Prior to the start of the 2021-22 campaign, the NBA selected its top 75 players to commemorate 75 years of league history. Due to an exact tie in voting, the final tally actually resulted in 76 players being honored. This complete roster of legendary Hall of Famers is accessible here.
With 80 seasons now completed, reaching another milestone figure allows us to resolve that discrepancy by adding four additional stars to an imaginary NBA Top 80 list. Each of the 76 athletes previously selected, whether in the 2021 update or the original 1996-97 50th-anniversary team, will retain their places. We are only designating four vacant spots for new additions.
This selection is not restricted solely to players who recently became eligible, however. Every individual who has ever played in the league and was left off the 2021 roster of 76 is under consideration. Evaluation is based strictly on achievements compiled up through the end of the 2025-26 season. Consequently, former players with finished careers hold an inherent advantage over active ones, though it is worth noting that most retired candidates have already been rejected before, while several active stars were simply too early in their development to be realistically considered back in 2021.
So, what is our approach? To put it plainly, two of the spots are absolutely indisputable. We will lock those in first before tackling the highly challenging decisions for the remaining two openings.
The Obvious Choices: Jokić and SGA
Only 16 individuals in league history have secured more than one NBA MVP trophy, and 14 of those stars earned a spot on the NBA’s 75th-anniversary squad. The remaining two players who missed the cut back then were still in the opening stages of their professional journeys.
At the time of the publication, Nikola Jokić had just secured his inaugural MVP but had only six years of NBA service under his belt. By comparison, Shaquille O’Neal was named to the 50 greatest list with zero MVPs and just four seasons played, though he had already guided his franchise to the NBA Finals—a milestone Jokić had not yet achieved. Given that 2011 MVP recipient Derrick Rose was also left off, there was some precedent for omitting an MVP winner based on a shorter track record. Since then, however, Jokić has collected two additional MVPs and a championship title, making his current inclusion entirely undeniable.
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Conversely, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had not even secured an All-Star nod by 2021. He was still developing his game with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he has since captured two MVP awards alongside a league title. While his overall resume does not quite equal Jokić’s current accolades, his status as one of the top 80 players ever to play is beyond dispute. There is no reason to debate his qualifications further; his entry is a certainty.
Who Contends for the Final Two Spots?
With Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander locked in, our list now stands at 78 players.
Prior to deciding on our final pair of players, we must establish the core criteria this list values. The evidence strongly points to championships and MVP trophies. Several athletes on the 1990s Top 50 roster (such as Lenny Wilkens and Nate Thurmond) were never named to an All-NBA team. Similarly, Ray Allen joined the 2021 list with only two All-NBA honors. On the other hand, Dwight Howard and Tracy McGrady were both left off despite earning seven All-NBA selections each. Regarding MVP winners, we noted earlier that only two are currently excluded, with one of them not having secured the award prior to 2021.
Among the 76 athletes selected in 2021, 58 were NBA champions. Of the 18 without a ring, 11 had made at least one Finals appearance, and five of those 11 had secured an MVP award. Historically, it has been highly difficult to secure a place on this list without a championship ring or a Finals appearance. Just six exceptions exist: Dave Bing, Carmelo Anthony, George Gervin, Pete Maravich, Damian Lillard, and Dominique Wilkins. Additionally, only two championship rosters since the merger—the 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics and the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons—failed to have a single representative on the list.
These guidelines define our search parameters: MVP recipients, multi-time title winners, or franchise leaders of a championship or Finals team. Let’s begin evaluating the candidates.
The MVP Recipients
As mentioned earlier regarding Derrick Rose, his peak years were simply too brief to warrant serious consideration for this spot. He captured his MVP in just his third year and enjoyed only one more elite season before a devastating ACL tear triggered a sharp decline. He does not rank among the top 250 all-time scorers, never advanced to the Finals, and failed to earn any subsequent All-NBA selections. While his trajectory would likely have been legendary if not for injuries, the reality of his career limits his candidacy.
The argument for Joel Embiid is far more compelling. Though his total career scoring output exceeds Rose’s by only about 1,000 points, he has accumulated his numbers with much higher efficiency on a per-game and per-season basis. Despite playing 233 fewer regular-season matchups, he has accumulated five All-NBA nods and three All-Defensive honors, achievements that far surpass Rose’s achievements outside of his lone MVP campaign. Embiid averages about 10 more points per contest over his career with an effective field goal percentage five points higher, outclassing Rose across most advanced metrics. While Rose recorded a Box Plus-Minus of 6.8 during his MVP year, Embiid boasts a 6.7 career average in that category. While Rose fails to make the cut, Embiid represents a legitimate contender.
Franchise Leaders of a Championship or Finals Team
Several prominent names instantly join the discussion at this stage. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brunson stand out as the newest entries to the group of championship-winning focal points, given that Stephen Curry was inducted in 2021, and both Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander have already been added by us.
Between these two, Tatum boasts the far more robust resume. He has double the All-Star nods, more First-Team All-NBA honors (four) than Brunson has total All-NBA selections of any kind (three), and a scoring advantage of over 3,000 career points. Backed by superior advanced metrics and a substantial defensive advantage, Tatum’s case is countered by Brunson’s two primary strengths: a Finals MVP and more efficient clutch offensive production. For a single high-stakes contest, one could easily favor Brunson, earning him serious consideration for a spot here. Nevertheless, Tatum’s broader body of work remains superior.
As noted, neither the 2004 Pistons nor the 1979 Sonics featured a player on the previous iterations of this list. Should they be represented now? Probably not, as neither squad possessed an undisputed focal star. Gus Williams paced the 1979 Sonics in scoring at a modest 19.2 points per game. Both Jack Sikma and Dennis Johnson reached the All-Star game but missed out on All-NBA honors. That team functioned as an ensemble, much like the 2004 Pistons, who similarly lacked a 20-point scorer. However, Detroit did feature one contender worth discussing: Ben Wallace, their sole All-Star representative that championship season, who also collected four Defensive Player of the Year awards. Still, because Dikembe Mutombo was omitted from the 2021 roster despite possessing equal defensive accolades and a more balanced overall game, Wallace likely misses out even with his championship. Even Dennis Rodman required five titles to secure a spot without a scoring profile.
What about the standout leaders of teams that reached the Finals but fell short? The rest of the field is fortunate this evaluation occurs in 2026, as Victor Wembanyama could easily force his way into this conversation by next season. Currently, however, his resume is not yet sufficient. For various reasons, modern runner-up catalysts like Devin Booker and Jimmy Butler face too much competition to make the cut. With a highly congested field, two prominent candidates demand our focus.
The first candidate is Dwight Howard, who, alongside seven All-NBA selections, captured a title with the 2020 Lakers and secured three Defensive Player of the Year honors. While Mutombo and Wallace might have had slight defensive edges, Howard’s offensive contributions were vastly superior, and he served as a far more impactful franchise centerpiece. Highly regarded as one of the most prominent omissions in 2021, he is a primary option for us now.
Next is Luka Dončić, whose statistical profile rivals Tatum’s, albeit without the championship ring. He boasts six First-Team All-NBA honors compared to Tatum’s four; crucially, every other player in league history with at least six such selections is already on the 75th-anniversary list or added in this update. Both stars share six All-Star appearances, but Dončić vastly outperforms Tatum in nearly all advanced statistical categories, excluding shooting efficiency (which aligns with their differing team responsibilities). While rings carry immense weight, Dončić’s individual dominance positions him as the strongest candidate discussed so far.
Multi-Time Champions
While the 1997 top 50 compilation frequently highlighted secondary and tertiary contributors from multi-championship dynasties, the 2021 revision largely moved away from this practice. San Antonio’s dominant run saw Tim Duncan honored, but left off both Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The Golden State dynasties of the past decade yielded a selection for Stephen Curry, but omitted Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Similarly, the late-2000s Lakers, who captured two championships and reached three straight Finals, did not see Pau Gasol selected. In this same category, Dennis Johnson serves as an intriguing candidate; he was arguably the top performer on the 1979 Sonics before capturing two additional rings with the Boston Celtics.
Among these six, Gasol presents the strongest credentials. He is tied for the highest number of All-Star and All-NBA selections, ranks second in games played and scoring average, and sits near the top in advanced catch-all statistics. Ginobili’s cumulative stats were constrained by his sixth-man role, while Parker, though a starter, suffers from the statistical sacrifices typical of San Antonio’s system, leaving his advanced metrics less eye-popping.
The Golden State core simply faced too much competition on an already packed ballot. Thompson’s career achievements stack up favorably against Reggie Miller, and Green’s defensive impact mirrors Dennis Rodman’s. Both might have succeeded under a more flexible voting format. However, because the 2021 update retained every single member of the 1997 squad, we will adhere to that standard. Dennis Johnson faces a similar issue; his body of work surpasses Dave DeBusschere’s in nearly every metric besides basic points and boards, but because DeBusschere would likely be omitted if we rebuilt the list from scratch, Johnson remains just on the outside.
The Final Two Candidates: Luka and… ?
Securing one of our remaining two spots is a relatively simple task. Luka Dončić, alongside Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander, has maintained a competitive peak that has always guaranteed a spot on this list. Given that every other player with six First-Team All-NBA nods has been selected, omitting Dončić solely for lacking a championship would be illogical. Even without an MVP trophy, a season with averages approaching 34 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds is undeniably MVP-level production. He has reached statistical milestones that Brunson, Tatum, Gasol, and Howard have never neared, maintaining that high-level output throughout the postseason as well.
Here is where the evaluation gets complex. His sole statistical rival in this cohort is Joel Embiid. While Dončić leads the candidates in Box Plus-Minus, Embiid records the highest Win Shares per 48 minutes. Statistically, both players are far ahead of the competition, and with Rose standing as the sole excluded MVP, we would require a highly convincing argument to pass over Embiid, particularly given how much his resume outshines Rose’s.
The deciding factor, beyond raw availability, lies in playoff performance. Embiid has yet to secure an appearance in the Conference Finals. In six postseason matchups against Tatum and Brunson, he has dropped five series, with his sole triumph coming this year when Tatum was sidelined for Game 7 of their opening-round series. Since this selection process heavily weights postseason triumph, Embiid’s lack of deep playoff runs and his dip in postseason efficiency work against him. While these issues may be resolved before the NBA’s centennial milestone, selecting Embiid today over contemporaries with far more accomplished playoff resumes goes against the core philosophy of this project.
Consequently, we are left with two active superstars in Tatum and Brunson who spearheaded championship teams, and two retired greats in Howard and Gasol who served as secondary stars or fell short of a ring as primary options. With all due respect to Gasol and Brunson, they rank just behind the other candidates in their respective groups.
Brunson’s case is slightly hindered by spending his early years coming off the bench. Although he could eventually catch Tatum by retirement—especially considering his head-to-head playoff success against him—he simply lacks the career-long accolades of Tatum, who was a key starter on a title contender from day one. Regarding the retired candidates, Gasol’s individual peak does not equal Howard’s dominant run, as Howard claims all five of the First-Team All-NBA nods shared between the two.
This leaves Tatum and Howard as our final contenders. Howard likely enjoyed the higher personal peak, highlighted by a runner-up finish in MVP voting, whereas Tatum has never placed higher than fourth. Additionally, Howard’s three Defensive Player of the Year awards represent an incredible achievement, even if historical voters have occasionally undervalued purely defensive accomplishments.
Furthermore, Howard achieved exceptional results with fewer stars around him. Tatum does not possess a single playoff triumph quite as iconic as Howard defeating prime LeBron James in a postseason series. While Howard benefited from an excellent shooting cast in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, Tatum has almost always enjoyed the more talented roster in nearly every playoff series of his career. Comparing secondary stars, Jaylen Brown is a clear step above Rashard Lewis. Thanks to a longer career, Howard also holds the advantage in cumulative statistics.
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However, guiding a roster to a championship as its best player carries immense prestige. Howard captured his championship ring late in his career as a bench contributor. Furthermore, Howard reigned supreme in an era lacking elite rival centers, whereas Tatum has established himself as a premier wing player during the most wing-dominated era in basketball history. Howard also had a history of role-related friction, while Tatum is a highly versatile, underrated star who secured his title by adapting to facilitate like a guard and defend opposing frontcourts. Tatum offers greater team-building flexibility, making him a more adaptable piece for any system.
Had Tatum not suffered an Achilles injury, he likely would have secured this spot. If this selection were occurring a year from now, providing him another season to bolster his credentials, he would probably be the choice. By the absolute narrowest of margins, however, the choice falls on Dwight Howard. It is difficult to pass over a candidate who possessed both the superior peak and the more extensive career record, despite spending his final seasons as a journeyman role player. Ultimately, Tatum will likely finish with a greater career legacy than Howard. At this moment, however, this decision serves to correct Howard’s exclusion in 2021. He belonged on the previous list, and he deservedly claims his spot in this revision.
