The 75 greatest players in NBA history, ranked by Player Efficiency Rating (PER)

49.    Rudy Gobert-21.57

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is still going strong in his 11th season in the league and while there has been slippage in several key advanced stats, including PER, he still ranks 49th in this category all-time and currently has a PER of 18.9 for the Wolves.

That is borderline all-star level, though he failed to make the all-star team in 2023–24. To his credit, at the age of 33, he is still arguably the best defensive player in the NBA and is currently the frontrunner to win Defensive Player of the Year.

Despite that, he may actually be underrated in PER on the defensive end. Even though he often ranks among the best in the league at rim protection, he averages 2.1 blocks per game over the course of his career—definitely above-average but not outlandishly so.

He does counteract that by being a stellar rebounder and an efficient scorer. That has also helped him finish with a PER over 20 seven times in his first 11 seasons and there may be more in the future since big men tend to age better than guards. That should keep him from dropping too far in these rankings, but most would agree that he isn't a top-75 player of all time.