I'm not talking about jersey sales or the number of fans he has, just purely love and respect from others. He was loved by players and fans of his and his opponents teams. His character on and off the court earned everyone's love and respect. He didn't parade himself around from arena to arena this year looking for adoration, people just gave it.

Sure, I'm a Mavs fan with blue goggles but all you have to do is listen to the video by the greats and see what others have said to know how much he's loved. Here's the first article that came up when I searched NBA's most loved players. At 40 years old and barely playing he's still getting love.