I believe the players within the tiers can be reasonably rearranged in any order. The order of players in the given tier only loosely reflects my opinion of where they belong in that group. (#) Designates an active player (Last Update: end of 2026 Finals) Please see [[36 NBA All Time Top Tiers Rubric]] for notes on how these tiers are made. #### **THE OFFICIAL TOP 4** (1-4) Michael Jordan  LeBron James (#) Kareem Abdul Jabbar Bill Russell #### **THE GREATEST FRANCHISE, THE GREATEST LEAGUE (5-8)** Magic Johnson  Larry Bird Tim Duncan Julius Erving #### **THE BIG PIVOT** (9) Wilt Chamberlain #### **TOP TEN FINALE** (10-14) Hakeem Olajuwon Shaquille O'Neal Stephen Curry (#) Jerry West Oscar Robertson #### **PROVED, AT LEAST ONCE, THEY WERE THE MAN** (15-18) Moses Malone Nikola Jokic (#) Dirk Nowitzki Kevin Durant (#) #### **TOO GOOD TO BE SECOND, NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE FIRST** (19-23) Kevin Garnett David Robinson Elgin Baylor Giannis Antetokounmpo (#) Charles Barkley #### **HIGH ENOUGH PEAK, BEST PLAYER ON A CHAMPION, MISSING SOMETHING ELSE** (24-27) Isiah Thomas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (#) Dwayne Wade Kawhi Leonard (#) #### **A TIER TO CALL THEIR OWN** (28-32) James Harden (#) Rick Barry Scottie Pippen John Havlicek Artis Gilmore #### **BIGS AND SMALLS** (33-37) Chris Paul Dwight Howard Walt Frazier Willis Reed Allen Iverson #### **ROUNDING OUT THE LIST** (38-42) Steve Nash Jason Kidd Sam Jones Russell Westbrook (#) Luka Doncic (#) #### **HONORABLE MENTION** (alphabetical by last name) Jalen Brunson (#) Anthony Davis (#) Clyde Drexler Patrick Ewing George Gervin Manu Ginobili (^) Hal Greer Elvin Hayes Bernard King Bob McAdoo Sidney Moncrief Gary Payton John Stockton Wes Unseld Chris Webber Dominique Wilkins (^) I list Ginobili as a favor to myself. He's my second favorite player of all time and I am confident if he had a team to call his own for his career, he'd be in the overall list.