10 NBA superstars who are not considered superstars

Some of the NBA’s best and most valuable players don’t fit the typical description of a “superstar.”

In a recent interview with the “Locked on Pistons” podcast, Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown talked about the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons squad that he led to an NBA championship, and addressed the perception that the team didn’t have any “superstars.”

Brown believes the basketball-viewing public puts too much weight on scoring, which means great players who contribute in other ways to their team’s success don’t get the honor of being called superstars.

In Brown’s opinion, the entire starting five of the 2003-04 Pistons were superstars: Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace.

But to what seems like the majority of fans and media, those five didn’t qualify for that label.

While each one had a decorated NBA career — collecting several All-NBA, All-Star and All-Defensive Team selections between them, plus Ben Wallace’s four Defensive Player of the Year awards — none was widely considered to be on the same level as the big-time scorers of that era. During that season, not one of the Pistons averaged 20 or more points per game.

Brown was onto something in his interview, but there is more to being a superstar in the eyes of the public than just putting the ball in the basket.

There’s also a certain “it” factor involved, a marketable — or sometimes polarizing — quality that turns certain athletes into mainstream celebrities.

Going into the 2018-19 season, the NBA is littered with players who are just as valuable to their team’s success as some of their more famous peers, but don’t get as many accolades. Here are 10 players who have done superstar work but don’t get superstar recognition.