Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 14 – Oscar Robertson
On NBA 50 at 50 List
Career: 1960 – 1974
Achievements: 1971 Champion; 1963-64 MVP; All-NBA (11x); All-Star (12x); led the league in assists (6x); averaged a triple-double for an entire season; seventh in career assists; 15th in career scoring
Before there was Magic Johnson and John Stockton, before Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, before Chris Paul and LeBron James, before Russell Westbrook and Luka Doncic, there was Oscar Robertson. The “Big O” combined scoring and passing in a way the league had not yet seen outside of Wilt’s bizarre year of assists. Robertson was a point guard, but he was also a player who put pressure on defenses in unique ways.
Robertson was stuck on subpar teams in Cincinnati, but he was clearly an all-time player even there, leading the league in assists six times and averaging 29.3 points per game across 10 seasons. He was also an early master at drawing fouls and getting to the line, averaging 10.5 attempts per game in Cincinnati. He was an All-Star each of his first 12 seasons in the league.
Then Robertson moved to Milwaukee and became a much lower usage star playing alongside Lew Alcindor (who would later change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). He won a title with the Bucks and helped cement his status as an all-timer. He was also a frontrunner for players’ rights and helped drive the league into a more modern approach.