CBS Sports' 50 greatest NBA players of all time

[Lord Cuban]

Twenty years ago, at halftime of the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, the NBA celebrated its 50 greatest players in history in a ceremony that remains one of the most iconic tributes we’ve seen in sports. The players out on that floor, in those jackets, made for a surreal collection of talent representing past and present.

Now, as we near the 20-year anniversary of that event at this year’s All-Star festivities in New Orleans, we thought it would be a good time to go back to that list and do some adjusting with two extra decades of evolving evaluation and new players to consider.

Taking the average ranking of our seven panelists, we came to the conclusion that nine active players have done enough to earn a spot on the all-time top 50 list, while 19 players from the original list -- including Robert Parrish, Bill Walton, Tiny Archibald and James Worthy -- have fallen out.

And so, without further ado, let the debating begin as we present to you a revised ranking of our 50 greatest players in NBA history.

1. Michael Jordan
2. LeBron James
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Magic Johnson
5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
6. Bill Russell
7. Tim Duncan
8. Larry Bird
9. Shaquille O’Neal
10. Kobe Bryant
11. Hakeem Olajuwon
12. Oscar Robertson
13. Jerry West
14. Moses Malone
15. Kevin Garnett
16. Karl Malone
17. Dirk Nowitzki
18. Julius Erving
19. Stephen Curry
20. Charles Barkley
21. Chris Paul
22. Scottie Pippen
23. John Stockton
24. Kevin Durant
25. Dwyane Wade
26. Elgin Baylor
27. David Robinson
28. Steve Nash
29. Jason Kidd
30. Clyde Drexler
31. Patrick Ewing
32. Walt Frazier
33. John Havlicek
34. Allen Iverson
35. Isiah Thomas
36. Bob Cousy
37. George Mikan
38. Paul Pierce
39. Rick Barry
40. Dolph Schayes
41. Elvin Hayes
42. Gary Payton
43. George Gervin
44. Kevin McHale
45. Bob Pettit
46. Ray Allen
47. Reggie Miller
48. Dominique Wilkins
49. Dwight Howard
50. Kawhi Leonard

From: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/cbs-sports-50-greatest-nba-players-of-all-time-where-do-lebron-curry-rank/

Red = a bit overrated or Big time overrated
Blue = a bit underrated or big time underrated

[AdagioPace]

Pippen over Robinson LMAO
Curry over Wade,CP3 and Durant ...mmm

Leonard 50th all time is a bit premature but I can understand the reasoning behind ( if we go by potential, Harden deserves a mention too though)

[juice4080]

recency bias nothing more to see...kiddies will like it

[Im Your Father]

I've seen worse lists, but Robinson is way too low.

[Dr Positivity]

By usual standards is a pretty decent list. Curry and DRob should probably be flipped, Kobe didn't have a better career than Oscar/West and that's disrespectful to Pettit

[cpower]

Allen Iverson

[SkyHookFTW]

Allen Iverson

A.I. is an owner's wet dream. He filled stadiums because fans loved him. The NBA is entertainment, the entertainment is for the fans, and the fans loved to watch A.I. play. I understand why he is ranked that high.

[Amares]

Pretty good list, they don't seem to be looking on historic players like on some mythical gods, and it's very unusual, especially looking on most lists today.

[Ron Swanson]

Even though I think he can certainly end up there, I vehemently disagree with the thought that Steph Curry is already a top-20 player in the history of basketball. Recency bias is a powerful drug.

[trex_8063]

As most of these media-produced (from either a single sports pundit, or a small panel of journalists) lists go, this one is not near as bad as some of them. Anybody recall that one list from that long-time SI journalist (whose name is eluding me right now.....Frank Deford???)? THAT list was godawful. I recall a terrible one from.....I think it was the sports journalists/editors of a Boston newspaper???, which was also cluelessly poor, too.

Disclaimer: Before ThaRegular chimes in about opinions and differing criteria, I hope he will at least take into consideration my posting history (I do acknowledge the potential validity of differing criteria-related values, I bristle at absolutist language when stating opinions [even if the opinion in question mirrors my own], etc). But these lists I'm referring to above were sporadically awful under ANY conceivable lens of scrutiny. They contained positions which (imo, ) are utterly indefensible (by any rational or evidence-based means); things like Dave Bing ahead of Dirk Nowitzki, for example.
Additionally, they lacked any discernible vein of consistency. One doesn't have to agree with my criteria and my way of seeing things.....but at least be consistent in your own methods. These were not [in any way I could see]. Rather they seemed nearly arbitrary collections of famous names.

Anyway, back to the list at hand.....
Not that this one is without obvious [to me] flaw, but it's certainly better than those mentioned above. There are a few positions that are virtually indefensible to me. Probably most striking are David Robinson at #27 and Bob Pettit at #45; the latter cannot be accounted for by suggesting they're dismissive of that era, either, given Cousy is #36 and Schayes is #40.
I also don't like Kareem out as far as #5, though it's possible if one really doesn't put much value in longevity. Lack of consideration for longevity could account for other potential aberrations such as the positions of Curry and Kawhi (the latter having played only 375 rs games thus far, and really only "superstar level" the last 1.5 seasons). However, if one is so dismissive of longevity (such that one can justify putting Curry at #19 and Kawhi in the top 50 already), I have a hard time seeing how you can justify leaving Bill Walton out of the top 50. Longevity is really just about the ONLY way one could attempt to justify Schayes over Pettit, too, fwiw.


So.....it's kinda bad imo; but prior media-produced lists have conditioned me to expect something so indefensible godawful that I was actually [slightly] pleasantly surprised by the "quality" of this one.

[pastis]

James is difficult to rank. IMO he is clearly better than Chamberlain, who is extremely overrated in this top 50. MJ is the #1, then FOR ME its difficult between KAJ and Lebron.

I would rank shaq higher than #9, probably rank 4.

Dirk Garnett Malone: all between 12-15 IMO, tough I would rank Dirk ahead of Garnett and Malone, but its very very close. In Fact, Dirk, Garnett, Malone, Moses, West, Erving are all very close to each other and more or less interchangeable

Curry is never ever already rank 19, CP3 who never sniffed a WCF is not rank 21 ALL TIME.

[Winsome Gerbil]

I certainly don't agree with everything there, but the only two things that are truly offensive are Robinson way down at #27, and Curry prematurely at #19. That's silly.

Oh, and Magic inexplicably over Kareem? I'd like to see that argument.

[Winsome Gerbil]

James is difficult to rank. IMO he is clearly better than Chamberlain, who is imo extremely overrated in this top 50. MJ is clearly the #1, then FOR ME its difficult between KAJ and Lebron.

I would rank shaq higher than #9, probably rank 4.

Dirk Garnett Malone: all between 12-15 IMO, tough I would rank Dirk ahead of Garnett and Malone, but its very very close. In Fact, Dirk, Garnett, Malone, Moses, West, Erving are imo all very close to each other and more or less interchangeable

Curry is never ever already rank 19, CP3 who never sniffed a WCF is not rank 21 ALL TIME.

Wilt's right about where he belongs. He's just really underrated on this particular board. He was the most special player of the first 25-30 years of the league, and right there with Kareem for the first 40.

[Ambrose]

Curry, Paul and Leonard are way too high. Robinson is way too low. If you move Kareem up to #2 I don't mind the rest.

[SactoKingsFan]

Magic at 4 seems a bit too high, especially with KAJ at 5.

I'm fine with KG at 15 (could be higher) and Karl Malone at 16. With KG you get a legit defensive anchor that's also a all-time great playmaking big who provides spacing with his shooting range. Garnett also peaked higher than Malone. Nothing wrong with Malone at 16 since he's probably the worst playoff performer among the players usually in top 25.

DRob is significantly underrated at 27.

Curry already at 19 is way too high. Isiah, Iverson and Cousy are also overrated on this list.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Colbinii]

Not awful. Certainly some things I disagree with here, but that would be said for every single person's list that isn't Colbini.

[Blackfyre]

Few things that bothered me the most:

1) Kareem should be over Magic.
2) LeBron shouldn't be over KAJ yet.
3) Kawhi hasn't earned his spot.
4) Robinson way too low.
5) Curry way too high.
6) Wade should be over Durant. It will probably happen because of Wade's durability but right now is way too soon.

Otherwise I've seen much worse.

[mischievous]

I must've missed it when Paul, Kd, and Curry leapfrogged Wade and nearly knocked him out of the top 25.

[JordansBulls]

Not totally horrible, but not all that great either. What's Magic's case over Kareem and Russell? At least with Lebron his peak and prime is up there, but Magic doesn't have a better peak nor prime than Kareem nor Russell nor more accolades. What's Pippen's case over Wade or Robinson?
Not sure I agree with Pierce over Barry either.
Hondo too low and no Cowens on the list.

[PCProductions]

What's Pippen's case over Wade or Robinson?

Pippen never lost with HCA.