Greatest NBA Players of All Time: 66-100

This is part three in a list of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. I recommend that you begin with 1-29 and 30-65 if you haven't read those already.

Note: all stats and evaluations are through the NBA's 2024-25 season (Thunder over Pacers).

The Big Group, part one: Centers

The next tier is large, and to simplify things, I'm breaking it up by position. Let's address the big men first, in chronological order.

Neil Johnston
Philadelphia Warriors, 1951-59
Center
10,023 points (19.4); 5,856 rebounds (11.3); 1,269 assists (2.5)
44.4% 2P, 76.8% FT, 53.4% TS
92 Wins Shares, .241 WS/48, WSHM 133.2

The NBA's dominant center — and thus, dominant player — in the brief window between Mikan and Russell. Three-time NBA scoring leader, also led in FG% three times. 1955 rebounding champ. Probable 1955 MVP if the award had existed. Four years first-team All-NBA.

Great Centers of the 1960s and 1970s

This era in NBA history was dominated by big men. From 1965-80, centers won 16 consecutive NBA MVP Awards. However, some of the great players had short primes or short careers, and others got stuck on terrible teams. Many of them simply didn't get much official recognition, because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's dominance. The chart below shows the best centers of the '60s and '70s, excluding those ranked in the top 10 (Abdul-Jabbar, Russell, and Chamberlain). Players marked with an asterisk played in both the ABA and NBA. The ABA (1967-76) was a major league, but not quite as deep as the NBA, so the Win Shares and All-Star/All-League selections in particular should be taken with a grain of salt.

Gilmore, Unseld, and Reed are ranked above this, in the top 65. Gilmore's case is obvious: extraordinary longevity, incredibly efficient shooting, tons of Win Shares in both the ABA and NBA, and over a decade of All-Star selections, mostly in the NBA. I am very comfortable ranking him as the best among this group, even adjusting for the strength of the ABA.

The chart above doesn't show regular-season or Finals MVP awards, so it doesn't do justice to Reed and Unseld. Reed has a longevity problem, but his accomplishments in his brief prime — including an NBA MVP and two Finals MVPs — are exceptional enough to elevate him (just barely) above his peers. Unseld, like Reed, was both regular-season and Finals MVP, and he has a particularly impressive playoff résumé, appearing in four NBA Finals. Unlike Reed, he also had a fairly long career. He was a Bill Russell-Tim Duncan type of player, an unselfish big man who prioritized team success.

Ranking Thurmond, Cowens, Lanier, and McAdoo around this point is pretty orthodox, but I'm higher than most rankers on Bellamy and Issel.

Bellamy doesn't have as many honors as his contemporaries, but his All-League column is empty because for the first seven seasons of his career — and Bellamy peaked early — Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were the All-NBA centers every year. I don't think it reflects poorly on Bellamy and Thurmond that they never cracked the All-NBA team against that kind of competition.

Issel made six ABA All-Star games, and only one NBA (1977), and he never made an All-NBA team. But he was a good NBA player for almost a decade. Issel had six NBA seasons in which he averaged over 20 ppg, and a seventh when he averaged 19.8. And remember, that's after six All-Star seasons in the ABA. He was a good player for much too long to leave him out of the top 100. On the chart above, he's top five in every category, including 1st in points.

Beaty, Daniels, and Walton are lower on my list. Beaty was successful in both the NBA (1962-69) and ABA (1971-74), but in the NBA, he clearly wasn't as outstanding as Russell, Chamberlain, and Bellamy, and he was never first-team All-ABA, either. Daniels only played 11 games in the NBA; essentially his whole career is in the ABA, and mostly when the league was still developing. He played on successful teams, but he did not have a long career, his box stats aren't impressive, and once Artis Gilmore joined the league he was no longer the elite center.

Bill Walton was an extraordinary talent with an extraordinarily short career. Among the 12 players in the chart above, he is last in games played, minutes played, points, rebounds, Win Shares, and All-Star selections. I have great respect for Bill Walton. He was a gifted athlete, a stutterer who overcame his speech impediment to become a national broadcaster, and an impressive man off the court, with a highly developed sense of right and wrong. His career was too short for me to rank him among the very best players in history. I understand why others feel differently, but I, personally, can't get past the longevity.

Let's get into Bellamy, Thurmond, Cowens, Lanier, Issel, and McAdoo.

Walt Bellamy
Chicago Packers / Chicago Zephyrs / Baltimore Bullets, 1961-65; New York Knicks, 1965-68; Detroit Pistons, 1968-70; Atlanta Hawks, 1970-74; New Orleans Jazz, 1974
Center
20,941 points (20.1); 14,241 rebounds (13.7); 2,544 assists (2.4)
51.6% 2P, 63.2% FT, 55.4% TS
130 Wins Shares, .160 WS/48, WSHM 143.6

A player with no championships and few honors — Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain monopolized the All-NBA Awards for centers in the 1960s — but a massive presence on the court, especially early in his career. Bellamy was named Rookie of the Year after averaging 31.6 points, 19.0 rebounds, and setting the NBA single-season record for field goal percentage. He averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds five times, and he ranks 13th all-time in rebounds.

During his career, Bellamy was criticized for not always giving maximum effort. If you research Bellamy, you will find numerous comments to this effect. Many critics argued that Bellamy played like a superstar when he went up against Chamberlain or Russell, but that he seemed unmotivated against lesser opponents. These allegations are widespread, and I don't doubt that there is some truth in them, but Bellamy's statistical record shows that if he sometimes lost focus, or even took games off, his overall contributions were still massive.

Willis Reed is sometimes ranked in the top 50, and Bellamy is often excluded from the top 100. I don't see the basis for ranking Reed so far ahead. He and Bellamy played at the same time — they were even teammates for three years — so they're easy to compare. Bellamy scored more points and averaged more points per game. He had more rebounds and more rebounds per game. He had more assists, and more assists per game. He had a higher field goal percentage and a higher true shooting percentage. He had many more Win Shares, and more Win Shares per minute.

Reed's teams won more, and the Knicks were more successful with Reed at center and Dave DeBusschere at power forward than with Bellamy at center and Reed at power forward. Part of Bellamy's reputation problem is that Reed played out of position when they were teammates, and the team improved when he moved to center. There are as many arguments in Bellamy's favor as Reed's, and I don't see the basis for ranking Reed so far ahead. I've rated Reed as the greater player, but there's a case to be made the other way.

Bellamy, who made four straight All-Star appearances from 1962-65, is usually ranked behind the great centers of the '70s, but I don't see how anyone can list the 8th- or 9th-best center of the 1970s ahead of the 3rd- or 4th-best center from the 1960s. Because Bellamy is often rated lower than this, I want to highlight this video from the Wilt Chamberlain Archive, which shows Bells at his best:

Nate Thurmond
San Francisco / Golden State Warriors, 1963-74; Chicago Bulls, 1974-75; Cleveland Cavaliers, 1975-77
Center
14,437 points (15.0); 14,464 rebounds (15.0); 2,575 assists (2.7)
42.1% 2P, 66.7% FT, 47.0% TS
78 Wins Shares, .104 WS/48, WSHM 89.1

Seven-time All-Star. Top-ten in MVP voting five times, including runner-up (to Wilt Chamberlain) in 1967. Twelfth all-time in rebounds and fifth in rebounds per game. Excellent defensive player, famous for limiting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain.

Dave Cowens
Boston Celtics, 1970-80; Milwaukee Bucks, 1982-83
Center
13,516 points (17.6); 10,444 rebounds (13.6); 2,910 assists (3.8)
46.0% 2P, 7.1% 3P, 78.3% FT, 49.6% TS
86 Wins Shares, .140 WS/48, WSHM 106.8

Eight-time All-Star, three All-NBA selections. Top four in MVP voting four times, 1973 NBA MVP. Ninth all-time in rebounds per game. Short career (766 G) limits his rank.

Bob Lanier
Detroit Pistons, 1970-79; Milwaukee Bucks, 1980-84
Center
19,248 points (20.1); 9,698 rebounds (10.1); 3,007 assists (3.1)
51.5% 2P, 15.4% 3P, 76.7% FT, 55.9% TS
117 Wins Shares, .175 WS/48, WSHM 140.4

Eight-time All-Star, first-place MVP votes in five seasons. Statistically the NBA's most impressive non-Kareem center of the '70s, with better box stats and more Win Shares than Thurmond, Reed, Unseld, Cowens, McAdoo, or Walton. Strong second act in Milwaukee; Lanier was traded partway through the 1979-80 season, joining the Bucks when they were 29-27. They went 20-6 down the stretch, and 60-22 the next season. Lanier's number 16 jersey was retired by both the Pistons and Bucks.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar repeatedly named Lanier among the toughest opponents he ever faced, once as a joke but also more seriously. Kareem's other shout-outs were for Nate Thurmond (which should be expected, see note above) and Bill Walton (in Airplane!).

Dan Issel
Kentucky Colonels, 1970-75; Denver Nuggets, 1975-85
Center / Power forward
27,482 points (22.6); 11,133 rebounds (9.1); 2,907 assists (2.4)
50.1% 2P, 20.4% 3P, 79.3% FT, 55.9% TS
158 Wins Shares, .181 WS/48, WSHM 168.7

Fourteenth all-time in points scored, also averaged over nine rebounds per game. 25th all-time in Win Shares, between Jerry West (163) and Magic Johnson (156). 28th in WSHM, between Hakeem Olajuwon (169.4) and Bob Pettit (166.0).

One of 22 players with over 20,000 points and 10,000 rebounds: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone, Julius Erving, Dirk Nowitzki, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor, Artis Gilmore, Patrick Ewing, Elvin Hayes, Pau Gasol, Robert Parish, Walt Bellamy, and Dan Issel.

Bob McAdoo
Buffalo Braves, 1972-76; New York Knicks, 1976-79; Boston Celtics, 1979; Detroit Pistons, 1979-81; New Jersey Nets, 1981; Los Angeles Lakers, 1981-85; Philadelphia 76ers, 1985-86
Center / Power forward
18,787 points (22.1); 8,048 rebounds (9.4); 1,951 assists (2.3)
50.4% 2P, 8.1% 3P, 75.4% FT, 55.1% TS
89 Wins Shares, .151 WS/48, WSHM 112.0

1975 NBA MVP, runner-up two other years. One of just 21 players with three or more top-two MVP finishes. Only center other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win first-team All-NBA from 1971-77. Three-time NBA scoring leader, 1974 leader in field goal percentage, 1975 rebounding leader.

McAdoo and Issel were early stretch fives, natural power forwards who used quickness to excel as centers, but who weren't as defensively sound as some of their peers, since they had difficulty holding their ground in the paint against the likes of an Abdul-Jabbar or Gilmore.

Alonzo Mourning
Charlotte Hornets, 1992-95; Miami Heat, 1995-2002, 2004-08; New Jersey Nets, 2003-04
Center
14,311 points (17.1); 7,137 rebounds (8.5); 946 assists (1.1)
53.0% 2P, 24.7% 3P, 69.2% FT, 58.3% TS
90 Wins Shares, .166 WS/48, WSHM 116.5

Seven-time All-Star. First-team All-NBA in 1999. Back-to-back top-three MVP finishes. Two-time Defensive Player of the Year, twelfth since 1974 in blocked shots.

Rudy Gobert
Utah Jazz, 2013-22; Minnesota Timberwolves, 2022-25
Center
10,458 points (12.6); 9,700 rebounds (11.7); 1,123 assists (1.4)
65.8% 2P, 0.0% 3P, 64.1% FT, 67.3% TS
116 Wins Shares, .219 WS/48, WSHM 151.8

All-NBA four times. Four-time Defensive Player of the Year, tied for the most in history. All-time leader in true shooting percentage. Led NBA twice each in rebounds and blocked shots, and three times each in field goal percentage and true shooting percentage.

He's sometimes underrated because he's played in small markets, he's not American, and his greatest skills — shooting efficiency and defense — are often overlooked. He also has a reputation for flopping and throwing little tantrums, plus there was that time he made fun of people worrying about coronavirus and then immediately caught it. Anyway, a lot of people don't like him, but if he's the worst player of all time, it sure is tricky for him to camouflage it with league leads for rebounding, blocks, and shooting efficiency. Advanced metrics like plus/minus show him as an elite player, as well.

The Jazz made the playoffs for six seasons in a row with Gobert, but haven't made it since he left. The T-Wolves have made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row with Rudy.

Joel Embiid
Philadelphia 76ers, 2014-25
Center
12,523 points (27.7); 4,987 rebounds (11.0); 1,658 assists (3.7)
54.0% 2P, 33.9% 3P, 82.8% FT, 61.3% TS
65 Wins Shares, .216 WS/48, WSHM 99.8

Has to stay healthy. He's only played 452 games, but he's a seven-time All-Star and five times All-NBA, and he was top-two in MVP voting in three consecutive seasons, including a win in 2023.

I'm sure some people will think this rank is too low for Embiid, but he has played more than 51 games in a season only four times, and has never played 70 games. I don't see how someone who's had three-quarters of a great regular season four times, and has never reached the Conference Finals, can rank among the 65 greatest players of all time.

I should probably address why I have Embiid (452 games) ahead of Bill Walton (468 games). Both have one MVP award, and both have careers limited by persistent injuries. Walton only played one 2,000-minute season*. Embiid has three 2,000-minute seasons. Embiid actually has played 1,000 more regular-season minutes (14,407) than Walton (13,250).

* A 2,000-minute season is 80 games of 25 mpg, 67 games of 30 mpg, or 57 games of 35 mpg.

We do not have full games started data for Walton's career, but in his last five seasons, Walton played 245 games with only 117 starts. That means he started a maximum of 340 games in his career, one hundred fewer than Embiid. Furthermore, some of Embiid's seasons were shortened not by his own health, but by the COVID-19 pandemic — he has many fewer missed games than Walton.

Walton's 468 games were spread out over ten years (or 13, depending on how you think about it), so he only had three impact seasons. Embiid's career is more condensed, so he has at least five impact seasons. Walton played very well with the Clippers in 1979 — for 337 minutes. Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong, but I just don't see how that adds much to his legacy.

Embiid is a seven-time All-Star, compared to two for Walton. Embiid has five All-NBA selections, compared to two for Walton. Embiid averages more ppg, rpg, and apg. He has scored more than twice as many points (12,523) as Walton (6,215). I have nothing against Bill Walton; on the contrary, I think he was a great man and it would please me to rank him highly. He does have more postseason success than Embiid, but I don't think it's enough.

The Big Group, part two: Power Forwards

This is the same tier as the ten centers above.