Which player on the list is too high or too low??

"He was drafted higher than Jordan, but no one in Houston even regrets it." awesome quote

Turnovers wasn’t Karl Maloney only nasty habit

Damn. That Karl Malone vs MJ comparison puts things into perspective. It's not weak competition so much as complete and utter dominance to the point where the competition looks weak. Bananas.

3:14 Kevin McHale was incredible. He was the perfect second option and great dual threat alongside Larry Bird in 80s Celtics.

My only issue with with ranking Bill Russel so high is that you penalized guys like Curry and Magic for lacking on the defensive end, which is fair, but you don’t penalize a guy who never averaged above 20PPG and shot 45% as a center. He also never played with less than 3 other HOF’ers and at one point he had 7 HOF teammates. So the context of those rings is important. Not to take away from how impressive 11 rings is though.

No matter who's ranked where, it's always a joy for me to watch these compilations of pure greatness.

I love watching Jonny being objective and appreciating greatness rather than tearing any great down. I adore the recognition of nuances and small details in the ranking as much as I like seeing unappreciated legends such as Moses getting rewarded. Once again, I also like not having to discredit LeBron in the GOAT debate, since you just value higher Jordan's strength rather than LeBron's in the debate. You also admitted that LeBron is better at certain aspects while Jordan is at others, which is the truth. I personally respect and agree with the opinion that Jordan is the GOAT even though LeBron is starting to become a kinda popular and respected answer in the GOAT debate which can be supported. Finally, love the respect to older players and including context in the way you ranked them, especially Wilt, Bill and Baylor. Great job man😊

I think Kawhi deserves to be on this list, somewhere between Kevin McHale and Giannis. Man has 2FMVPs, yeah he didn't won a regular season MVP, but he was very close in 2016 and 2017 (finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, in 2017 fully deserved it), has two DPOYs, several all-defensive teams obviously, add 3 first all-nba and 2 second all-nba teams - all that accolades look very solid. He literally puts up a top 10 player stats in play-offs since 2016, averaging 28.4+8+4 on 56% eFG and 2 steals for 70 play-off games in these last 8 years. Man is overlooked, suprised nobody even mentioned him in the comments

Man these lists become so hard for me I find it almost impossible not to separate players pre and post 3pt line

after the opening i was ready to hear " number 30, Lebum James" lmao

Fair play for giving Kobe credit and not putting Duncan ahead of him. I find that a lot of newer fans that never watched 2000s basketball just look at accolades and think Duncan was better.. But let me tell you... If you were bron and old enough to pay attention to 2000s basketball... everone was comparing Kobe to MJ, not duncan to Kobe... barbershops, Lunch tables, sportscenter, every jrounalists knew Kobe was better than Duncan. Solid list.

Very very nice list. Love the respect you give Jokic and the respect you give Moses Malone especially over Karl malone which so many don’t do, Hondo and even the respect you give Wilt despite how much more respect he still deserves. Elgin should be ranked far higher given how versatile he was offensively defensively and rebounding wise and how much he impacted winning as a man who was truly against the most hof comp ever his entire career but just didn’t impact winning as much as wilt. West is the same case and should never be ranked lower than a curry who doesn’t have to deal with as many hall of fame bigs challenging him at the rim, as much defense from all players at all, wrist carrying being illegal (blatant up and down violations in front of the ref against lebron in nba finals can be found easily if you don’t wanna search the man’s entire career just like everyone else in his era) has the benefit of flagrant fouls and a 3 point line that guys like west tiny oscar elgin Bing Pete cousy hagan twyman etc… would’ve benefited hugely from. I’ll never understand how in 2023 so many people still think the goat debate is between MJ and lbj when neither have the most impressive hof odds competition to win in their finals wins, or in general haven’t won in the postseason their entire careers against the most impressive odds, and had so many luxuries some other goats didn’t have at all. 50 points and 25 rebounds is wilts least impressive feat. Man’s has more winshares than billrussell showing he impacted winning more than the greatest winner ever in history with 11 rings and against the most hof comp of all time of any player ever. Stack this on top of 100s of other things we all know wilt brung to the table is why he’s the clear cut goat

My only real issue with this list is having Barkley so far above Dirk. They both struggled defensively, but I think Dirk's offensive strengths as a shooter and his legendary championship run should put him above Barkley

I’d like more explanation on the take “Jokic’s defense leaves much to be desired” the placement makes sense and it’s cool if we’re splitting hairs since this is an all time great players list, but this finals should be enough evidence that he can play excellent defense using his quick hands, positioning, height, and bball iq.

Not having Nate Robinson and Corey Maguette in the list is crazy

Actually an excellent list. You are the only one I've encountered that has the same top 3. Respecting Wilt like he deserves 👏🏼

The ABA was a fascinating and wonderful professional basketball league. It's a shame that so many teams that used to belong to the ABA are gone now. Julius Erving's ABA performances are still impressive.

Watched a video that told an amazing story about Bill Russell -- the owner or GM of the Lakers had publicly guaranteed that the Lakers would win the NBA championship the first season Wilt joined them. The newspaper at the time called them a superteam (first time that term was used for an NBA team). In game 7 of the NBA Finals he had balloons in the ceiling to celebrate the Lakers victory. Bill Russell said to him something like "Those balloons are staying up!" and led his team to win that game and the series. Bill was a true competitor and big time performer.

Chuck is criminally underrated, forever my favorite.

whoaaaa we have IDENTICAL top 10 lists except flip Wilt & Kareem but yea splitting hairs I think on that one. Incredible lol I love it!

The fact that Russell is that high without an offensive game, just tells you how incredible he was

Jordan’s effect on the legacy of other greats is one of better GOAT takes I’ve heard in awhile. Honestly wild to think of a hater’s club of players who didn’t get their rings bc of MJ haha

Great analysis. Making these lists can always be so controversial, but you did so without discrediting any of these great players. Bob Petit was the only player in my top 30 absent from yours and I didn't have McHale ranked as high as you did. Dr. J was my all time favorite player and he gets a raw deal with much of his prime and stats not included since he was in the ABA.

I like the Durant and IT takes but damn the Dirk rank is criminal

After watching the whole video, I gotta give you props for a pretty good list. The arguments you have for each selection were pretty spot on. Love your content!

Only real miss I see here is Bob Pettit, who lifetime averaged 26.4 ppg and 16.2 rebounds, but his performance in the decisive game of the NBA finals scoring 50 and hauling in 19 rebounds, while score 19 of their last 21 points to bring the Hawks their only NBA championship brings him into the top 30, actually I would have him top 25. He was way more athletic than given credit for and was a physical beast once he got up to 245 lbs of muscle. This one was a miss.

Jokic is underrated defensively. The game has sped up and spread out making good defense harder to read but if you watch the games closely you will see that Jokić has a significant impact on defense.

My top 5 most skilled players: Pistol Pete: There are things that he did on the court with the ball that players today still can’t do. His ball handling, passing, and shooting was absolutely phenomenal and he dedicated his entire life to the game and did it all without a three point line. Averaged over 30 points for the hawks and still has the scoring record for college which will literally never be beat🔥🔫 Larry Bird: This guy could barely jump an inch off the ground and he still averaged 10 rebounds a game for his entire career. Won three 3 point contests and one of the most underrated passers and facilitators of all time. Only player ever to average 24/10/6. Hit a game winner over MJ and Scottie with a hurt back! This man was COLD 🥶 🦅 MJ: This man shows the difference between talented and skilled. He always had talent but had to develop his skillset overtime because he kept losing to the Celtics, pistons, and rockets. Once he mastered his craft and became the most skillful player in the game people feared him and he ended up three peating twice. The greatest two way player of all time. Showed off his skills multiple different ways by winning multiple different titles and people were generally afraid of being on the court with him. Averaged 30 points a game his entire career and would of been on 50% shooting if he didn’t join the wizards. Mid range was flawless and unstoppable 👌 Kobe: Nobody mirrored MJ the way Kobe did. He could score from anywhere on the court and his handles and passing skills were incredibly remarkable. Go look earlier in his career and you will see all kinds of no look passes, through the legs, 360 dunks, fake outs, ankle breakers, etc… Kobe had it all and almost three peated twice just like Jordan if it wasn’t for the 2008 loss to the Celtics. Mamba was feared for a reason 🐍 Kareem: The Sky Hook is the most skillful shot in the history of basketball and Kareem was the only one to master it fully. Nobody can stop it. He could do it with both hands from both sides of the key and even 20 feet out. Had the leading scoring record for nearly 40 years and he mainly used one single shot to make it happen. When people know what you are going to do and still can’t do anything to stop it that’s when you know you are skilled 🥽 🏀

1:44 - #30 2:50 - #29 3:53 - #28 4:55 - #27 5:42 - #26 6:36 - #25 7:24 - #24 8:13 - #23 9:05 - #22 9:47 - #21 10:33 - #20 11:25 - #19 12:17 - #18 12:53 - #17 13:45 - #16 14:47 - #15 15:34 - #14 16:19 - #13 17:20 - #12 18:23 - #11 19:13 - #10 20:10 - #9 20:50 - #8 21:55 - #7 22:52 - #6 23:50 - #5 24:50 - #4 25:40 - #3 26:36 - #2 27:38 - #1

I actually have Charles Barkley in my top 15. Alot of people nowadays forget how good he was in his heyday.

Great video! You should turn this into a series by ranking your Top 10 players at every position, PG through Center. Just a video/series idea

I always like and respect your takes. I don't always agree 100% with you, but you are as unbiased as one can be.

Mikan is basically McHale with 20 extra pounds of muscle, wider torso like Unseld for setting screens and boxing out, and top-tier passing. You can say he played in a weaker era, but by the same token it's much easier to follow or add to a blueprint than it is to **be** the blueprint. and Mikan was the blueprint, he influenced the game more than any player in history, while dominating his era more than anyone in any sport ever has. If that's not "greatness" what is?

Craziest part of this list (at 1st glance) is the fact that you had 3 top 20 players of all time all on the same team and they didn’t win a championship together (Barkley, Moses, Dr. J). It would have been amazing to see all of them playing together at their peaks.

Good solid list, with great description. I like it, would have a few adjustments on my own list, but as u said it's your list. Great list!

Great list of players. I'm glad to see that you have included players from the '60-'70-80's.. However, I cannot list LeBron that high. Yes, he has been proclaimed as the GOAT by himself, news media, and fans alike. His accomplishments are tied to his longevity. However, by scrutiny of his game, you will see a limited offensive bag of drives to the rim, three point shots, and assist to open teammates. His Defensive effort has been sorely lacking recently as he watches opponents race by him I also have seen a history of disappearing in 4th quarter of the playoffs. Mix in his consistent complaining to refs and flopping; let alone, excessive traveling that media moguls just laugh it off.

Love seeing Dwade and KG get the respect they deserve, among many other names I like seeing within the context of this list. Great video.

Great list. It’s tough for me not to include Pippen on that list, above another #2 like McHale

“Roman empire was not great because their competition didn’t have fighter jets “ Jordan haters !!😂

I wasn’t mad at any placement u had. That says a lot because I have watched a lot of basketball in my life, and ur arguments were solid and definitely valid. Good video.

“Not all rings are created equal.” Yes yes yes yes yes.

Nothing but respect for you Jonny! You keep things true to yourself and it makes your videos worth watching and enjoyable!

Steph is not just a one way player anymore. He’s heavily improved his defense over the years & not a liability like he used to be.

I like your list and you make it make sense …respect

Good info! I’ve undervalued Havlicek, Nowitzki, Garnett, Thomas, Malone. Appreciate that you gave more respect for Wade, Barkley, Baylor, Erving, West, Wilt, James.

Great video Johnny. Like seeing Isaiah getting some love. Today he’s so underrated.

I personally already had LeBron at 2 and Kareem at 3 with Wilt at 4 but I like that u give Wilt and other old time guys the respect they deserve

I always wonder how Arvydas Sabonis and Oscar Schmidt would do in their primes against these on the list. Great video!

You have shaq outside of the top 10 because he didn’t sustain his excellence but your reasoning for Jordan being over Lebron is because “peak performance is what’s most important”… ight jonny

jonny, i know we’re locked in like twins cause we share a name, but also you made this video right when i’m starting a lil personal project to rank my top 30 hoopers of all time. your list will have an influence for sure, and i can’t get over the timing. keep up the great work brother, one of the best channels on youtube for sure 💯

Great listen/watch. Tons of thought were put into this upload. Thx for sharing your rankins

I fully understand the Michale pick. He was with bird so he gets overshadowed a bit

Barkley and Baylor were the same height but Baylor was in an era of lower shooting percentages and thus had more chances at the ball. Although still remarkable nevertheless, especially due to his height. I can only imagine how many boards someone like Barkley or Rodman would have grabbed.

Why Allen Iverson isn’t brought up in this kind of arguments, I think he’s underrated

Skap Attack and Uncut Hoops will blow a fuse watching Kobe so far behind Bron xD

I loved this list. At first I thought you were going to leave wilt off when you got to 5 and he wasn't there but I 100% believe he deserves that 3 spot. People have no idea how good he was, ty for doing him right.

I believe Jokic should be at least higher than David Robinson, because Robinson was never able to LEAD his team to a championship in his Prime, while the Jokier has a significantly better prime as a player and was able to be the leader and the best olayer of his championship team. Sure Robinson is a better defender, but Jokic certainly isn't a liability and the offensive gap between the two combined with the weight of their achievments is too much for me to put Joker below the Admiral.

Greatest list ever. I'll keep getting back over and over again, as I did with the past list. Thanks Jonny! outstanding content, as always. I know how much content you have done of MJ, but I never get tired of it. New and/or updated content about the GOAT will be very much appreciated. Cheers from Mexico.

I was mad at every ranking on the list, keep it up

I agree with this list 100% when it comes to career/legacy except I’d have to look deeper into where I’d have Shaq, I think a problem with the goat debate is sometimes ppl are debating different things like for me the goat is more about who was the best player at their peak and I take career into consideration after that so my list with those standards would be a lot different but if career is emphasized first this list makes a lot of sense

Great list! Your top ten was pretty solid! Love the points about Michael Jordan as the Greatest Player of All Time. If you take his career between the years of 1987-1988 through 1997-1998, which includes the season and 4/5ths that he was retired, he still has a resume that I would rather have than the entire career of any one else who has ever played the game. Those accomplishments during that period alone surpass the cumulative greatness of other NBA players. Bill Russell has more titles, but was not the all around force on both ends of the floor that Michael Jordan was.

Overall I love the list…Wade and Durant possibly (possibly) a bit too high. Garnett (for me) is easily Top 20 and I personally have him within the Top 15. Julius Erving possibly a few spots too low and I actually had him at my #10 spot (higher than most) as I think he gets overlooked at times when considering his body of work and how good he was in his time. But…with those very few things said, amazing list!

I like what Pat Riley had to say about Bird versus Jordan. "If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I’d choose Michael Jordan," Pat said. "If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I’d take Larry Bird."

weird that kobe wasnt higher on the list because of his body of work, where he had bad seasons but jordan is measured for his peak. lebron’s peak may not be as high as jordan’s but its sustained for 20 seasons.

I am really interested to see who you have. You usually have great takes.

Jonny did his homework. I respect his list!

I like how you made a point that this is the 30 greatest basketball players of all time, not NBA players. Did you consider Oscar Schmidt or Arvydas Sabonis? Both are some of the most accomplished players outside of the nba, and Oscar has the most points scored in professional basketball ever.

Very solid lost Jonny. I particularly like your inclusion of the superior Malone as well as his placement. I believe you massively overrate Wilt, but you also admit that this is a bit of an outlandish take so I can't knock you for it.

My current top list is (somewhat) close to consensus, but I’ll put it in anyways. 1.) MJ 2.) Lebron 3.) Kareem 4.) Wilt 5.) Bird 6.) Magic 7.) Russell 8.) Duncan 9.) Shaq 10.) Kobe 11.) Hakeem 12.) Steph 13.) Moses 14.) Oscar 15.) West 16.) K. Malone 17.) Nowitzki 18.) Durant 19.) Garnett 20.) Erving (no ABA) 21.) Giannis 22.) Jokić 23.) Robinson 24.) Barkley I think those 24 are pretty clearly my top group, with honorable mentions to Wade, Pippen, Havlicek, Pettit, Paul, etc.

Great job on the list. This is my mount Rushmore. Jordan, Wilt, Russell, Kareem and Magic.

The KG narrative is actually crazy, imagine leading your team in every stat swapping teams to a good team post prime and instantly win a ring and dpoy.

I was shocked that you put Wilt at 3, but damn do I respect you for doing it.

Fun fact about Jokic’s championship. He would join hakeem as the only player to win a championship with no other all stars but De’andre Jordan who basically played 2 minutes all playoffs made one all star team in 2017. Always love your videos and appreciate some of your takes. While I don agree with all of them and would definitely shuffle some around, I can’t say your logic is flawed. Particularly appreciate how you give Erving credit for his ABA days and is one of the reasons I often have Gervin and Barry higher than others do too. My hottest take is usually having Kobe a lot lower and out of the top 10. He was just too inefficient for me and without a solid big man he was never really better than a first round elimination and that’s why I think a lot of his “peak stats” are inflated. But I also can’t argue with him being in a top ten.

6 rule changes to limit him, limited footage, most accolades and stats not tracked and STILL top 3. Go Wilt!

That magic bird edit was cleaner then my house the day before guests come over.

I feel like there should be a Pre/Post 1974 GOAT list. The exclusion of DEF stats really cripples the Golden Era players. Great list and narrative.

This is a GOAT list. I'd quibble here and there, but that's what lists are about. One thing I like to say is that Bill Russell is a wizard: What we THINK we know about basketball, we don't, and he does. If he had tried to explain it, we wouldn't understand. He had an extra dimension of hoop IQ that no other human has ever possessed. On a scale of 1-10, his intangibles were at an 11. He rebounded better than Rodman, led his team better than Magic, competed like Jordan, and shut down the entire front court. From one side to another. His wingspan and lateral movement look like a video game. His athleticism is insane. And he got in your head before, during, and after the game. Russell won his last two championships as a player/head coach!! And his 13th ring came against the NBA's first super team: West/Chamberlain/Baylor. He played in 21 "someone's going home tonight" playoff games, and is 21-0. He wore a black suit to those games because he said that he was The Undertaker. I could go on and on.

I think Tim Duncan deserves a higher spot as he is so easy and uncomplicated to build around, he never cries abt touches or discourageous teammates which sets him apart from players that had "harder surcomstances" like kobe or KG

Love the respect for wilt. People forget abt the word greatest in the goat debate. He wasn’t the best at winning of course but cmon a dude that’s putting up those crazy numbers no matter what era is in the conversation.

Great list, and great video as always.

Thanks for keeping it real with Chuck!!!! He was a BEAST!!!!

Not to name the various vectors that I would use to determine greatest and some of it is beyond the numbers but that rookie performance by Magic is just one of the reasons I could defend why I rank him as the greatest not best but greatest . Great breakdown btw that some serious analysis . Lastly asking Magic to be a stout defender would 've been like asking Brady to play special teams he had the most high powered offense to run plus he was a solid defensive rebounder .

I like your list as you give due credit to old timers and modern players. I would make one significant change as I would put Dr J well inside the top ten. Very few players in any sport change the way the game is played in any significant way but Dr J did just that when he brought street ball to the Pros. My dad was no basketball fan but he took my brother and I to see Dr J when he played for the New York Nets in the ABA because even he got caught up in the Doctor’s fever.

It's a good list. I'd personally put Shaq way higher.

PS - Thanks for those two great Dr. J dunks at the end. He's my favorite. So much grace and power. He really made the game exciting and beautiful.

The MJ competition argument is valid. MJ did go up against the most top 75 players but after the 80s he never ran into a juggernaut team with 4+ hof'ers or a team with more good players than his. 1991 Lakers were the best and they were injured and not the showtime of the 80s.

I started watching the nba in 1981 this is a list i can get behind and respect.

Jonny you should do most aesthetic players by decades. I just discovered Gus Johnson, connie Hawkins and some of the old guys with smooth fluid games

Respect for putting KD where he is. Most people wont.

I understand Isiah Thomas being up there, but I personally just can't look past his lack of single player accolades. Only 1 finals MVP and no MVP's, as well as unexpectedly bad advanced stats, and I just can't put him above players like Durant, Robinson, Robertson, Baylor, Wade, Garnett and Barkley.

Love your take on McHale

The fact they robbed Steph the 2015 fmvp doesn’t still sit right with me 😤

I’d personally rank Larry Legend higher but frankly I’m a fanboy and your argument is air tight and his insane peak is balanced somewhat by his shortened career. Nice one my boi

I appreciate the high placement of West. It's deserved and he's slept on too often.

I truely believe that the MJ/Bron debate comes down to which play style you like better. Both accomplished absurd things and were/are unstoppable

Mchale definitely goes on that list. You young brothers have no idea how boss this dude was.

Scottie Pippen is an interesting omission IMO

You can't claim Malone would win a championship in 1998 with certainty. In 1997 it looks very certain, but in 1998 it would more probably be Reggie Miller.

Terrific list just think if Bird w/out a broken back