Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history for 75th anniversary

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Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers. VINCENT LAFORET/AFP/Getty Images /

The NBA is celebrating its 75th Anniversary season this year. Some have quibbled whether that should be the right number, as it was technically called the “BAA” or Basketball Association of America for three seasons, but that’s the accounting the NBA has gone with as part of their much-marketed 75th Anniversary.

As part of the festivities, the NBA is planning to unveil its list of the 75 greatest players in NBA history. They did the same thing at the 50th anniversary, with a “50 at 50” team, and will roll out a larger list during the first week of the regular season.

The NBA is unveiling its list of the 75 best players in NBA history for its 75th anniversary. We go one step forward and rank all 75.

The NBA has been loaded with star talent, from George Mikan to Zion Williamson. Picking out the 75 best players is a difficult task, but certainly an interesting one. Who are the 75 best players in NBA history? What criteria do you use?

As an amateur NBA historian, I am going to jump in and write my own list. The NBA didn’t rank their Top-50 list and presumably won’t rank this list either, but I decided to go one step further and rank my Top 75. Let’s look into the criteria I used before starting the list!