3 players that define each decade in your opinion?

[StepBackCrack]

1960's - Wilt, Russell, West.
1970's - Kareem, Dr. J, Havlicek.
1980's - Magic, Bird, M. Melone.
1990's - MJ, Hakeem, K. Melone.
2000's - Duncan, Shaq, Kobe.
2010's - LeBron, Durant, Curry.

[eminence]

Bummer to guys who split their dominance between decades (Barkley/Shaq come to mind).

Don't really know for the 50's.
60's - Russell/Wilt easily, then I'd go with Oscar over West, but really it's the big 4 then everybody else.
70's - KAJ as runaway #1, DrJ as runaway #2, and I'd actually pick Gilmore for #3. Dominant in the ABA for the first half of the decade, then great in the NBA too. That fro. Lots of contenders for #3 (Hondo/Barry/Issel/Hayes/Frazier/Lanier).
80's - Bird/Magic as 1a/1b in whatever order you want. Agreed that Moses was #3. KAJ probably came closer than anybody else to getting on two lists.
90's - Jordan #1. Bit tough after that... I think any of Hakeem/Robinson/Malone are worthy choices.
00's - Duncan/KG/Kobe. The era of the PF. Kobe just edged out Dirk for #3.
10's - Lebron/Durant/CP3. Curry's coming for Pauls spot. Harden might be my #5.

[Narigo]

60s
1.Wilt
2.Russell
3.Robertson

HM: West

70s
1.Kareem
2.Erving
3.Gilmore

HM: Hondo, Frazier, and, Barry

80s
1.Bird
2.Magic
3.Kareem

HM: Moses and Jordan

90s
1. Jordan
2. Hakeem
3. Karl

HM: Robinson and Shaq

00s
1.Duncan
2.Garnett
3.Kobe

HM: Dirk, Shaq, and LeBron

10s
1.LeBron
2.Durant
3.Paul

HM:Curry

[HeartBreakKid]

I suppose this means when ever we think of a decade, what players pop up in our minds?

60s: Russell, Chamberlain, Robertson

70s: Dr.J, Abdul-Jabar, Frazier

80s: Magic, Bird, Jordan

90s: Jordan, Olajuwon, Barkley

00: O'Neal, Duncan, Bryant

10: James, Curry, Durant

[Dr Positivity]

50s: Mikan, Cousy, Pettit
60s: Russell, Wilt, Oscar
70s: Kareem, Erving, Frazier
80s: Magic, Bird, Isiah
90s: Jordan, Hakeem, Malone
00s: Shaq, Duncan, Kobe
10s: Lebron, Curry, Durant

[SlowPaced]

50s: Mikan, Cousy, Pettit
60s: Wilt, Russell, Oscar
70s: Kareem, Erving, Frazier
80s: Magic, Bird, Jordan
90s: Jordan, Hakeem, Malone
00s: Shaq, Duncan, Kobe
10s: LeBron, Curry, Durant

[penbeast0]

One point, in terms of defining the decades, to me that doesn't mean necessarily the best player but the one that epitomized the era. So, for the 70s, I would have Kareem (have to!) and Erving (if you care at all about the ABA it's a no brainer) but for the 3rd, I might go with someone like David Thompson or Marvin Barnes who had all the talent in the world but burned it out on the star mentality and/or cocaine. Similarly I would have Iverson for his decade even though I didn't like his game and don't have him in the top 3 players of his era but his stylistic influence is greater than better players.

[feyki]

40's - Leroy Edwards , Bob McDermott , Bob Davies
50's - George Mikan , Dolph Schayes , Bob Cousy/Paul Arizin
60's - Bill Russell , Wilt Chamberlain , Oscar Robertson
70's - Kareem Abdul Jabbar , Julius Erving , Dave Cowens
80's - Larry Bird , Magic Johnson , Isiah Thomas
90's - Michael Jordan , Hakeem Olajuwon , Charles Barkley
00's - Tim Duncan , Kobe Bryant , Dirk Nowitzki/Kevin Garnett
10's - Lebron James , Kevin Durant , Stephen Curry

..

[Quotatious]

40's - Leroy Edwards , Bob McDermott , Bob Davies
50's - George Mikan , Dolph Schayes , Bob Cousy/Paul Arizin
60's - Bill Russell , Wilt Chamberlain , Oscar Robertson
70's - Kareem Abdul Jabbar , Julius Erving , Dave Cowens
80's - Larry Bird , Magic Johnson , Isiah Thomas
90's - Michael Jordan , Hakeem Olajuwon , Charles Barkley
00's - Tim Duncan , Kobe Bryant , Dirk Nowitzki/Kevin Garnett
10's - Lebron James , Kevin Durant , Stephen Curry

..

Joe Fulks has to be one of the guys for the 40s.

Also, really no Shaq for 2000s?!

[Texas Chuck]

One point, in terms of defining the decades, to me that doesn't mean necessarily the best player but the one that epitomized the era. So, for the 70s, I would have Kareem (have to!) and Erving (if you care at all about the ABA it's a no brainer) but for the 3rd, I might go with someone like David Thompson or Marvin Barnes who had all the talent in the world but burned it out on the star mentality and/or cocaine. Similarly I would have Iverson for his decade even though I didn't like his game and don't have him in the top 3 players of his era but his stylistic influence is greater than better players.

Agreed. Like how you can have players who rep the 80's and not include one of the scoring SF's, particularly one of the low-post guys. It's one of the first things that comes to mind about the 80's. Shaq gets screwed by his career arc, Dirk and KG are arguably 2 of the 3 best overall players of the 00's, but individually they don't define the decade nearly as much as Duncan or Kobe do.

50's Mikan. Doesn't need any more guys
60's Russell followed by Wilt. Oscar/West great players but this was a decade ruled by bigs
70's Kareem and the Doctor
80's Magic and Bird obviously but then it feels like it needs Dantley or English or the like.
90's Mike and Pippen as a duo along with Karl Malone. Apologies to Shaq and Dream and Admiral
00's Duncan and Kobe
10's It's all about Lebron. He is the dominant figure and no one else approaches him

[feyki]

40's - Leroy Edwards , Bob McDermott , Bob Davies
50's - George Mikan , Dolph Schayes , Bob Cousy/Paul Arizin
60's - Bill Russell , Wilt Chamberlain , Oscar Robertson
70's - Kareem Abdul Jabbar , Julius Erving , Dave Cowens
80's - Larry Bird , Magic Johnson , Isiah Thomas
90's - Michael Jordan , Hakeem Olajuwon , Charles Barkley
00's - Tim Duncan , Kobe Bryant , Dirk Nowitzki/Kevin Garnett
10's - Lebron James , Kevin Durant , Stephen Curry

..

Joe Fulks has to be one of the guys for the 40s.

Also, really no Shaq for 2000s?!

BAA was like ABA to NBA , to the NBL when he playing dominant . He wasn't as great as other three .

Shaq played in two decades along his prime . And had not great longevity like Lebron , he didn't play half of the decade as elite .

[Johnlac1]

Difficult to pick three. I usually use five not only because of the difficulty in selecting the top three but five is also a team. And I don't count players who played less than half a decade. That's sort of tough on some players who started in the middle of the decade.
'50s....Mikan, Cousy, Arizin, Pettit, Schayes, h.m Yardley, Sharman, Stokes,
'60s....Chamberlain, Russell, Robertson, Baylor, West h.m. Reed, Thurmond,Havlicek, S.Jones, B.Cunningham
'70s....KAJ, Barry, Frazier, Dr. J, McAdoo h.m. Maravich, Walton, Hudson, Archibald, Cowens, Lanier
'80s....Bird, M. Johnson, McHale, Malone, Drexler h.m. Wilkins, I. Thomas, Moncrief, Parrish, Worthy
'90s....Jordan, Pippen, Olajuwon, Barkley, Stockton...h.m. Malone, Kemp, Ewing, Miller, Robinson
'00....."O'Neal, Bryant, Kidd, Duncan, Wade.....h.m. Nowitzki, Garnett, McGrady, Parker, Iverson

You can see how difficult it is to select top three or even top five players. Some decades have almost ten players who could be top five for their decade.

[trex_8063]

1950's
George Mikan
Bob Cousy
Bob Pettit
(HM to Dolph Schayes and Paul Arizin)

1960's
Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Jerry West

1970's
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Julius Erving
....idk about the third; I feel like it's Bill Walton or Walt Frazier (though HM's to Artis Gilmore and George Gervin, and honestly maybe even Earl Monroe--->his flash and ushering in of new style makes him sort of iconic for the time period, imo, though as an overall talent he's far below the other names mentioned)

1980's
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Moses Malone or Michael Jordan

1990's
Michael Jordan
Karl Malone
Hakeem Olajuwon

2000's
Shaquille O'Neal
Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant
(HM to Steve Nash)

2010's
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
either Stephen Curry (quickly becoming him) or Chris Paul

[dautjazz]

1960's - Wilt, Russell, West.
1970's - Kareem, Dr. J, Havlicek.
1980's - Magic, Bird, M. Melone.
1990's - MJ, Hakeem, K. Melone.
2000's - Duncan, Shaq, Kobe.
2010's - LeBron, Durant, Curry.

1950s - Mikan, Cousy, Pettit
1960s - Wilt, Russell, Robertson
1970s - Kareem, Dr. J, Frazier
1980s - Magic, Bird, Moses
1990s - MJ, Hakeem, Malone
2000s - Duncan, Shaq, Kobe
2010s - Lebron, Durant, Curry

- Kind of hard for me to pick Curry because he really just blew up on the scene, but yeah his accomplishments are bigger than any others. Chris Paul probably has the best argument vs Curry.