What would the list of the 50 greatest NBA players look like if they selected the players today?

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 2019:

1. Michael Jordan “Air Jordan” – 6x Champion, 5x MVP
2. Wilt Chamberlain “The Big Dipper” – 4x MVP, 11x Rebounding leader
3. Bill Russell “Russell” – 11x Champion, 5x MVP
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “Cap” – 6x Champion, 6x MVP
5. Lebron James “King James” – 4x MVP, 3x Finals MVP
6. Magic Johnson “Magic Man” – 5x Champion, 3x MVP
7. Tim Duncan “The Big Fundamental” – 5x Champion, 2x MVP
8. Larry Bird “Larry Legend” – 3x Champion, 3x MVP
9. Kobe Bryant “The Black Mamba” – 5x Champion, 1x MVP
10. Jerry West “Mr. Clutch” – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
11. Oscar Robertson “The Big O” – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
12. Shaquille O’Neal “Diesel” – 4x Champion, 3x Finals MVP
13. Hakeem Olajuwon “The Dream” – 2x Champion, 2x Finals MVP
14. Julius Erving “Dr. J” – 3x Champion, 4x MVP
15. Moses Malone “Chairman of the Boards” – 1x Champion, 3x MVP
16. Karl Malone “The Mailman” – 2x MVP, 13x All-NBA
17. Kevin Durant “Durantula” – 1x MVP, 2x Finals MVP
18. John Havlicek “Hondo” – 8x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
19. Bob Pettit – 2x MVP, 11x All-NBA
20. Bob Cousy “Houdini of the Hardwood” – 6x Champion, 1x MVP
21. Elgin Baylor “Mr. Inside” – 10x All-NBA
22. Kevin Garnett “The Big Ticket” – 1x MVP, 12x All-Defensive
23. Rick Barry “The Miami Greyhound” – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
24. David Robinson “The Admiral” – 2x Champion, 1x MVP
25. John Stockton – 8x All-NBA, 9x Assist leader
26. Stephen Curry “Chef Curry” – 3x Champion, 2x MVP
27. Chris Paul “CP3” – 7x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
28. Charles Barkley “Sir Charles” – 1x MVP, 10x All-NBA
29. Dirk Nowitzki “The German Juggernaut” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
30. Dwayne Wade “Flash” – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
31. Scottie Pippen “Pip” – 6x Champion, 10x All-Defensive
32. Jason Kidd “J-Kidd” – 6x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
33. Allen Iverson “The Answer” – 1x MVP, 4x Scoring leader
34. Walt Frazier “Clyde” – 2x Champion, 7x All-Defensive
35. George Gervin “The Iceman” – 9x All-NBA/ABA, 4x Scoring leader
36. Willis Reed “Captain” – 1x MVP, 2x Finals MVP
37. Steve Nash – 2x MVP, 5x Assist leader
38. George Mikan – 5x Champion, 3x Scoring leader
39. Artis Gilmore “A-Train” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
40. Mel Daniels “Big Mel” – 3x Champion, 2x MVP
41. Dolph Schayes – 1x Champion, 12x All-NBA
42. Russell Westbrook “Russ” – 1x MVP, 7x All-NBA
43. Isiah Thomas “Zeke” – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
44. James Harden “The Beard” – 1x MVP, 4x All-NBA
45. Dwight Howard – 6x All-NBA, 5x Rebounding leader
46. Paul Arizin “Pitchin Paul” – 1x Champion, 2x Scoring leader
47. Elvin Hayes “The Big E” – 1x Champion, 6x All-NBA
48. Kawhi Leonard “The Claw” – 2x Champion, 2x Finals MVP
49. Gary Payton “The Glove” – 7x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive
50. Dennis Rodman “The Worm” – 8x All-Defensive, 7x Rebounding leader
51. George McGinnis – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
52. Connie Hawkins “The Hawk” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
53. Dave Cowens – 2x Champion, 1x MVP
54. Bob McAdoo – 1x MVP, 3x Scoring leader
55. Patrick Ewing – 7x All-NBA
56. Kevin McHale “The Black Hole” – 3x Champion, 6x All-Defensive
57. Neil Johnston – 1x Champion, 3x Scoring leader
58. Spencer Haywood – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
59. Dave Debusschere – 2x Champion, 6x All-Defensive
60. Sam Jones – 10x Champion, 3x All-NBA
61. Tom Heinsohn – 8x Champion, 4x All-NBA
62. Dennis Johnson – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
63. Dan Issel “The Horse” – 1x Champion, 5x All-ABA
64. Bill Sharman – 4x Champion, 7x All-NBA
65. Billy Cunningham “Kangaroo Kid” – 1x Champion, 1x MVP
66. Bill Walton – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
67. Wes Unseld “Big Wes” – 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP
68. Jerry Lucas “The Computer” – 1x Champion, 5x All-NBA
69. Clyde Drexler “The Glide” – 1x Champion, 3x All-NBA
70. Paul Pierce “The Truth” – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
71. Dominique Wilkins “The Human Highlight Reel” – 5x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
72. Tracy McGrady “T-mac” – 5x All-NBA, 2x Scoring leader
73. Tony Parker – 4x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
74. Bobby Jones – 1x Champion, 9x All-Defensive
75. Anthony Davis “The Brow” – 3x All-NBA, 3x All-Defensive
76. Roger Brown – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
77. Hal Greer – 1x Champion, 7x All-NBA
78. Giannis Antetokounmpo “The Greek Freak” – 1x MVP, 3x All-NBA
79. Adrian Dantley – 2x All-NBA, 2x Scoring leader
80. Carmelo Anthony “Melo” – 2x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
81. Tiny Archibald – 1x Champion, 5x All-NBA
82. James Worthy “Big Game James” – 3x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
83. Robert Parish “The Chief” – 4x Champion, 2x All-NBA
84. David Thompson “Skywalker” – 3x All-NBA/ABA
85. Pau Gasol – 2x Champion, 2x All-NBA
86. Chris Webber – 4x All-NBA, 1x Rebounding leader
87. Alex English – 3x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
88. Pete Maravich “Pistol” – 4x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
89. Sidney Moncrief – 5x All-NBA, 5x All-Defensive
90. Joe Dumars – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
91. Ed Macauley – 1x Champion, 4x All-NBA
92. Zelmo Beaty – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
93. Jo Jo White – 2x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
94. Mitch Richmond – 1x Champion, 3x All-NBA
95. Alonzo Mourning “Zo” – 1x Champion, 2x All-Defensive
96. Dikembe Mutombo – 6x All-Defensive, 2x Rebounding leader
97. Ray Allen – 2x Champion, 1x All-NBA
98. Chauncey Billups – 1x Champion, 1x Finals MVP
99. Bernard King – 3x All-NBA, 1x Scoring leader
100. Nate Thurmond “Nate the Great” – 5x All-Defensive