what all-time great (ATG) has been forgotten/slept on in recent years?

[Im Still Ballin]

Am I wrong for thinking Tim Duncan?

[John8204]

Yeah I don't know if Tim Duncan is going to have a proper legacy in 20 years...it's why I'm reticent to call him a top ten player. But this is the nature of time and being a player of historical significance David Robinson, George Gervin, and Tim Duncan all take hits because they played on a small market team.

Walt Frazier, Bob Pettit, and George Mikan are also historically disrespected by most people it's just the nature of fandom and hype.

[FKAri]

Recent years? He was always slept on. Granted, he's a low key guy and that doesn't sell well but it was more than that. He's unfortunate that his career began right as MJ retired. Because the league began hunting for the next Jordan and went into overdrive on marketing swingmen. Small market didn't help either.

A miracle how he wasn't a negative when covering space in his old age. Marc Gasol was a bit like that too. It's extremely rare for a big in today's game to survive defensively at that size at the age they were at.

[pandiani17]

I think all the former players that don't stick around the league (within a team as a GM or coach or in the media) get forgotten quite fast. For example, I haven't heard from John Stockton and Karl Malone for ages. However, Charles Barkley and Steve Nash are still in our minds because one has been a member of the media and the other one a head coach.

[1987_Lakers]

Even though most consider Duncan a top 10 player ever, he hasn't been discussed much since he retired. Alot of that has to do with his low key personality / smart, but boring play style.

Frazier is a good one. Rick Barry as well, one of the best all-around SFs ever and rarely gets discussed.

[John8204]

I think all the former players that don't stick around the league (within a team as a GM or coach or in the media) get forgotten quite fast. For example, I haven't heard from John Stockton and Karl Malone for ages. However, Charles Barkley and Steve Nash are still in our minds because one has been a member of the media and the other one a head coach.

Funny because I feel like John Stockton and Reggie Miller are two players from that era that get contextualized and talked about a lot. Karl Malone on the other hand when he retired he was one of five guys with 30K points in 15 years three guys hit that mark

[HoopsNY]

Am I wrong for thinking Tim Duncan?

Hakeem

[HoopsNY]

Funny because I feel like John Stockton and Reggie Miller are two players from that era that get contextualized and talked about a lot. Karl Malone on the other hand when he retired he was one of five guys with 30K points in 15 years three guys hit that mark

I think you're right about Malone. What Malone did in his career was actually quite impressive. He was 2nd on the all time scoring list until LeBron passed him, but still stands at 3rd all time.

In addition, he won 2 MVP awards in years that had both MJ and Duncan winning championships. One may argue that he didn't deserve it in 1997, but I do think that he did in 1999. Not to mention, he was 35.

Malone was leading his team to some pretty impressive years despite an old age, playing in the western conference, where the league had some stellar PFs.

'99 UTA: 37-13 (T-1st)
'00 UTA: 55-27 (2nd)
'01 UTA: 53-29 (4th)
'02 UTA: 44-38 (8th)
'03 UTA: 47-35 (7th)

And this was when the league had guys like Duncan, KG, Shaq, Webber, Dirk, Sheed, O'Neal, Brand, McDyess, B. Wallace. Malone was age 35-39 during these years.

[Xiao Yao You]

I think you're right about Malone. What Malone did in his career was actually quite impressive. He was 2nd on the all time scoring list until LeBron passed him, but still stands at 3rd all time.

In addition, he won 2 MVP awards in years that had both MJ and Duncan winning championships. One may argue that he didn't deserve it in 1997, but I do think that he did in 1999. Not to mention, he was 35.

Malone was leading his team to some pretty impressive years despite an old age, playing in the western conference, where the league had some stellar PFs.

'99 UTA: 37-13 (T-1st)
'00 UTA: 55-27 (2nd)
'01 UTA: 53-29 (4th)
'02 UTA: 44-38 (8th)
'03 UTA: 47-35 (7th)

And this was when the league had guys like Duncan, KG, Shaq, Webber, Dirk, Sheed, O'Neal, Brand, McDyess, B. Wallace. Malone was age 35-39 during these years.

and Stockton was there the whole time

[SouBeachTalents]

Mentioning a top 10 player for this topic is a joke :lol It would be the old school guys like Baylor, Barry, Reed, Hayes, Gervin etc who are legitimately never talked about.

[AlternativeAcc.]

Durant.

The media has been sleeping on him since going to GSW.

And recently pretending he's a cancer.


Dude tore his Achilles and was still a top 2 player after. This year he's having his most efficient year ever at age 34. Nobody talks about it.

[John8204]

and Stockton was there the whole time

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ast_per_g_yearly.html

4 out 5 best APG seasons of all-time 8 out of 13 with only Magic coming close with 3.

Lebron is trying for every record but the records he's not breaking are Stocktons. When Stockton broke the 14 APG line he likely should have won MVP that year. I feel like Stockton's legacy is increasing as years go by while Karl's has decreased.

[Yeezy]

I think you're right about Malone. What Malone did in his career was actually quite impressive. He was 2nd on the all time scoring list until LeBron passed him, but still stands at 3rd all time.

In addition, he won 2 MVP awards in years that had both MJ and Duncan winning championships. One may argue that he didn't deserve it in 1997, but I do think that he did in 1999. Not to mention, he was 35.

Malone was leading his team to some pretty impressive years despite an old age, playing in the western conference, where the league had some stellar PFs.

'99 UTA: 37-13 (T-1st)
'00 UTA: 55-27 (2nd)
'01 UTA: 53-29 (4th)
'02 UTA: 44-38 (8th)
'03 UTA: 47-35 (7th)

And this was when the league had guys like Duncan, KG, Shaq, Webber, Dirk, Sheed, O'Neal, Brand, McDyess, B. Wallace. Malone was age 35-39 during these years.

karl malone and john stockton are basically products of each other. one would have been half the player without the other. they ran the pick and roll literally every single time. there was never any isolation for these guys

take away stockton and malone never wins a league mvp. so hes not underrated. hes overrated



they're like if nash and amare played together their whole lives

[FultzNationRISE]

The serious answer? Lebron James.

[Axe]

karl malone and john stockton are basically products of each other. one would have been half the player without the other. they ran the pick and roll literally every single time. there was never any isolation for these guys

take away stockton and malone never wins a league mvp. so hes not underrated. hes overrated



they're like if nash and amare played together their whole lives
The junkyard bros of the 90s. A competition full of car mechanics, plumbers, janitors and grocery baggers.

[getting_old]

Havlicek.

Thank goodness Clyde has kept himself in the spotlight with announcing duties at MSG

[Xiao Yao You]

karl malone and john stockton are basically products of each other. one would have been half the player without the other. they ran the pick and roll literally every single time. there was never any isolation for these guys

take away stockton and malone never wins a league mvp. so hes not underrated. hes overrated



they're like if nash and amare played together their whole lives

just like Jerry Sloan made them despite them being stars before he was coach. They would have been great regardless. Jazz drafted Stockton because they thought Portland wanted him and they could trade him to them. I could certainly see him having a lot more success with those loaded teams than he did in Utah. Jazz thought Malone would be gone before they picked to a team like Dallas who was also loaded with talent

[HoopsNY]

karl malone and john stockton are basically products of each other. one would have been half the player without the other. they ran the pick and roll literally every single time. there was never any isolation for these guys

take away stockton and malone never wins a league mvp. so hes not underrated. hes overrated



they're like if nash and amare played together their whole lives

I'm not sure this is the case per se. Of course Stockton had a significant impact, but Malone probably puts together a great career without Stockton. Stockton was a bench player in '86 and '87. '86 they weren't that great, but in '87, there was no Adrian Dantley and Malone led the team to 44 wins putting up 22/10/2/1 on 51%. That was just his second season in the league.

Then in '98, Stockton missed 18 games. During that time, the Jazz were still 11-7 and Malone put up 25/11/4/1/1 on 52%.

The point isn't about what Malone would have done without Stockton. The point is to show how well he performed and the career he had which is now unnoticed.

[John8204]

Jeff Malone, Thurl Baily, and Jeff Hornacek all put up great numbers on those Jazz teams. Malone went to play with a bunch of all-time greats and he couldn't do it.

My take is Stockton should have gotten an MVP and not Karl especially when he broke the 14 APG line that has never been done since.

[Xiao Yao You]

Jeff Malone, Thurl Baily, and Jeff Hornacek all put up great numbers on those Jazz teams. Malone went to play with a bunch of all-time greats and he couldn't do it.

My take is Stockton should have gotten an MVP and not Karl especially when he broke the 14 APG line that has never been done since.

I would have been happy if the cut Jeff Malone and they got Horny for him!

When they got him he was supposed to give Karl more room to work down low. The problem was Jeff's game was 10-12 feet. One of the most one sided trades ever!

[Jasper]

a personality has to stick out in any sport to have no time period of fame.

Earl the Pearl Monroe had how many chips ??
His flash and moves similar to Kyrie has always put him in my memory bank as well as others.
Kyrie may have the same impact / but his personal vocalization could deter him a NBA player legacy.