The 21 Greatest NBA stars that played for a single team

NBA stars that played for one team #12: Bob Pettit

Hall of Famer Bob Pettit spent all 13 seasons of his career with the Milwaukee Hawks and then the St. Louis Hawks. They are, of course, now known as the Atlanta Hawks, but decades after his retirement, he still holds team records. Despite playing before most NBA fans were even born or old enough to remember, his numbers speak for themselves. Pettit was one of the most dominant offensive big men of the 1950s and 1960s, averaging a terrific 26.2 points per game over those two decades.

While his shooting percentages aren’t exactly up to modern standards, teams played much faster back then, and scoring efficiency suffered. Still, Pettit was clearly better than most of his competitors. In fact, he won the very first MVP award in 1956 and turned the Hawks from perennial losers into winners. Pettit led the Hawks to four NBA Finals in his first six seasons. Better still, he helped the Hawks win their first and only championship in their 74-year existence.

He accomplished that by dominating the then-defending champion Celtics, averaging 29.3 points and 17.1 rebounds in the NBA Finals, handing Bill Russell one of only two playoff series losses. The following season, Pettit proved it wasn’t a fluke by leading the NBA in scoring, averaging 29.2 points while chipping in 12.2 rebounds per game. His prolific scoring resulted in him becoming the first player to ever score 20,000 points, and he retired as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.