Top 100 NBA Players of All Time (81-90)

If you did not see the first 10 members of the top 100 players of all time click here for players ranked from 91-100.

90. Ben Wallace

Best Season:7.6 pts 13.0 rebs 1.7 stl 3.5 blks 11.6 win shares
Career:5.7 pts 9.6 rebs 1.3 stl 2.0 blks 93.5 win shares
Peak:4 years 2001-05 8.5 pts 13.2 rebs 1.6 stl 3.0 blks 40.8 win shares
Accolades:NBA Champion (’04) 4x All Star (’03-’06) 5x All NBA Team (’02-’06) 4x Defensive Player of the Year (’02-’03,’05-’06) 6x All Defensive Team (’02-’07) blocks leader (’02) rebounds leader (’02-’03)

Ben Wallace was the anchor for a tremendous Detroit defense in the early to mid 2000s. Wallace owned the defensive side of the ball and was easily the best defender of the 2000s. He would send shots to half court and play the passing lanes better than any big man since Hakeem did and possibly even better. He is best known for his defense against Shaq who he gave hell on multiple occasions. Ben Wallace had 1000 rebounds, 100 steals, and 200 blocks on three different occasions. Only other people to do that in history are Bob Lanier, David Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Hakeem Olajuwon, That is a pretty impressive group to be in.

89. Dennis Johnson

Best Season: 19.0 pts 5.1 rebs 4.1 asts 42.2%FG
Career:14.1 pts 3.9 rebs 5.0 asts 44.5%FG
Peak:6 years 1979-85 16.7 pts 4.4 rebs 4.7 asts 44.7%FG
Accolades:3x NBA Champion (’79,’84,’86) Finals MVP (’79) 2x All NBA Team (’80-’81) 9x All Defensive Team (’79-’87)

Dennis Johnson is known for his elite defense and clutch plays at the end of games. He gave opponents hell with his physical play along the perimeter. One thing that Dennis should be remembered for over everything is his adaptability. In Seattle he was guy who scored off of penetration and was known for his dunking ability. In Phoenix he started to be more diverse in his scoring. Then in Boston he became a player known for his passing more so than his scoring. Of course the most famous single moment of his is from the time Bird stole an inbound pass and dished it to Dennis cutting to the basket to secure a much needed home victory against the Detroit Pistons.

88. David Thompson

Best Season: 27.2 pts 4.9 rebs 4.5 asts 52.1%FG
Career:22.1 pts 3.8 rebs 3.2 asts 50.4%FG
Peak:3 years 1976-79 25.7 pts 4.2 rebs 3.9 asts 51.3%FG
Accolades: 4x All Star (’77-’79,’83) 2x All NBA Team (’77-’78)

David Thompson was a scoring machine for the Denver Nuggets during the 80s. Thompson was known for his explosiveness around the rim and was pretty much unguardable in a time that there were quite few guys who could score a lot of points. Thompson never really got to do much of anything of in the playoffs, but he has one crowning achievement that cemented him as one of the most lethal scorers of the 80s and that was when he scored 73 points in a single game.

87. Mark Price

Best Season: 18.9 pts 8.4 ast 52.6%FG 44.1%3PT 90.1FT%
Career:15.2 pts 6.7 ast 47.2%FG 40.2%3PT
Peak:5 years 1987-92 17.9 pts 2.8 rebs 7.8 ast 49.4%FG 41.6%3PT
Accolades:4x All Star (’89,’92-’94) 4x All NBA Team (’89,’92-’94)

Mark Price is often forgotten in a time of point guards that included Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Gary Payton, and Kevin Johnson. The best way for me to describe Mark Price is that he was in a way a poor man’s Steve Nash. He was an extremely efficient shooter, made other players around him better, and struggled on the defensive side of the court often. He is one of only 7 players to achieve a 50-40-90 shooting splits season. The others are Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Larry Bird, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant. that is a pretty impressive club to be a part of.

86. Tim Hardaway

Best Season:22.9 pts 4.0 rebs 9.7 ast 2.6 stl 47.6%FG 38.5%3PT
Career:17.7 pts 3.3 rebs 8.2 ast 43.1%FG
Peak:22.1 pts 3.8 rebs 9.9 ast 45.6%FG 35.8%3PT
Accolades:5x All Star (’91-’93,’97-’98) 5x All NBA Team (’92-’93,’97-’99) All Rookie First Team (’90)

Hardaway is best known for his days as part of Run TMC, which was the high paced Warrior offense coached by Don Nelson in the early 90s. Hardaway was the maestro of this incredibly fast offense whose purpose was to score 130 points every night. He had a killer crossover and embarrassed the men guarding him regularly. He later on became a part of the Miami Heat organization and is still their best point guard of all time. He did so well in Miami that he even finished 4th in MVP voting in the 1996-97 season.

85. Mitch Richmond

Best Season: 25.9 pts 3.9 reb 4.2 ast 45.1%FG 42.8%3PT PER 21.6 10.8 win shares
Career:21.0 pts 3.9 reb 3.5 ast 45.5%FG 38.8%3PT
Peak:23.6 pts 3.8 rebs 3.9 ast 45.1%FG 40.9%3PT
Accolades:NBA Champion (’02) 6x All Star (’93-’98) 5x All NBA Team (’94-’98) Rookie of the Year (’89) All Rookie First Team (’89)

Mitch was another piece of the Run TMC trio that went on to be known for all their high offensive outputs. He spent a majority of his career as a Sacramento King though as the team’s leading scorer for 7 straight seasons. He was one of the best shooters in the league at the time and the numbers show it. One thing that hurts his legacy is the fact that he was not able to lead the Kings to the playoffs pretty much ever outside of a single time in 1995-96. In that series the Kings were swept and Mitch put up a 5 point and 18 point game in the series.

(Associated Press)

84. Paul Arizin

Best Season:25.4 pts 11.3 rebs 44.8%FG
Career:22.8 pts 8.6 rebs 42.1%FG
Peak:24.0 pts 9.0 rebs 42.9%FG
Accolades:NBA Champion (’56) 10x All Star (’51-’52,’55-’62) 4x All NBA Team (’52,’56-’57,’59) 2x Scoring Champion (’52,’57)

Paul Arizin was a great scorer of the 50s, and formed a 1-2 punch on offense alongside Neil Johnston. Arizin missed some years of basketball due to the wars America was waging at the time, two years after returning from service he led the Philadelphia Warriors to a championship in 1956. He was more efficient than most in a time that most of the NBA involved some very ugly offenses that look like middle school offenses today. Paul Arizin is a legend of a time that was admittedley a weak era until Bill Russell came into the league.

83. James Harden

Best Season: 27.9 pts 5.7 rebs 7.0 ast 44.0%FG 37.5%3PT PER 26.7 16.4 win shares
Career:21.1 pts 4.6 rebs 4.9 ast 44.3%FG 36.8%3PT PER 22.2 76.3 win shares
Peak:27.0 pts 5.4 rebs 6.6 ast 44.3%FG 36.7%3PT PER 24.6 55.3 win shares
Accolades:4x All Star (’13-’16) 3x All NBA Team (’13-’15) Sixth Man of the Year (’12) All Rookie Second Team (’10)

Many might have an issue with where James Harden is placed, and some will say he does not deserve to be here at all, but I highly disagree. Just look at the accolades of the players already listed and try to tell me he does not belong. Harden is on pace to be one of the best shooting guards to ever play, and has been part of the analytical movement in the NBA with his style of play. He avoids the mid range jumpers as much as he can and going for the stuff around the rim or the 3 point line. If there is anyone I would compare his game to it would be Manu Ginobli just a much better version. Harden has made it a special skill of his to get to the line and whether sport fans like it or not that is a skill. Harden will be one of the best players ever and do not be surprised if he ends up a top 40 player of all time.

82. Gail Goodrich

Best Season: 25.9 pts 3.6 rebs 4.5 asts 48.7%FG 12.3 win shares
Career:18.6 pts 3.2 rebs 4.7 asts 45.6%FG
Peak:4 years 1971-75 24.5 pts 3.3 rebs 4.9 asts 46.3%FG 33.6 win shares
Accolades:NBA Champion (’72) 5x All Star (’69,’72-’75) All NBA Team (’74)

Gail Goodrich is one of the most underrated players of the 60s and 70s as the other great shooter along with Jerry West on a team that struggled to get over the hump for so many years. He had issues with his role on the team during the 60s, and was eventually lost due to an expansion draft. Later on though Gail would return to the Lakers just in time to be a major cog in one of the greatest teams of all time. This year the Lakers went on a 33 game win streak and eventually won the championship with Goodrich being the leading scorer on the team the regular season and playoffs.

81. Joe Dumars

Why he moved: Well, Dumars simply did not belong in the top 50 players of all time. I had overrated his impact on the game and I was very hesitant to put active players ahead of him even if I knew deep inside they deserved to be over him.

Previous Rank:48
Best Season: 20.4 pts 5.5asts FT%.890 FG%.481
Career:16.1pts 4.5ast FT%.843 FG%.460
Accolades:2x Champion(’89-’90) Finals MVP(’89)6x All-Star(’90-93,’95,’97)3x All-NBA team(’90-’91,’93) 5x NBA All-Defensive team(’89-’93) All-Rookie First team(86)

Dumars was an essential part in the back to back title runs with the Bad Boy Pistons. He was a lockdown defender completely taking players out of the game. He was very efficient with most of his scoring coming outside of the paint. His passing skills do not get talked about enough as he consistently would hit guys in perfect spots. He was able to average over 20 points per game in three different seasons. In the Finals series against the Los Angeles Lakers Joe Dumars was untouchable playing for his father who had just very recently died during the playoffs. He won Finals MVP that year etching himself inside the top 50.