That’s a hard one. Inevitably some really good players will get bumped off… here’s the list of NBA’s 50 greatest players originally selected in 1996: 50 Greatest Players in NBA History | Basketball-Reference.com
Let’s see who should be added in today’s NBA:
-Lebron James, obvious no brainer best SF ever to play
-Kobe Bryant, another no brainer 2nd best SG
-Tim Duncan, another no brainer best PF ever
-Dirk Nowitzki, a top 5 PF of all time
-Dwayne Wade, a top 5 SG of all time
-Allen Iverson, a top 5–10 SG of all time
-Kevin Durant, top 10 SF by this point
-Stephen Curry, another top 10 PG
-Russell Westbrook, top 10 PG
-Dwight Howard, top 15 center ever
-Chris Paul, top 10 PG
-Steve Nash, top 10 PG
-Jason Kidd, top 10 PG
-James Harden, top 10 SG
-Kevin Garnett, top 5 PF
So that’s 15 guys right there… which means 15 guys need to bumped off the old 50 greatest list. It’s hard but IMO here’s the 15 that should be bumped off
-James Worthy
-Lenny Wilkens
-Nate Thurmond
-Bill Sharman
-Robert Parish
-Earl Monroe
-Pete Maravich
-Jerry Lucas
-Hal Greer
-Dave Debusschere
-Billy Cunningham
-Dave Bing
-Tiny Archibald
-Bill Walton
-Paul Arizin
Sorry these are all great players but, you gotta make room for someone right? I’d rank these guys in the top 50–80 range rather than the top 50 now that better players have come up. This is by my estimates going by stats and awards etc and also I would add Bob McAdoo, Ray Allen, Dominique Wilkins, Paul Pierce to the top 60 range as well.
If instead, we were to expand the list to top 75 players (75 at 75 – year 2021) then my answer would be:
from PGs: Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook, Gary Payton, Dennis Johnson (7)
from SGs: Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Allen Iverson, James Harden, Ray Allen (5)
from SFs: Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Dominique Wilkins, Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony, Adrian Dantley (6)
from PFs: Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Chris Webber, Bob McAdoo (6)
from C: Dwight Howard (1)
Those are my 25 players.
There are a few key defensive players that could be up there as well.. Dikembe Mutombo and Dennis Rodman come to mind. But they are really hard to rank given how one dimensional they were.
if ABA players are included (and they should be IMO because they are often forgotten), George McGinnis, Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and Connie Hawkins should be added to the list as well.
Here’s my take on the 50 greatest players in NBA/ABA history as of 2018:
- Michael Jordan “Air Jordan” – 6x Champion, 5x MVP
- Wilt Chamberlain “The Big Dipper” – 4x MVP, 11x Rebounding leader
- Bill Russell “Russell” – 11x Champion, 5x MVP
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “Cap” – 6x Champion, 6x MVP
- Lebron James “King James” – 4x MVP, 3x Finals MVP
- Magic Johnson “Magic Man” – 5x Champion, 3x MVP
- Tim Duncan “The Big Fundamental” – 5x Champion, 2x MVP
- Larry Bird “Larry Legend” – 3x Champion, 3x MVP
- Kobe Bryant “The Black Mamba” – 5x Champion, 1x MVP
- Jerry West “Mr. Clutch” – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Oscar Robertson “The Big O” – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
- Shaquille O’Neal “Diesel” – 4x Champion, 3x Finals MVP
- Hakeem Olajuwon “The Dream” – 2x Champion, 2x Finals MVP
- Julius Erving “Dr. J” – 3x Champion, 4x MVP
- Moses Malone “Chairman of the Boards” – 1x Champion, 3x MVP
- Karl Malone “The Mailman” – 2x MVP, 13x All-NBA
- Kevin Durant “Durantula” – 1x MVP, 2x Finals MVP
- John Havlicek “Hondo” – 8x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Bob Pettit – 2x MVP, 11x All-NBA
- Bob Cousy “Houdini of the Hardwood” – 6x Champion, 1x MVP
- Elgin Baylor “Mr. Inside” – 10x All-NBA
- Kevin Garnett “The Big Ticket” – 1x MVP, 12x All-Defensive
- Rick Barry “The Miami Greyhound” – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- David Robinson “The Admiral” – 2x Champion, 1x MVP
- John Stockton – 8x All-NBA, 9x Assist leader
- Chris Paul “CP3” – 7x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
- Stephen Curry “Chef Curry” – 3x Champion, 2x MVP
- Scottie Pippen “Pip” – 6x Champion, 10x All-Defensive
- Dwayne Wade “Flash” – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Allen Iverson “The Answer” – 1x MVP, 4x Scoring leader
- Jason Kidd “J-Kidd” – 6x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
- Charles Barkley “Sir Charles” – 1x MVP, 10x All-NBA
- Dirk Nowitzki “The German Juggernaut” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Walt Frazier “Clyde” – 2x Champion, 7x All-Defensive
- George Gervin “The Iceman” – 9x All-NBA/ABA, 4x Scoring leader
- Willis Reed “Captain” – 1x MVP, 2x Finals MVP
- Steve Nash – 2x MVP, 5x Assist leader
- George Mikan – 5x Champion, 3x Scoring leader
- Artis Gilmore “A-Train” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Mel Daniels “Big Mel” – 3x Champion, 2x MVP
- Dolph Schayes – 1x Champion, 12x All-NBA
- Dwight Howard – 6x All-NBA, 5x Rebounding leader
- Russell Westbrook “Russ” – 1x MVP, 7x All-NBA
- Isiah Thomas “Zeke” – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Paul Arizin “Pitchin Paul” – 1x Champion, 2x Scoring leader
- Elvin Hayes “The Big E” – 1x Champion, 6x All-NBA
- Gary Payton “The Glove” – 7x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
- Bob McAdoo – 1x MVP, 3x Scoring leader
- Patrick Ewing – 7x All-NBA
- James Harden “The Beard” – 1x MVP, 4x All-NBA
- Dennis Rodman “The Worm” – 8x All-Defensive, 7x Rebounding leader
- George McGinnis – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Connie Hawkins “The Hawk” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Dave Cowens – 2x Champion, 1x MVP
- Neil Johnston – 1x Champion, 3x Scoring leader
- Spencer Haywood – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
- Dave Debusschere – 2x Champion, 6x All-Defensive
- Sam Jones – 10x Champion, 3x All-NBA
- Tom Heinsohn – 8x Champion, 4x All-NBA
- Dennis Johnson – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Dan Issel “The Horse” – 1x Champion, 5x All-ABA
- Bill Sharman – 4x Champion, 7x All-NBA
- Kevin McHale “The Black Hole” – 3x Champion, 6x All-Defensive
- Billy Cunningham “Kangaroo Kid” – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
- Bill Walton – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Wes Unseld “Big Wes” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
- Jerry Lucas “The Computer” – 1x Champion, 5x All-NBA
- Clyde Drexler “The Glide” – 1x Champion, 3x All-NBA
- Tracy McGrady “T-mac” – 5x All-NBA, 2x Scoring leader
- Dominique Wilkins “The Human Highlight Reel” – 5x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Paul Pierce “The Truth” – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Tony Parker – 4x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Bobby Jones – 1x Champion, 9x All-Defensive
- Anthony Davis “The Brow” – 3x All-NBA, 3x All-Defensive
- Adrian Dantley – 2x All-NBA, 2x Scoring leader
- Carmelo Anthony “Melo” – 2x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Kawhi Leonard “The Claw” – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Roger Brown – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Tiny Archibald – 1x Champion, 5x All-NBA
- Hal Greer – 1x Champion, 7x All-NBA
- James Worthy “Big Game James” – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Robert Parish “The Chief” – 4x Champion, 2x All-NBA
- David Thompson “Skywalker” – 3x All-NBA/ABA
- Pau Gasol – 2x Champion, 2x All-NBA
- Chris Webber – 4x All-NBA, 1x Rebounding leader
- Alex English – 3x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Pete Maravich “Pistol” – 4x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Sidney Moncrief – 5x All-NBA, 5x All-Defensive
- Joe Dumars – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Amar’e Stoudemire – 5x All-NBA
- Ed Macauley – 1x Champion, 4x All-NBA
- Dikembe Mutombo – 6x All-Defensive, 2x Rebounding leader
- Bernard King – 3x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Mitch Richmond – 1x Champion, 3x All-NBA
- Alonzo Mourning – 1x Champion, 2x All-Defensive
- Ray Allen – 2x Champion, 1x All-NBA
- Nate Thurmond “Nate the Great” – 5x All-Defensive
- Jo Jo White – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
- Dave Bing – 3x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
- Ben Wallace – 6x All-Defensive, 2x Rebounding leader