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THE ATHLETIC’s full ranking of the NBA’s top 75 players of all-time

Just when you thought the whole NBA 75 best players thing was done, the NBA all-star weekend brought it back.

The star-studded weekend saw approximately 50 of the living players fly into Cleveland to come together for some group photos, handshakes, hugging, smack-talk and smiles. When the NBA announced the list, they smartly decided to release the list without ranking the players.

With so many clicks and social media comments to be had, you know the media couldn’t leave the list unranked so The Athletic decided to take the NBA’s list, throw it away, and do their own rankings of the league’s best 75 players of all-time.

Here’s what they came up with:

THE ATHLETIC x NBA 75 LIST
RANK PLAYER
1 MICHAEL JORDAN
2 LEBRON JAMES
3 KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
4 BILL RUSSELL
5 MAGIC JOHNSON
6 WILT CHAMBERLAIN
7 LARRY BIRD
8 SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
9 TIM DUNCAN
10 KOBE BRYANT
11 HAKEEM OLAJUWON
12 OSCAR ROBERTSON
13 KEVIN DURANT
14 JERRY WEST
15 STEPHEN CURRY
16 KARL MALONE
17 KEVIN GARNETT
18 MOSES MALONE
19 JULIUS ERVING
20 DAVID ROBINSON
21 DIRK NOWITZKI
22 CHARLES BARKLEY
23 ELGIN BAYLOR
24 GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
25 JOHN STOCKTON
26 ISIAH THOMAS
27 RICK BARRY
28 DWYANE WADE
29 JOHN HAVLICEK
30 CHRIS PAUL
31 BOB PETTIT
32 SCOTTIE PIPPEN
33 JAMES HARDEN
34 KAWHI LEONARD
35 GEORGE MIKAN
36 JASON KIDD
37 PATRICK EWING
38 STEVE NASH
39 BOB COUSY
40 ALLEN IVERSON
41 ELVIN HAYES
42 GEORGE GERVIN
43 CLYDE DREXLER
44 WILLIS REED
45 WALT FRAZIER
46 RUSSELL WESTBROOK
47 REGGIE MILLER
48 GARY PAYTON
49 KEVIN MCHALE
50 PAUL PIERCE
51 DOMINIQUE WILKINS
52 RAY ALLEN
53 ANTHONY DAVIS
54 BOB MCADOO
55 TRACY MCGRADY
56 DWIGHT HOWARD
57 DAVE COWENS
58 EARL MONROE
59 JAMES WORTHY
60 WES UNSELD
61 DOLPH SCHAYES
62 DENNIS RODMAN
63 CARMELO ANTHONY
64 BILL WALTON
65 CHRIS WEBBER
66 BILLY CUNNINGHAM
67 TINY ARCHIBALD
68 DAMIAN LILLARD
69 ALONZO MOURNING
70 HAL GREER
71 ALEX ENGLISH
72 JERRY LUCAS
73 PETE MARAVICH
74 ROBERT PARISH
75 LENNY WILKENS

The things about these lists that aren’t surprising and that have the best odds is that Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and LeBron James will definitely be in the top quarter of the list. The great things about these lists is that they include come of the more obvious omissions from the NBA’s official list; seeing players that were snubbed by the NBA’s list like Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady and Alonzo Mourning get their due.

Still, the list is not without its flaws. We still find it amazing to see these lists include players like Anthony Davis and Bill Walton. The former is a injury-prone player that wouldn’t likely even make the Hall of Fame if they were to retire today. And Bill Walton may have had a couple amazing seasons in Portland, but we would certainly have omitted him because of his lack of longevity. Did Walton have a better overall career than a player like Dikembe Mutomobo?

But that’s the point of these lists, aren’t they? The Athletic wasn’t happy with the NBA’s official NBA 75 list and they made their own. Interbasket isn’t happy with The Athletics list, so we write a story about how it’s lacking. If we were to make a list, there’s approximately a zero percent chance that everyone would agree with it.

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