The 75 greatest NBA players of the 2010s, ranked

43) Joakim Noah

Former Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah may not have had as long of a career as some of the best players on this list but he deserves to be mentioned among them nonetheless. Noah started out his career as a defensive big man, but thanks to injuries to Derrick Rose, he was tasked with helping more on the offensive end. That resulted in him becoming more of a playmaker and even a fringe MVP candidate. During his peak, from 2009–10 to 2014–15, Noah put up 10.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game. 

In fact, during 2012–13 and 2013–14—his two all-star seasons—Noah averaged 12.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks. That resulted in him making the All-NBA team in 2013–14 as well as coming in fourth that year in MVP voting. That turned out to be his peak, with his production dropping sharply the following season and over the final four years of the decade. 

He played just 124 games during that span with the Bulls, then with the New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies, including just five games in the 2020s, before retiring at the age of 34. Those injury woes kept him from building upon his strong play towards the middle of the decade and made his averages of 9.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 513 games seem relatively pedestrian, though fans who remember watching him know that he was an impactful player on both ends of the floor.