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

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Clyde Drexler, Houston Rockets. Photo credit: HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty Images /

Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 42 – Clyde Drexler

On NBA 50 at 50 List

Career: 1983 – 1998

Achievements: 1995 champion; All-NBA (5x); All-Star (10x); ninth in career steals

Clyde “the Glide” Drexler entered the league in 1983 as a talented shooting guard, and in an alternate timeline, he may have established himself as an all-time great at the position. Unfortunately for him, he became inextricably linked to another shooting guard the following season, when the Portland Trail Blazers passed on one Michael Jordan because they already had Drexler, drafting Sam Bowie instead.

Drexler had to play the rest of his career in Jordan’s shadow, the 2-guard who was good, but never quite as good. He has some genuinely great career accomplishments, leading the Blazers to the NBA Finals twice during the era of other dominant Western Conference teams. Yet in the middle of his prime when he arrived in the Finals in 1993 it was to face Jordan, and when the media painted the picture of Drexler being Jordan’s worthy foil it was all the motivation Jordan needed to absolutely destroy Drexler.

Never giving up, Drexler found his way to the Houston Rockets and won a title with former college teammate Hakeem Olajuwon in 1995, thankfully spared from having to face Jordan once again. In another lifetime, the extremely talented Drexler may have written a different story. As it is, he still deserves credit for what he did accomplish in the shadow of greatness.