NBA: 50 greatest players who aren’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame

50 greatest players who aren’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame: 2. Amar’e Stoudemire

When discussing the greatest players who were robbed of their careers by injuries, Amar’e Stoudemire should be one of the first players mentioned. He managed to carve out a 14-year career, but he was a borderline, if not outright, superstar when he was healthy—and we simply didn’t see enough injury-absent seasons for some to put him in the Hall of Fame.

Nevertheless, Stoudemire helped the Phoenix Suns become a consistent championship contender and revitalized the New York Knicks before the trade for Carmelo Anthony even took place.

Stoudemire was a six-time All-Star and a five-time All-NBA Honoree, making Second Team or better in every one of those instances. That includes 2006-07 when STAT was named to the All-NBA First Team alongside the Hall of Fame lineup of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki.

That incredibly rare air is a sign of just how good Stoudemire was, as is the fact that he averaged 23.2 points on 54.3 percent shooting from the floor between 2003-04 and 2010-11.

That’s an eight-year peak that was broken up, but not fully dismantled, by injuries.

Stoudemire played in 78 postseason games, starting 62. That includes 2004-05 when he averaged 29.9 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks on 53.9 percent shooting as the Suns reached the Western Conference Finals.

During the 2005 Western Conference Finals, Stoudemire averaged 37.0 points per game against Duncan—arguably the greatest power forward of all time—and the San Antonio Spurs.

If that isn’t enough to prove to you that injuries are the only thing that prevented Stoudemire, who had the Knicks above .500 at the time of the Anthony trade, from being in the Hall of Fame, I’m not sure what can.

Perhaps the fact that he averaged 26.4 points per game against Duncan in the Playoffs in 2006, thus proving that 2005 wasn’t a fluke, will convince you further.