[The GoatParticipant]

I always see these posts and no one ever agrees. I see some lineups and just scratch my head as to how someone rated player A over player B, but everyone has an opinion with a view through the lens of the era they were familiar with. No doubt someone will think my list is a pile of trash too.
What I know for sure is there is a small group that’ll probably be in everyone’s top 25, and it’ll be roughly about half of that group. I’d like to see what the consensus opinion is here. There’s always arguments that certain guys played against plumbers, but to do that I think you have to also recognise that they may have been tackled when going to the rim, or capable of higher scoring if 3s were more prevalent. Guys played 35mpg in 82 games many years ago, but guys now play against players that are generally bigger and more athletic. So, at the risk of getting into an endless spiral of debate, I’d like to see how different/similar the opinions of this forum are.

1.MJ
2.Magic
3.Kobe
4. Lebron
5. Bird
6. Shaq
7. Duncan
8. Olajuwon
9. Steph
10. Wilt
11. Russell
12. Kareem
13. Durant
14. Stockton
15. Nowitzki
16. Barkley
17. Pippen
18. K. Malone
19. M. Malone
20. Wade
21. Kawhi
22. Dr J
23. West
24. Iverson
25. Isiah

No Boban. Sorry to disappoint.

[CoachWyersParticipant]

 Don’t have time to do a Top 25 this morning before work, but not too long ago I did my Top 10

1.Kareem Abdul Jabbar

2. Michael Jordan

3. Bill Russell

4. Kobe Bryant
5. Lebron James
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Magic Johnson
8. Tim Duncan
9. Shaquille O’Neal
10. Larry Bird

[HobbyOGParticipant]

 I like that you have Kareem number 1…dude doesn’t get the respect he deserves…can’t believe dude who posted had him out of the top 10..wow..

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

 yeah… but magic #7??? he had me until i saw that…

 

top 5 of all time in no order

michael

magic

kareem

Bill Russell

Larry Legend

 

Lebron comes close after them in my book.

[eyefortalentParticipant]

 I saw Wilt and Kareem play and Wilt was better and it wasn’t even close and Wilt was passed his prime when he  Kareem came into the league. A young Wilt would’ve destroyed Kareem. The current generation is clueless to the true greatness of Wilt. Just go on YouTube and you will see comment from thousands of people who saw Wilt played and think he’s the GOAT.

[cheetosjalapeno17Participant]

 1. Jordan
 2. Lebron
 3. Kareem
 4. Magic
 5. Bird
 6. Duncan
 7. Russell 
 8. Wilt
 9. Kobe
 10. Steph

[dcaseParticipant]

Top 5, 10, 25 is a never ending debate and certain players will be on someones list but left off of anothers.  With that being said, no Top 25 list should be without The Big O.  

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

 Not everyone will have a consensus Top 25. But 95% of  fans will say the best sg is Jordan.Best pg is Magic Johnson. Duncan best pg and LeBron has become the best sf of All Time. The Center position is still a debate. 

[EndlessknightParticipant]

Bird averaged 10rpg for his career, he’s easily a stretch 4 by today’s standards and was way better than Duncan.

[TRC1991Participant]

Kobe is only top 5 on fanboy lists – not actual NBA historian/knowledgable people’s lists

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 Coming up with an accurate top 25 list is essentially an impossible task. You can’t possibly compare guys who played the bulk of their careers in the 50s-60s-70s to guys who play now. It’s just a completely different game. We’re even getting to the point where it’s getting difficult to compare guys who played in the 80s and 90s to today. The skill sets of the players and the game in general just evolves with each generation. You can really only judge guys by what they did against the competition they faced at the time they played. You can’t reasonably project how guys would have done in different eras. 

[OhCanada-Participant]

 Its impossible for me to make a proper list as it is for most of us who never had a chance to watch Wilt, Kareem, Russell etc. play. But I’ll give it a shot anyways.

1.MJ

2.Magic

3.Kobe

4. Lebron

5. Bird

6. Shaq

7. Duncan

8. Olajuwon

9. Matt Bonner

10. Wilt

11. Russell

12. Kareem

13. Durant

14. Stockton

15. Nowitzki

16. Barkley

17. Pippen

18. K. Malone

19. M. Malone

20. Wade

21. Kawhi

22. Dr J

23. West

24. Iverson

25. Isiah

[Cutler06Participant]

 MATT Fricken BONNER……..LMAO

[Cutler06Participant]

 Anyone ever heard of Oscar Robertson  ???

[2quick4uParticipant]

I think it is not an easy task to place each player exactly in the right spot but in the other hand i think that it is feasible to place players under tiers, although players from same tier are likely to be exchanged.

I’ll do my top 10 with the tiers that are clear to me and i’ll place each player in the spot i believe they deserve, then i’ll just finish the rest of top25.

TIER 1: 

1. MJ

TIER 2:

2. Bill Russell

3. Magic Johnson

TIER 3:

4. Shaq

5. Duncan

6. Lebron

7. Bird

TIER 4:

8. Kobe

9. Kareem

10 Wilt Chamberlain

…………………………….

11. Curry

12. Havlicek

13. Bob Pettit

14. Nowitzki

15. Olajuwon

16. Dr. J

17. Moses Malone

18. Willis Reed

19. Kawhi Leonard

20. Isiah Thomas

21. Rick Barry

22. Kevin Durant

23. Elgyn Baylor

24. Jerry West

25. Oscar Robertson

[Author]

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