Top 5 Most Influential Players in NBA History

[Scholar]

This is just my opinion. If you disagree, at least explain why.

5. Julius "Dr. J" Erving
He is the pioneer of highlight dunks. I'd argue he's the GOAT fast break performer, but I think LBJ has him beat by a slight margin. The Doc made basketball exciting back in the '70s when people started losing interest basketball.

4. Larry Bird
Let's just say without his rivalry against Magic drawing millions of viewers, the NBA was likely going to go bankrupt. Bird wasn't a highlight reel player, but he is arguably the most clutch performer of all-time.

3. Magic Johnson
No, I didn't rank him higher than Bird because I'm a Laker fan. I think Magic gets a slight edge over his rival simply based on so mny players' games being influenced by the Point God (eg. LeBron James).

2. Wilt Chamberlain
He influenced basketball so much that new rules had to be added and past rules had to changed. He's still a top 5 all-time scorer, and even current NBA players tend to rank him as a top 3 player all-time (pretty sure there's vid of Kobe saying, "Me, Jordan, Wilt.")

1. Michael Jordan
Come on. Did you really think it'd be anyone else? The guy made the NBA globally popular. There are more player influenced by Jordan's game than anyone else in NBA history. Jordan is the player every elite player today gets compared to. He's such an amazing and influential player that even people who never saw him play know he's top 3.


Honorable mentions:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (his off-season training is said to have inspired others to follow the methods in order to prolong their careers. He made yoga cool for ballers before exercise programs made it cool)

Bill Russell (what more can you say about a guy who won 11 rings in 13 years. Showed that defense is just as important, if not more, than offense)

George Mikan (basketball's first superstar)

Allen Iverson (agree to disagree here, but he's the reason every baller you come across HAS to do dribble moves all possession)

[The JKidd Kid]

Shaq

[lakerspng]

Shaq

Just like Kobe is not as influential as Jordan, mainly because Jordan came first, Shaq is not as influential as Wilt, mainly because Wilt came first. Wilt was the first megalith, the bigger than life big man that crushed opponents and bent the game to his will. That's not to say that Shaq and Kobe in their own right have not towered over their respective generation and inspired millions of young players, etc... but Wilt was the first Shaq and Jordan was the first Kobe, and both Wilt and Jordan's legends cast very large shadows.

[WayOfWade]

I like that you didn't put LeBron there. He is influential, but nowhere near the level of those guys. Maybe when his career is over though, he's certainly one of the most polarizing figures to play the game.

[BoutPractice]

Moses Malone (one of the pioneers of the high school to pros trend), Kevin Garnett (driving bigmen away from the key), Dirk Nowitzki (driving bigmen even further away from the key and proving that Europeans could dominate in the NBA), and Yao Ming (self-explanatory) should definitely be on that list as well.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Elgin Baylor. Seems like many of the top NBA players in the generation after him said they looked up to his game.

[selrahc]

kobe needs to be on here. he is the most influential player of all time

[L.Kizzle]

Elgin Baylor has to be first. He bought the game above the rim.

Bill Russell for defense. Wasn't a lot of D played before Bill entered the league.

Bob Cousy for dribbling and passing.

George Mikan. First dominant force in the league.

Wilt Chamberlain changed so many rules, as you already stated.

Earl Monroe/D. J/Tiny: Playground ball to the league.

[The Rock]

I like that you didn't put LeBron there. He is influential, but nowhere near the level of those guys. Maybe when his career is over though, he's certainly one of the most polarizing figures to play the game.

LEBRON? :roll: :roll: :roll:

SHOWING MANY KIDS AROUND THE WORLD TO "CHECK THEIR STATS"?

SHOWING MANY KIDS HOW QUIT IN THE 4TH QUARTERS OF GAMES?

SHOWING MANY KIDS THAT WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, QUIT, BREAK A PROMISE WITH 1 HR SPECIAL, AND JOIN A STACKED TEAM?

:coleman: JABRONI PLEASE..

[NumberSix]

Jerry West is more influential than Michael Jordan.

[Scholar]

I like that you didn't put LeBron there. He is influential, but nowhere near the level of those guys. Maybe when his career is over though, he's certainly one of the most polarizing figures to play the game.

I think LeBron and Kobe will be influential for future ballers. Hell, Paul George already credits Kobe for influencing his game and off-season training... And Kobe hasn't even retired yet!

Only reason I can't place them on this list is because they aren't the originals. Sure, you can say the same for MJ. He was influenced by Dr. J & Bernard King's game, but he took what they did up several notches.

@The JKidd, I think Shaq is an influential figure, but again, it's about the originals. Wilt is the most dominant player of all-time. I'm not removing Wilt for Shaq.

[EnoughSaid]

LeBron is going to go down as one of the top 5 as well. Dude has changed the way young basketball players want to play. He's changed it from that "Be like Mike" mode to a "Team player, pass over shot"

[QuebecBaller]

Jordan
Iverson
Dr.J

[lakerspng]

LeBron is going to go down as one of the top 5 as well. Dude has changed the way young basketball players want to play. He's changed it from that "Be like Mike" mode to a "Team player, pass over shot"

He's changed it for the negative. His approach to the game is to play for the stats. he's a PER era player, only take high% shots not because they're the best for the team, but because they keep my fantasy stats higher. He's the opposite of Magic, Magic played team ball for the team's good. Lebron plays ball dominant force feed team ball for his personal glory. I don't get how people can't see it. Lebron's as selfish as any "chucker" in the game.

[thefatmiral]

hakeem the dream, still influencing with hsi big man camp. I remember fourth grade imitating and fainting the other kids.

[DuMa]

Shaq changed a lot of the rules in the NBA.

[fpliii]

HM: The Big O (free agency)

[Jameerthefear]

LeBron is going to go down as one of the top 5 as well. Dude has changed the way young basketball players want to play. He's changed it from that "Be like Mike" mode to a "Team player, pass over shot"
no, that's not true.

[LongLiveTheKing]

He's changed it for the negative. His approach to the game is to play for the stats. he's a PER era player, only take high% shots not because they're the best for the team, but because they keep my fantasy stats higher. He's the opposite of Magic, Magic played team ball for the team's good. Lebron plays ball dominant force feed team ball for his personal glory. I don't get how people can't see it. Lebron's as selfish as any "chucker" in the game.
It's not like kids even know what all those stats are? And casual fans know Lebron isn't selfish. Lol @ he does it for personal glory. :facepalm

[lakerspng]

It's not like kids even know what all those stats are? And casual fans know Lebron isn't selfish. Lol @ he does it for personal glory. :facepalm

He's a great player, an all time great, but he has a terrible approach to the game. He is a stat padder and a glory hound. Doesn't make him bad by any means, but you can't deny it. Every tendency he has on the court is to make himself look better. He's a stat junkie and so are a ton of young players coming up. It's a bad trend in the league.

[Scholar]

Oh, God. I make a thread about who I think are the most influential players & within 2 pages, it becomes another LeBron thread.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Jordan
Iverson
Dr.J
The trinity of most influential players, both in play, athletics, swagger, demeanor, and style. Anyone else stated is a blatant lie.

[Orlando Magic]

Wilt.... enough said.

Jordan... enough said.

Magic... co-carried an era.

Bird... co-carried an era.

Shaq... rule changes and goal redesign.

/thread for non ******s who know a damn thing.

[Doranku]

Wilt.... enough said.

Jordan... enough said.

Magic... co-carried an era.

Bird... co-carried an era.

Shaq... rule changes and goal redesign.

/thread for non ******s who know a damn thing.

I would put Magic/Bird together and include Dr. J.

[#number6ix#]

I think dr.j should be #2 on the list... Watching his documentary I never realized his profound effect on the nba, I mean I knew he was a beast but the guy pretty much saved the nba...

Not to mention his overall influence on the youth at the time including MJ who patterned parts of his game after Dr.j...

Add to the fact that his games were televised which is a advantage over wilt because the early portion of his career cannot even be seen

[Sharmer]

Yao and Lin for bringing in the rice eaters.

[La Frescobaldi]

I think dr.j should be #2 on the list... Watching his documentary I never realized his profound effect on the nba, I mean I knew he was a beast but the guy pretty much saved the nba...

Not to mention his overall influence on the youth at the time including MJ who patterned parts of his game after Dr.j...

Add to the fact that his games were televised which is a advantage over wilt because the early portion of his career cannot even be seen

I was so glad to see that myself, and although I disagree about Doc saving the NBA.... he sure was a direct injection of energy and excitement.
But there is a lot of myth about the 70s being a bad era too. Yeah ticket sales were off after the stars of the '60s retired & there were problems with drugs etc. but it was a great time for the NBA too! In some ways the 70s has been my favorite so far - stars galore, great team play, and the league was real balanced.
TV itself had a lot to do with ticket sales in those days. They didn't have a lot of 'blackout' rules and so forth

But Erving was the real thing for sure, along with the just slightly lesser flash guys like Gervin, D Thompson, Adrian Dantley and Spencer Haywood pounding down low, John Havlicek flashing transition, Earl the Pearl... not that they rate up in this list but they are just below it really

[secund2nun]

He's changed it for the negative. His approach to the game is to play for the stats. he's a PER era player, only take high% shots not because they're the best for the team, but because they keep my fantasy stats higher. He's the opposite of Magic, Magic played team ball for the team's good. Lebron plays ball dominant force feed team ball for his personal glory. I don't get how people can't see it. Lebron's as selfish as any "chucker" in the game.

Kobe influenced the game with his shot jacking. He paved the way for me first selfish players like Jennings who put I above team and base their games on low efficient shots. Keep being delusional and and making excuses for Lebron's superior scoring ability that has high efficiency.

High efficiency shots should be what teams are based on, not low efficiency idiot shots like contested fadeaways that Kobe promotes and has negatively influenced the game with.

[secund2nun]

There are 2 types of influences. The first is how they influenced the rules and strategies. Dominant forces like Wilt influenced the rules and strategies because of they were so dominant teams had to change their way to defend against him.

However because of his rare physical talents which cannot be taught, Wilt did not really influence many player's games (2nd type of influence) as much as other players who had skills that can actually be learned like Hakeem. Hakeem has influenced fellow players a lot more than Wilt and Shaq. Dirk has also influenced players greatly, promoting the stretch PF model.

[Fresh Kid]

Jordan, Dr j., magic, Iverson and Frazier/ewing

[tmacattack33]

Penny Hardaway had a huge following and probably made many want to be a great passer since he made so many amazing passes.

Lebron said Penny was one of his influences.