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

44.    George Gervin-21.74

San Antonio Spurs icon George Gervin was one of the game's premier scorers during the 1970s and early to mid-1980s. He actually started his career as a member of the Virginia Squires as a teammate of Julius Irving, who mentored him. He was later traded to the San Antonio Spurs, where he would emerge as a superstar in the ABA and later in the NBA.

However, for the purposes of these rankings, we'll stick with his time in the NBA. Gervin spent nine of his 10 seasons in the NBA with the Spurs and averaged a stellar 27.3 points per game on a terrific 57.4 percent true shooting without relying on the 3-point line.

He later ended his NBA career at the age of 33 as a member of the Chicago Bulls and even played with a young Michael Jordan. Although Gervin's NBA career was rather short, his not sticking around long enough to decline actually helped him in terms of his career PER, which is set at 21.4--all-star level. That is good enough for 44th all-time, which actually sounds about right when it comes to Gervin's overall all-time ranking.