With the passing of Moses Malone recently, I wanted to pause and take a look at the legends of the NBA, the great players who played before this current generation of NBA stars. So, let’s look at the NBA’s Fifty Greatest Players. This list was released by then NBA Commissioner David Stern in 1996, so none of today’s greats are on this list (Bryant, Curry, Duncan, Garnett, James, and Nowitzki come to mind immediately). The NBA accomplishments of these athletes are both incredible and staggering.
Some statistical comments on the list (well, my call sign is Stats, after all).
- Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones (10) have the most “Rings” and both are from the same era of the great Boston Celtics teams of 1957 through 1969.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan (5), and Bill Russell (5) have the most MVP awards.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292), and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) are the only NBA players to score more than thirty thousand points (Yes, that’s 30,000!) in their NBA careers.
- Wilt Chamberlain (23,924) and Bill Russell (21,620) are the only players to collect more than twenty thousand (yes, 20,000!) rebounds in their NBA careers.
- And, on the subject of rebounds, only three players on this list collected more rebounds than points – Bill Russell, Nate Thurmond, and Wes Unseld.
- John Stockton (15,806) is the NBA all-time assists leader, followed by Magic Johnson (10,141) and Oscar Robertson (9,887).
- Kareem leads the All-Star Parade with 19 appearances, followed by Shaquille O’Neal with 15 appearances, and Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and Jerry West with 14 appearances each.
| Name and Position | Points | Rebounds | Assists | “Rings” | MVPs | All-Star | |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | C | 38,387 | 17,440 | 5,660 | 6 | 6 | 19 |
| Nate Archibald | G | 16,481 | 2,046 | 6,476 | 1 | None | 6 |
| Paul Arizin | F | 16,266 | 6,129 | 1,665 | 1 | None | 10 |
| Charles Barkley | F | 23,757 | 12,546 | 4,215 | None | 1 | 11 |
| Rick Barry | F | 18,395 | 5,168 | 4,017 | 1 | None | 8 |
| Elgin Baylor | F | 23,149 | 11,463 | 3,650 | None | None | 11 |
| Dave Bing | G | 18,327 | 3,420 | 5,397 | None | None | 7 |
| Larry Bird | F | 21,791 | 8,974 | 5,695 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Wilt Chamberlain | C | 31,419 | 23,924 | 4,643 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| Bob Cousy | G | 16,960 | 4,786 | 6,955 | 6 | 1 | 13 |
| Dave Cowens | C | 13,516 | 10,444 | 2,910 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Billy Cunningham | F | 13,626 | 6,638 | 2,625 | 2 | None | 4 |
| Dave DeBusschere | F | 14,053 | 9,618 | 2,497 | 2 | None | 8 |
| Clyde Drexler | G | 22,195 | 6,677 | 6,125 | 1 | None | 10 |
| Julius Erving | F | 18,364 | 5,601 | 3,224 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| Patrick Ewing | C | 24,815 | 11,607 | 2,215 | None | None | 11 |
| Walt Frazier | G | 15,581 | 4,830 | 5,040 | 2 | None | 7 |
| George Gervin | G | 20,708 | 3,607 | 2,214 | None | None | 9 |
| Hal Greer | G | 21,586 | 5,665 | 4,540 | 1 | None | 10 |
| John Havlicek | F/G | 26,395 | 8,007 | 6,114 | 8 | None | 13 |
| Elvin Hayes | F/C | 27,313 | 16,279 | 2,398 | 1 | None | 12 |
| Magic Johnson | G | 17,707 | 6,559 | 10,141 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| Sam Jones | G | 15,411 | 4,305 | 2,209 | 10 | None | 5 |
| Michael Jordan | G | 32,292 | 6,672 | 5,633 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| Jerry Lucas | F/C | 14,053 | 12,942 | 2,732 | 1 | None | 7 |
| Karl Malone | F | 36,928 | 14,968 | 5,248 | None | 2 | 14 |
| Moses Malone | C | 27,409 | 16,212 | 1,796 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Pete Maravich | G | 15,948 | 2,747 | 3,563 | None | None | 5 |
| Kevin McHale | F | 17,335 | 7,122 | 1,670 | 3 | None | 7 |
| George Mikan | C | 10,156 | 4,167 | 1,245 | 5 | None | 4 |
| Earl Monroe | G | 17,454 | 2,796 | 3,594 | 1 | None | 4 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | C | 26,946 | 13,748 | 3,058 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | C | 28,596 | 13,099 | 3,026 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| Robert Parish | C | 23,334 | 14,715 | 2,180 | 4 | None | 9 |
| Bob Pettit | F | 20,880 | 12,849 | 2,369 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Scottie Pippen | F | 18,940 | 7,494 | 6,135 | 6 | None | 7 |
| Willis Reed | C | 12,183 | 8,414 | 1,186 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Oscar Robertson | G | 26,710 | 7,804 | 9,887 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| David Robinson | C | 20,790 | 10,497 | 2,441 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Bill Russell | C | 14,522 | 21,620 | 4,100 | 11 | 5 | 12 |
| Dolph Schayes | F/C | 18,438 | 11,256 | 3,072 | 1 | None | 12 |
| Bill Sharman | G | 12,665 | 2,779 | 2,101 | 4 | None | 8 |
| John Stockton | G | 19,711 | 4,051 | 15,806 | None | None | 10 |
| Isiah Thomas | G | 18,822 | 3,478 | 9,061 | 2 | None | 12 |
| Nate Thurmond | C | 14,437 | 14,464 | 2,575 | None | None | 7 |
| Wes Unseld | C/F | 10,624 | 13,769 | 3,822 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Bill Walton | C | 6,215 | 4,923 | 1,590 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Jerry West | G | 25,192 | 5,366 | 6,238 | 1 | None | 14 |
| Lenny Wilkens | G | 17,772 | 5,030 | 7,211 | 1 | None | 9 |
| James Worthy | F | 16,320 | 4,708 | 2,791 | 3 | None | 7 |
BILL HARVEY, Call Sign “Stats”, is the Editor of Hoops Business. He is a former basketball player, basketball referee, Army officer, and college instructor in technical writing with a public relations and journalism background. He is also the editor of the Net Set blog at http://thenetsetblog.com. BA degree from Xavier University and MA degree in Information Management.
