I decided to put together a list of the top 50 NBA players of all time. This list is determined using just statistics - specifically a combination of Win Shares and VORP. I figured these are pretty solid measures of how valuable a player was, and is also one of the few stats that would allow one to measure players from different eras against each other. I wanted to compare how good players were in their primes so I only took the top 5 seasons for each player. I recognize that some players could be argued to be higher on this list due to being so good for so long (i.e. John Stockton) while others only had a 3 or 4 year span where they were elite and as a result may be considered lower by some (i.e. Grant Hill). However, my intent with this list is not to compare entire careers, but rather compare players when they were at the top of their game. One other note - I only included NBA seasons. ABA/BAA stats were not included. One notable player you'll see not on here is James Harden. When looking at just his last 3 seasons he'd be in the 20-25 range. However, when included 5 years he drops down to just below 50. He should be top 20 if I were to do this list again in a year or 2, but right now he doesn't make the cut.


Here's who I have ranked 41-50:


50: Dwight Howard (06-11)
20.02 PPG
13.52 RPG
2.42 BPG
1.56 APG
1.02 SPG

49: Vince Carter (99-01, 04-07)
25.44 PPG
5.66 RPG
4.22 APG
1.28 SPG
0.78 BPG

48: Patrick Ewing (88-92, 93-94)
25.28 PPG
10.76 RPG
3.28 BPG
2.36 APG
1.14 SPG

47: Paul Pierce (01-02, 04-06, 07-08, 10-11)
22.60 PPG
6.14 RPG
3.98 APG
1.44 SPG
0.60 BPG

46: Pau Gasol (05-06, 08-11, 14-15)
18.98 PPG
10.36 RPG
3.50 APG
1.62 BPG
0.54 SPG

45: Artis Gilmore (76-79, 80-82)
20.32 PPG
11.82 RPG
2.54 APG
2.34 BPG
0.56 SPG

44: Sidney Moncrief (81-86)
21.02 PPG
5.84 RPG
4.66 APG
1.52 SPG
0.32 BPG

43: Adrian Dantley (77-78, 80-82, 83-84, 85-86)
28.58 PPG
6.28 RPG
3.72 APG
1.14 SPG
0.18 BPG

42: Moses Malone (78-83)
26.80 PPG
15.38 RPG
1.70 APG
1.64 BPG
1.00 SPG

41: Jason Kidd (98-99, 00-03, 05-06)
16.1 PPG
9.56 APG
6.82 RPG
2.14 APG
0.32 BPG