NBA All-time Player Tiers: The 20 greatest players ever, ranked
Who are the best players in NBA history?
Tier 1) Greatest players of all-time
4) Wilt Chamberlain
3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2) Michael Jordan
1) LeBron James
It’s hard to argue that Wilt Chamberlain wasn’t the most dominant two-way player in NBA history. While blocks weren’t kept during his career, he was considered to be a disruptive shot blocker given his given height at 7’1 and freakish speed and athleticism.
Offensive, Chamberlain put up monster numbers. He led the NBA in scoring his first six seasons, including averaging 50 points per game at the age of 25, not to mention leading the NBA in rebounds 11 times and total assists once. Add in four MVPs, two championship rings, and an NBA Finals MVP, and Wilt was one of the best of the best.
NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar often gets left out of the GOAT discussion but he has an incredibly strong resume. He is second all-time in scoring and blocks and third in rebounds, with six league MVPs, six championships, and two NBA Finals MVPs to show for it.
NBA great Michael Jordan is often the consensus pick for greatest of all-time and his resume is incredibly strong. He averaged 30.1 points per game over his career, a shocking stat. He won 10 scoring titles, made 11 all-NBA first teams, and won 5 NBA MVPs, six champions, and six NBA Finals MVPs.
It’s hard to do much better than that but he comes in at second on this list.
It may be controversial to place LeBron James number one all-time but his dominance and longevity have made him the GOAT. With more than 40,000 points and counting, he has a chance to score more than 10,000 points than Jordan.
That might not even him up in terms of championships, with Jordan beating him out six to four but it should at least be the equivalent of a championship, possibly even two. Factor in a NBA Cup, three Gold Medals, and an NBA record 21 straight All-Star appearances, and LeBron has a strong claim to being the greatest of all-time.
