Now you have extremely talented and capable players not even cracking All-NBA 3rd team.

Peak>>>Longevity (see above).

Modern players don't have the right to complain about their teams beyond their first 7 years. Once you have the chance to be an unrestricted free agent, you can't complain lmfao you chose the team.

Edit to emphasize growth in level of NBA talent:

Steph curry at age 24: 47-35 team record, 23/4/7/1.5 steals on 45/45/90 shooting splits.

Kobe at age 25:  56-26 team record, 24/5.5/5/1.7 on 44/33/85 shooting splits.

Kobe got 111 first team All-NBA votes that year, easily making 1st team. Steph didn't even make the 3rd team in the year referenced. (I just picked a random year for Kobe btw, and Steph's last non-all NBA year which is "held against him" for purposes of top 10 rankings).

 

I like the list but have a couple of small comments/thoughts.

The only name I remain iffy on is Tim Duncan (the big fundamental yes, but hear me out). He is the biggest beneficiary of the system he played in, moreso than any other name on your top 10. Also, his early career numbers were not as amazing as the other names. So if we measure top 10 across the entirety of careers rather than just rings, then I would say he should not be in the top 10. 
 

1-5 looks solid to me. I would revise the bottom half of the list to:
6. Shaq
7. Magic
8. Kobe
9. Bird (Replace Duncan)
10. Curry 

And then 11. Hakeem above 12. Duncan based on personal preference. I think you could drop Hakeem in any area, almost any team, and he makes them a contender. Duncan needs the right system so not as versatile therefore below.

 

The_Final_vF

I like the list but have a couple of small comments/thoughts.

The only name I remain iffy on is Tim Duncan (the big fundamental yes, but hear me out). He is the biggest beneficiary of the system he played in, moreso than any other name on your top 10. Also, his early career numbers were not as amazing as the other names. So if we measure top 10 across the entirety of careers rather than just rings, then I would say he should not be in the top 10. 

 

1-5 looks solid to me. I would revise the bottom half of the list to:

6. Shaq 7. Magic 8. Kobe 9. Bird (Replace Duncan) 10. Curry 

And then 11. Hakeem above 12. Duncan based on personal preference. I think you could drop Hakeem in any area, almost any team, and he makes them a contender. Duncan needs the right system so not as versatile therefore below.

I don’t agree Duncan needs the system. Of course he benefited from the spurs, but there’s a reason every nba player speaks about his greatness. Every game he played, he was arguably the best player on the court. He had no flaws - he was getting his 20/10 every night no matter what you did

 

If anything, Duncan is underrated today. You could put him in today's league and he would be great. You could put him 50 years ago and he would be great. He's a basketball cyborg. Insane work ethic, zero ego, no off-court issues, solid and pure basketball.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

Can we all agree that Bill Russell is the most overrated player of all time? He was DOMINATED by wilt head to head (never shot over 40%, other stats were completely in wilts favour) in an NBA with 8 teams in which it just happened that Boston had all of the ownership money to buy the best players in the league.

He was an undersized big man (6’8-9 max) who was certainly a big component of the Celtics winning those 11 chips- but in what scope of competition?

I don’t have an issue with him being in the top 20. But if it’s being universally decided that he’s a better player than Wilt, Tim Duncan, Magic etc then there is a problem. Using Tim Duncan as an example- in a much more expansive and difficult NBA to win in, Duncan won 5 titles and led the Spurs as their best player for all but his first (David Robinson). Won 15 all defensive teams in the greatest defensive era of the NBA. Universally recognized as the best PF for 20 years both statistically and in the aspect of winning. Was the cornerstone of a small franchise being the most winningest dynasty since either the bulls/showtime lakers. How does a 6’8, underweight C who played in a league with 7 other teams (of which they had no talent besides Wilt that could come close to beat them), who has no offensive game whatsoever, be considered a better player?

I can make the same argument for Magic over Russell, same for Shaq, same for a lot of guys. And comparing Wilt, again, he literally dominated Bill Russell every time he played him. Just had a shit team and STILL carried them to titles. Oh and btw he averaged 50ppg efficiently at 7’2 with a ridiculous wingspan, weight and speed. I think it’s fair to say that guy is a considerably better basketball player than Bill Russell.

 

FULL DISCLOSURE - I grew up in the "Showtime" era, so I may be biased. 

Couple changes:

  1. Duncan shouldn't be on this list at all. He was part of a great org/team but as an individual performer? No. 
  2. Lebron is not number 2, c'mon son. Switch Lebron and Kobe on OP list. 
  3. Switch Shaq with Bird. #8 is just too high for Shaq and Bird deserves to be top 10
  4. Say what you will about him, but Rodman was fucking dominant when it came time to work. I'd drop Duncan for Rodman but Rodman is not #9, so maybe move everyone up a spot and bring Rodman in at 15

Props to OP for recognizing Kareem. He's not always treated fairly in these lists, that guy was amazing.  

 

This list of yours suffers from recency bias which will always skew the top 10 list to more recent players as the people voting are based on a newer generation. Moreover, it really is unfair to create a top 10 based on everyone's achievements, how the game has evolved, how bodies and athleticism (talent, treatment, better diets) have progressed. Better to do a top 10 by skill or position. I.E most dominant players: Shaq, Wilt, Lebron, Jordan. Most skilled players: Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Kyrie. Best shooters: Curry, Ray Allen, etc. 

 

I would add that Shaq, Wilt and Russell should be dropped in the order. These guys hit 1 of every 2 free throws.  Wilt and Russell would be very ordinary bigs in todays game.  Curry is great today and would have been great 50 years ago. 

Another aspect to Curry's greatness is that prime Curry has never played on a sub 500 team.  Of course these lists have other players who did not play on sub 500 team like Bird and Magic but the Lakers and Celtics were loaded with talent.  The current Warriors team is the worst one from all the championships but yet they still won.  There was one legit star on the team and his name is Curry.  Clay Thompson is out of his prime.  Wiggins and Poole are good players but not elite. There is a reason Wiggins started shooting 3s at a clip of close to 40% and his name is Curry. 

 

I'm admittedly not as huge into basketball anymore and fairly ignorant about the game in general, but I'm a little surprised Scottie Pippen isn't on this list (obviously towards the bottom). Is it because for most of his career he wasn't the guy for the team and instead was basically a support for MJ? 

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

It’s honestly hard to rate them. But I can’t take away their accomplishments during their era. I wouldn’t say they are as skilled as current nba players but their greatness in their era was amazing.

 

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