Culture of Hoops

Top 50 NBA Players of the 21st Century – The List

Well hello there! Welcome to my fifth annual Top 50 NBA Players Countdown! In case you are new here, or if you haven’t heard what will be different this time around, allow me to explain!

(That third exclamation point was not necessary)

Typically how this works is in the days leading up to the NBA season, I release a countdown of the Top 50 players currently playing in the National Basketball Association. This year I decided that it was time to remix this idea, expand the pool of players, broaden my horizons, and give myself an excuse to watch a bunch of old games on YouTube.

This time around I’ll be counting down the Top 50 NBA Players of the 2000’s (this means we’re looking at a seventeen season sample size that goes from the 1999-00 season all the way through the 2015-16 season). I’ve detailed the criteria I used to make this awfully long list. If you want to check it out, you can do so by clicking here.

And if you are looking for more Top 50 Countdown talk, make sure you check out my Podcast with my cousin, and one of my Top 50 advisors, Paul Clark. We break down some of the key points of the list, like the toughest cuts and last few guys who made the Top 50, the guys with the most to gain over the next ten years, the players whose rankings were impacted because of injuries, and the placement of our two respective favorite players, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

#50 Al Horford/Joakim Noah
#49 Sam Cassell
#48 Baron Davis 
#47 Carlos Boozer
#46 Kyrie Irving 
#45 Klay Thompson
#44 Zach Randolph 
#43 Ron Artest 
#42 Rasheed Wallace 
#41 Kawhi Leonard 
#40 Joe Johnson 
#39 Kevin Love 
#38 Gilbert Arenas 
#37 James Harden 
#36 LaMarcus Aldridge
#35 Andre Iguodala 
#34 Yao Ming
#33 Ben Wallace
#32 Deron Williams
#31 Rajon Rondo
#30 Derrick Rose
#29 Shawn Marion
#28 Chauncey Billups
#27 Chris Webber 
#26 Blake Griffin
#25 Vince Carter
#24 Amar’e Stoudemire
#23 Manu Ginobili 
#22 Chris Bosh
#21 Pau Gasol 
#20 Tony Parker
#19 Carmelo Anthony 
#18 Ray Allen
#17 Tracy McGrady 
#16 Dwight Howard
#15 Russell Westbrook 
#14 Jason Kidd
#13 Paul Pierce
#12 Allen Iverson 
#11 Stephen Curry
#10 Steve Nash 
#9 Chris Paul 
#8 Kevin Durant 
#7 Dwyane Wade 
#6 Kevin Garnett
#5 Dirk Nowitzki
#4 Shaquille O’Neal
#3 Kobe Bryant 
#2 Tim Duncan
#1 LeBron James

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Pingback: Sonny Says ... James Harden is the NBA MVP (For Now) - Hardwood and Hollywood

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