Top 25 all-time by tiers

[ProcessDoctor]

OP got it right.

[SpreeS]

MJ

KAJ LJB

Magic Bird Duncan Hakeem ONeal Russell Wilt

Kobe West Oscar Dirk KG KD Curry Malone Moses Erving DRob

Paul Pippen Stockton Nash Barkley Mikan Baylor Pettit Harden Wade Drexler

[Masterfully]

Why is it always round numbers and multiples of 5 or 10? How come nobody ever asks "Top 37 all-time by tiers"?

Because we’re not savages?

[HBK_Kliq_33]

Tier 1: Jordan Duncan LeBron

Tier 2: Kareem Hakeem Shaq Wilt Russell

Tier 3: Bird KG Kobe Magic

[clyde21]

Why is it always round numbers and multiples of 5 or 10? How come nobody ever asks "Top 37 all-time by tiers"?

u just wanna see the world burn huh

[Dupp]

No criteria? I explained it

This is a really good list. Pretty much agree entirely. Only complaint is Nash, did you forget him or do not rate him?

[Metta World WAR]

ITT: Millennials coming up with variant of participation trophies in an attempt to rationalize the cognitive dissonance of their entire youth and early adulthood upon realization that Lebron James was never greater than Michael Jordan, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for that matter. You could make arguments for Lebron vs. some others listed, but you'd most likely be wrong.

[statsman]

I have 3 tiers, I think.

Top 3: Wilt - MJ - LeBron

Next 7: Kareem - Russell - Magic - Shaq - Bird - Olajuwon - Duncan

Next 15: Oscar - D Rob - KG - Dr J - West - K Malone - Kobe - Curry - Durant - Dirk - Moses - Barkley - Wade - Stockton - CP3

I expect Curry to crack the 2nd tier before all is said and done.

I don't know who I would remove to put Curry (or Durant, for that matter) into the top 10. Even getting Curry into the top 15 might be a press. I love the guy, but I just don't know.

[DutchManDanFan]

Tier 1 (there can only be 1 goat)
Michael Jordan

Tier 2 (all time great)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Wilt Chamberlain
Bill Russell

Tier 3 (legends)
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O'neal

Tier 4 (very good)
Jerry West
Karl Malone
Oscar Robertson
Moses Malone
Kevin Durant
Julius Erving
Steph Curry
Kevin Garnett
Dirk Nowitzki
Elgin Baylor
John Stockton
Isiah Thomas
David Robinson
Charles Barkley
And some more

[TheNG]

Tier 1
Michael Jordan

Tier 2
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Bill Russell

Tier 3
Tim Duncan
LeBron James
Wilt Chamberlain
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Kobe Bryant
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O'neal


Lebron has done nothing to put him in the same tier as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Russell.
More than that, he has done nothing to put him in a higher tier than Tim Duncan.

[TheGOATRises007]

Tier 1: Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kareem Abdul-Jaabar
Tier 2: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain
Tier 3: Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon
Tier 4: Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Dwyane Wade, Barkley
Tier 5: Kevin Garnett, David Robinson, John Stockton, Elgin Baylor, Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas, some more

[clyde21]

T1 - Jordan, LeBron, Kareem
T2 - Duncan, Russell, Wilt, Magic
T3 - Bird, Shaq, Hakeem
T4 - Garnett, Kobe, Big O, Nowitzki, KD, Steph, Malone, Robinson, Dr. J, Barkley
T5 - Logo, D-Wade, Moses, Nash, CP3

[sophie23]

Generational game changer Stephen Curry is out of any tier. Please.

For the sake of respect of any competitiveness barkley and stockton should be above Durant. He has not proven himself yet.

Sent from my SLA-L22 using RealGM mobile app

[Moonbeam]

Haven't thought super hard about this for awhile, but I'd probably go with something like this (unranked within tiers):

Tier 1:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Michael Jordan

Tier 2:

Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Russell

Tier 3:

Kobe Bryant, Julius Erving, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone, Dirk Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West

Tier 4:

Charles Barkley, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, George Mikan, Moses Malone, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Bob Pettit, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Dwyane Wade

Tier 5:

Ray Allen, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Clyde Drexler, Artis Gilmore, James Harden, John Havlicek, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, Kevin McHale, Reggie Miller, Gary Payton, Paul Pierce, Willis Reed, Dolph Schayes, Isiah Thomas, Russell Westbrook

Worth considering (Tier 6?):

Paul Arizin, Chauncey Billups, Bob Cousy, Dave Cowens, Adrian Dantley, Anthony Davis, Alex English, Pau Gasol, George Gervin, Manu Ginobili, Elvin Hayes, Kevin Johnson, Sam Jones, Bob Lanier, Tracy McGrady, Sidney Moncrief, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Robert Parish, Nate Thurmond, Dominique Wilkins

[SkyHookFTW]

I have 3 tiers, I think.

Top 3: Wilt - MJ - LeBron

Next 7: Kareem - Russell - Magic - Shaq - Bird - Olajuwon - Duncan

Next 15: Oscar - D Rob - KG - Dr J - West - K Malone - Kobe - Curry - Durant - Dirk - Moses - Barkley - Wade - Stockton - CP3

I expect Curry to crack the 2nd tier before all is said and done.

Nice list, but I put Kareem in Tier 1 as well. That’s my Mt. Rushmore.

[Veez]

anyone that lumps kobe in a tier with barkley, oscar, no ring malone, david fking robinson lol, and CP3, or in a tier below bird and hakeem is clearly trolling lol. Why do I feel like these threads are just another way to throw shade at THE most disrespected all time great? You got your opinion and thats fine i guess but I trust the opinion of players that actually played the game AND routinely place kobe much much higher than any one of you mountain dew drinking neckbeards playing 2k in your moms basement

[Deivork]

Why is it always round numbers and multiples of 5 or 10? How come nobody ever asks "Top 37 all-time by tiers"?

I think you can answer that one yourself. But I get your point, I think. It might look arbitrary, but you gotta put a limit somewhere.

Or another nice way to frame it would be, make your top 4/5/6 tiers, list no less than 20 players and no more than 40. But that's kinda messy.

[Deivork]

Decent list. What's your rationale for Wade over Curry?

Yeah, with a Top-25 you gotta leave some very good candidates outside... I struggled between I. Thomas, Curry, Barkley, Wade and Robinson for the last spots.

I'm already very tempted to put Curry in for Wade actually, but my initial rationale was because of the impressive 2006 run.

Then, both have 3 titles. But Curry got more help. Wade was more consistent in the playoffs. Wade never won an MVP, but i give not so much value to this because so much is contextual. But yeah, I should probably swap them. Curry revolutionized the game. I'm gonna.

[Deivork]

After reading some of your comments, I'm leaning more towards an open number of players list, just divided by tiers.

Locking it at 25 definitely feels arbitrary.

Thanks for your comments ya'll!

[Deivork]

No criteria? I explained it

This is a really good list. Pretty much agree entirely. Only complaint is Nash, did you forget him or do not rate him?

Kinda both. I definitely overlooked him. But he's not making my Top-25. As much as I loved his game, other players have more merits over him. The MVP award is not meaningless, but it's too biased by media narratives so it doesn't often equal best player.