The NBA GOAT Series (Late) 2021 List

The GOAT series returned for its second year and in honor of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary, the plan was to announce the top 75 players based on the formula I created.

This list was completed during the 2021 offseason and I slowly released numbers 75-21 on the Mavs Outsiders Podcast but that progress was interrupted and I never got back to it.

Since then we’ve crowned a new champion, and the events of the 2021-2022 season will definitely impact these rankings.

With all of that established, I have been urged to release the 2021 list anyway (Thanks Rolo) so here it is!

The list is based on a formula you can find on the Methodology page. You will also see that I changed the weight of some awards based on how far the game has come and I had to decide who would have received some awards in the early years of the league before things like MVP and All-Defense teams existed. You can find those details on the Added Awards and Adjustments pages.

Overall this is a fun exercise and I plan to update it every year going forward.

Bold = Active Player

Rank	Player Name	GOAT Points
1	Michael Jordan	1,300.30
2	Lebron James	1,235.17
3	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1,140.55
4	Bill Russell	987.40
5	Julius Erving	851.20
6	Wilt Chamberlain	818.50
7	Larry Bird	715.40
8	George Mikan	709.00
9	Tim Duncan	686.24
10	Magic Johnson	679.50
11	Kobe Bryant	673.04
12	Karl Malone	650.67
13	Shaquille O’Neal	639.98
14	Bob Pettit	589.70
15	Kevin Durant	572.70
16	Hakeem Olajuwon	569.11
17	Moses Malone	495.10
18	Stephen Curry	473.37
19	Jerry West	448.60
20	Giannis Antetokounmpo	433.10
21	Bob Cousy	421.00
22	Dirk Nowitzki	420.71
23	Neil Johnston	411.90
24	Oscar Robertson	410.30
25	Allen Iverson	398.77
26	Elgin Baylor	373.60
27	Rick Barry	371.80
28	Charles Barkley	345.37
29	James Harden	344.57
30	Russell Westbrook	330.04
31	Mel Daniels	323.00
32	Artis Gilmore	322.05
33	Steve Nash	316.54
34	Kevin Garnett	302.34
35	George Gervin	298.20
36	David Robinson	278.18
37	Paul Arizin	277.50
38	John Havlicek	267.20
39	Dolph Schayes	254.80
40	Bob Feerick	254.50
41	Connie Hawkins	252.00
42	Kawhi Leonard	234.00
43	Willis Reed	231.80
44	Dwyane Wade	228.41
45	Nikola Jokic	228.00
46	Dwight Howard	217.54
47	George McGinnis	211.40
48	Anthony Davis	210.60
49	Spencer Haywood	204.50
50	Jason Kidd	203.10
51	Billy Cunningham	200.90
52	Chris Paul	200.07
53	Dominique Wilkins	199.24
54	Elvin Hayes	187.10
55	Damian Lillard	183.47
56	John Stockton	167.31
57	Bill Walton	166.00
58	Bob McAdoo	163.00
59	Dave Cowens	158.10
60	Isiah Thomas	155.70
61	Gary Payton	152.44
62	Wes Unseld	146.50
63	Joe Fulks	139.00
64	Bernard King	138.07
65	Scottie Pippen	136.84
66	Derrick Rose	136.00
67	Walt Frazier	128.50
68	Ben Wallace	122.84
69	Carmelo Anthony	120.18
70	Clyde Drexler	118.54
71	Dan Issel	118.10
72	David Thompson	112.80
73	Bill Sharman	111.50
74	Alex English	109.40
75	Tony Parker	106.67
76	Patrick Ewing	106.10
77	Chauncey Billups	105.34
78	Hal Greer	103.70
79	Paul Pierce	103.61
80	Dennis Johnson	103.50
81	Sidney Moncrief	103.50
82	Tracy McGrady	103.34
83	Pete Maravich	102.20
8 4	James Worthy	100.84
85	Dikembe Mutombo	99.84
86	Tiny Archibald	93.40
87	Bob Davies	93.00
88	Rudy Gobert	92.31
89	Donovan Mitchell	92.00
90	Joe Dumars	86.84
91	Adrian Dantley	86.00
92	Jerry Lucas	84.70
93	Tom Heinsohn	84.50
94	Max Zaslofsky	83.00
95	Kyrie Irving	80.54
96	Dennis Rodman	80.24
97	Sam Jones	80.00
98	Joel Embiid	76.50
99	Mack Calvin	73.00
100	Kevin McHale	73.00

100 Greatest Players in BAA/NBA/ABA History

I linked to a few of the articles that give you more information about the top players on this list and in the future, each player will have their own dedicated page.

So sound off! Which rankings do you hate? Which ones do you love? Who do you think made the biggest leap between 2021 and 2022?

Stay tuned for the WNBA GOAT Series coming soon and the 2022 NBA GOAT Series update!

-Bibs