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

By Josh Cornelissen

Kobe Bryant (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)
Kobe Bryant (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images) /
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LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images /

Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 1 – LeBron James

Career: 2003 – present

Achievements: Four-time champion; MVP (4x); All-NBA (17x); All-Star (17x); All-Defense (6x); Finals MVP (4x); 3rd in career points, 8th in career assists, 13th in career 3-pointers, 14th in career steals

LeBron James has been the defining player of the last 15 years in the NBA, a dominant force on the court from the moment he stepped on the court straight out of high school. He carried a mediocre Cleveland Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals in 2007, then won four MVPs in five seasons. He defined the player movement era by going to the Miami Heat in 2010, then continued it with a return to Cleveland and later a change to Los Angeles. He won titles in all three stops.

He also made the NBA Finals for eight straight seasons, and nine of ten. No player in NBA history has won Finals MVP for three different franchises, and only a tiny few have won titles for as many. He has been the face of the league since he took the torch from Kobe Bryant around a decade ago.

This list isn’t the best place to fully hash out the “LeBron vs. Jordan” debate, but at this point, LeBron’s longevity — not simply of his career but of his peak — pushes him ahead of Jordan. James has been right at the top of the league for much longer than Jordan was, without time off in the middle. Yes, Jordan was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals, but the fact that LeBron didn’t lose prior to the Finals as much as Jordan matters just as much, if not more. His 10 trips are more meaningful than his 4-6 record.

James is closing in on the record for most career points, and he ranks top-15 in three other major categories. He is an unstoppable scoring force, one of the best passers in NBA history, and even so his most memorable highlight is a defensive play, illustrating how many different ways he has impacted the game of basketball. Even more so he is still in his prime even at 36 and in the title picture again, with more of his story left to write.