New Jersey: Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal may not be traditionally associated with New Jersey because of his nomadic childhood, his collegiate ties to LSU, and an NBA career that featured so many prominent stops outside the Garden State, but he was born in Newark and spent many of his formative years there. That's bad news for the rest of the star-studded state class because few players in NBA history would be capable of displacing the Diesel from the top of nearly any set of rankings.
It's unlikely you'd be this deep in an NBA article and unfamiliar with O'Neal, so let's instead use the space to highlight the overall dominance of the New Jersey-born contingency. O'Neal is joined by Al Attles, Rick Barry, Tom Heinsohn, and Dennis Rodman in the Hall of Fame.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson have a chance to grow that number, and we still haven't touched on Bam Adebayo, David West, Jaren Jackson Jr., Andrew Bynum, Mike Bibby, JR Smith, and plenty more notable names from a group of 159 players.
Honorable mentions: Rick Barry, Tom Heinsohn, Dennis Rodman
New Mexico: Bill Bridges
Born in Hobbs, New Mexico, Bill Bridges thrived as one of the early-era stars for the Hawks franchise, making the jump from St. Louis to Atlanta during the heart of his prime. From 1966-67 through 1969-70, he made three All-Star teams, earned a few back-of-the-ballot MVP votes, graced two All-Defensive squads, and averaged 14.9 points and 14.3 rebounds.
Was he a glamorous player? Not really. Was he an effective one? Absolutely. Did he do enough to become the easy choice for the Land of Enchantment? You know it.
Honorable mentions: Damion James, Andre Roberson, Rudy White
New York: Michael Jordan
This feels like cheating because Michael Jordan was five years old when he and his family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he remained through the end of his stellar collegiate career. But he was technically born at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn, and that makes him a mortal lock for this spot as either the best or second-best player in the history of the sport. And since LeBron James isn't associated with New York in any way, we don't even have to entertain that debate here.
New York, unsurprisingly, has a remarkable history of homegrown talent, ranging from Dolph Schayes and Bob Cousy to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving to Carmelo Anthony and Donovan Mitchell. Every era contributed to the remarkable 44 All-Stars and 25 Hall of Famers with the Big Apple on their birth certificate.
Jordan still reigns supreme.
Honorable mentions: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Dolph Schayes
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