Everyone enjoys debating their respective rankings of the greatest NBA players of all-time. What’s ironic, though, is that many people weren’t alive to watch players like Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, or even Magic Johnson and Larry Bird while they were in the prime of their careers. In my case, I never saw Michael Jordan play while he was a member of the Bulls. So who am I to definitively say that LeBron James is better than MJ?
However, I can certainly provide an authoritative opinion as to the best players of the past two decades. And with players like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant climbing the leaderboard with respect to championship rings, it is certainly an appropriate time to release the following list ranking the ten greatest NBA players who played the majority of their careers in the 21st century.
Honorable Mentions: Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, James Harden, Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen
10 Steve Nash
The former Suns point guard cracks the top ten thanks primarily to his two MVP trophies won during the 04-05 and 05-06 campaigns. Nash also stands out from a statistical perspective because he led the NBA in assists per game on five occasions during the 2000’s while also posting remarkably efficient shooting numbers (in his ten seasons with Phoenix, Nash shot 43.5% from downtown and over 90% from the free-throw line).
What’s holding him back? It’s obvious: no NBA Finals appearances.
9 Kevin Garnett
As evidenced by the fact that he had nearly as many All-NBA defensive team selections (eleven) as All-Star appearances (thirteen) since 2000, Garnett is one of the greatest two-way players of all-time. At his peak, the future Hall of Famer was also one of the most dominant players of his era: his 18.33 win shares in his MVP-winning 2003-04 season, for instance, still measures as the 6th highest single-season total this century. And in many respects, he was the focal point of the 2008 Boston Celtics championship team as well.
The only knock on Garnett relative to the other legendary players on this list is that he was not a prolific scorer (his career average was just 17.8 per game). He also had trouble leading his Timberwolves on deep playoff runs, taking Minnesota out of the first round just once in his fourteen seasons there.
8 Kevin Durant
Surprised to see Durant a bit lower than expected? I’ll admit, it was a tough call. But while the two-time Finals MVP and four-time scoring champion is one of the greatest offensive players to ever play the game, we can’t forget how Durant needed to join a 73-win team in order to overcome his consistent failure to come through in big moments for the Oklahoma City Thunder. All of the players above him on this list, in contrast, were largely responsible for guiding their teams to championships.
7 Dirk Nowitzki
The Mavericks’ legend embodies consistent excellence, as Nowitzki is one of only four players this century to receive at least twelve All-NBA selections. Dirk’s resume is also supported by his terrific 2011 postseason in which he averaged 27.7 points per game while leading a relatively thin Dallas roster to the franchise’s first championship over LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
He comes at #7 on this list despite having nowhere near the defensive or rebounding abilities of other premier power forwards like Garnett or Tim Duncan.
6 Dwyane Wade
There is almost unanimous agreement that Wade is the third greatest shooting guard of all-time after Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Makes sense why: Wade is a three-time champion and, at his peak, a perennial All-Star. And even though he lacks a couple of landmark awards such as a regular season MVP, Wade’s accomplishments also include one scoring title in 2008-09 and a remarkable 34.7 per game scoring average en route to winning Finals MVP without the help of LeBron in 2006.
5 Stephen Curry
In only a five-year span, Curry has quickly assembled one of the NBA’s most impressive individual resumes: three rings, two MVP’s (one unanimous), one scoring title, and the regular season and postseason records for most made three-pointers. Combined with how his shooting prowess helped revolutionize the sport, Curry’s impact as the centerpiece throughout Golden State’s entire run of dominance is enough for him to crack the top five on this list. And he’s far from finished, too.
When is he going to win that elusive Finals MVP, though?
4 Shaquille O’Neal
Don’t worry: I didn’t forget about the NBA’s most dominant player from the first part of the 21st century. With all due respect to Kobe, Shaq was the driving force of the Lakers’ three consecutive championships in the early 2000’s, as he averaged a remarkable 29.8 points and 14.5 rebounds per game during those three postseasons. Since this list is ranking players strictly on their accomplishments during this century, though, I’ll place O’Neal at #4, particularly given how injuries limited him for most of the 2000’s (he played at least 70 games only three times).
3 Kobe Bryant
A little bit of a ball hog? Sure. But having recorded nine seasons in which he averaged at least 27 points per game, Kobe is arguably the second greatest scorer ever after Jordan. He is also on the shortlist of most accomplished players of his era based on his five championship rings. And let’s not minimize how great Bryant was in other facets: after all, his twelve All-NBA defensive team selections are tied with Kevin Garnett for the second most all-time.
2 Tim Duncan
But you know who has the most All-NBA defensive team selections in NBA history? Tim Duncan. Yet that’s just one of many impressive achievements for the former San Antonio great, as his fourteen All-Star appearances and two MVP awards since 2000 are tied for second-most among players who were active for the majority of this century behind only Kobe Bryant (17 All-Star selections) and LeBron James (4 MVP awards) respectively.
Most noteworthy of all, however, is that Duncan’s Spurs own an NBA record for posting seventeen consecutive 50+ win seasons while the Hall of Famer was active. Oh yeah, and “The Big Fundamental” won five championships — four of which came after 2000. Taken together with his individual accomplishments, Duncan has a slight edge over Kobe.
1 LeBron James
None of these aforementioned players have matched what LeBron James has accomplished this decade, though. Where do we begin? I suppose a great place to start is by mentioning LeBron’s eight consecutive Finals appearances. Or we could mention his many individual accolades, including how he has already equaled Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone’s record of 11 first-team All-NBA nods and how he is the only player in NBA history to record at least 31,000 points, 8,000 rebounds, and 8,000 assists.
In fact, LeBron’s achievements are so numerous that it is easy to lose track of them all. And regardless of his relatively lackluster Finals record, there is no debate as to whether LeBron is the greatest player of the 21st century.
