Being a basketball fan is truly exciting right now. The game is transitioning smoothly from one era to the next. LeBron James has had an incredible two-decade career, and it’s time for King James to relinquish the crown. The luster of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors’ decade-long success is beginning to fade.

The NBA is currently undergoing a rebranding, and it’s happening at an ideal time. TNT Sports’ 35-year television partnership with the NBA will conclude after the 2025 season. The league will begin its new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon Prime starting in the 2025-26 season. Additionally, John Tesh’s iconic “Roundball Rock” theme music is making a return, introducing a new generation of basketball fans to its catchy tune. There couldn’t be a better way to kick off this rebranding than with some fresh headliners.

The 2025 NBA Finals features two burgeoning superstars in Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly crowned 2025 NBA MVP, and Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Shai and Tyrese are not superstar-level yet, but they are at the doorstep. They are spearheading this new wave of contemporary talent and ushering in the yet-to-be defined era.

“We’re witnessing the changing of the guard,” said former L.A. Clippers guard Lou Williams on the “Run It Back” podcast on FanDuel TV. “We are seeing the LeBrons and Kobes of our time. These young superstars are starting to make their mark on the game and define where it’s headed in the future. SGA is going to be one of those special players.”

Lou Will had a unique perspective on Shai’s development, having been his teammate during SGA’s rookie season with the Clippers. “This is my rook,” said Williams, who recognized Shai’s maturity from Day 1. He observed how Shai dedicated himself to improving at just 20 and is now seeing him emerge as one of the best players in the league at 26.

“[Shai] was always a responsible player who carried himself like a mature professional,” Williams noted. “He had big aspirations and was clear about his endgame. He knew his abilities.”

Lou Will’s praise for Shai’s work ethic underscores SGA’s character. The Clippers had a strong feeling that SGA could become an All-Star caliber player, but an NBA MVP? “Not in my wildest dreams,” Lou Will admitted. “I’m sure Shai had [MVP] on his vision board.”

SGA embodies the qualities of a throwback player who understands the importance of consistency and patience in achieving the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

The same holds true for Haliburton. The 25-year-old Pacers guard possesses an unorthodox shooting style but plays like a classic point guard with modern capabilities. He can dominate a game without scoring, pushing the pace like an ’80s playmaker while boasting an astonishing 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. For context, a 3:1 ratio is considered well above average, while 4:1 is excellent. Haliburton is operating on an entirely different level in terms of minimizing turnovers.

Few players can match Haliburton’s killer mentality. He has made headlines by leading two historic comebacks with game-winning shots that thwarted the playoff hopes of the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He also delivered a memorable choke sign celebration at Madison Square Garden after making a dagger shot that seemingly floated five feet in the air before swishing through the net. That shot and choke sign celebration will linger in the memories of Knicks fans for a long time.

The Pacers achieved remarkable comebacks, erasing a seven-point lead in 34.7 seconds to eliminate the Bucks in five games, then erasing another seven-point deficit in 46.7 seconds to take a 2-0 lead against the Cavaliers. In the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, they came back from a nine-point deficit in 52.5 seconds in Game 1, with Haliburton sinking critical shots during each comeback.

SGA and Haliburton — alongside Anthony Edwards (23), Jalen Brunson (28), Cade Cunningham (23) and Luka Doncic (26) — are entering their prime years. Five of the six made the 2025 All-NBA teams (Luka didn’t qualify because of games missed), and they represent the present and future of the Association. They represent the major shift in the NBA as we head into a new era.

HISTORY LESSON: BREAKING DOWN DIFFERENT ERAS IN THE NBA

How did we arrive at this point? Let’s pop the VHS tape into the VCR and press rewind. The first 75 years of the NBA can be divided into six distinct eras.

In the league’s formative years of the 1950s and 1960s, eight basketball pioneers — Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell — established the groundwork for greatness. Bill Russell and his Boston Celtics didn’t just participate; they dominated the era, clinching 11 championships in 13 seasons. This is an astonishing achievement that is unlikely to ever be matched.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Rick Barry, George “Iceman” Gervin, and Julius Erving carried the torch through the colorful and turbulent era in the 1970s. This was a challenging time marked by the competition between the ABA and NBA, resulting in dwindling audiences.

The arrival of Magic Johnson in L.A. and Larry Bird in Boston revitalized basketball during the 1980s, often regarded as the league’s golden era. It was a period of glitz and grit. Showtime vs. Celtic Pride. East Cost vs. West Coast. This period also saw the emergence of the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons, along with three-time MVP Moses Malone’s move from Houston to Philadelphia. Moses teamed up with Julius “Dr. J” Erving in the 1982-83 season and co-authored one of the most dominant playoff runs, sweeping Magic’s Lakers in the ’83 Finals and capping off a 12-1 postseason record. Moses’ audacious move may be the first variant of a superstar player joining another superstar player to form a super team.

The Air Jordan era took flight in the 1990s. After grabbing the baton from Magic and Bird, Michael Jordan ruled the ’90s, winning six championships in eight years and denying peers Sir Charles Barkley, Karl “The Mailman” Malone, and Patrick Ewing from winning rings. Jordan’s Bulls was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals and pulled off the three-peat twice.

Hakeem Olajuwon benefited from Jordan’s brief two-year retirement, leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. David “The Admiral” Robinson teamed up with Tim “Big Fundamental” Duncan in San Antonio, winning titles in 1999 and 2003.

The immediate post-Jordan era was dominated by five players: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Duncan. Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan combined to win 13 NBA titles, four regular season MVPs, and eight Finals MVPs from 1999 to 2010. For a decade, the road to the NBA Finals went through Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan. It was the dueling dynasties era. Shaq and Kobe led the Lakers to a three-peat — one of only five three-peats in NBA history. Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers did it. Russell’s Celtics did it. Jordan’s Bulls did it twice. And Shaq and Kobe were the last to do it in 2002.

Nowitzki bridged the gap between the Kobe Bryant era and the LeBron James era. Nowitzki ended Kobe’s reign as the world’s best player when Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks squad knocked off Kobe’s Lakers in the 2011 playoffs. In the same playoff run, Nowitzki pumped the brakes on LeBron’s title run when his Mavs defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

LeBron’s appearance in the 2011 Finals started a run of eight consecutive trips. He put together a super team in Miami, winning two titles in 2012 and 2013, but lost to the Mavs in 2011 and Duncan’s Spurs in 2014. After a four-year run in South Beach, LeBron returned to Cleveland to fulfill his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown team. He delivered on the promise by winning a title in 2016, ending Cleveland’s 52-year professional title drought.

Dirk and KG revolutionized the game, ushering in a new era of big men. The Big Ticket made it possible for high schoolers to skip college and turn pro at 19. Nowitzki opened the door for European bigs who preferred to face the basket instead of having their back to it. Nowitzki and Garnett were instrumental in the game’s evolution, as more and more teams shifted away from traditional power forwards and opted for stretch-4s.

LeBron took the Cavs to four straight NBA Finals but could muster just one victory in four matchups against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. Curry led the Warriors to four championships in eight seasons — two of those championship banners were aided by the addition of Kevin Durant.

The Dubs Dynasty opened the portal to the “small ball” era and advanced metrics. Analytics experts preferred shooting 3s over 2s — it’s either a layup or dunk or a 3-ball — and the midrange shot was viewed as somewhat of a dinosaur idea. The modern NBA puts a premium on pace and space.

The Pacers and Thunder are extensions of the pace-and-space approach, with some added features. Much like today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world, the game continues to evolve. Sure, the traditional back-to-the-basket center may be extinct, but centers are more valuable than ever. Small ball is becoming out of style like skinny jeans. Big-boy basketball is back — with pace and space.

Spurs 7-foot-6 center/forward/guard Victor Wembanyama is the type of player every team craves. Wemby is a big man with a handle who can shoot threes while being an anchor on defense. There’s only one Wemby, but teams will scour the Earth to find a similar player.

OKC found a Wemby-type unicorn in Chet Holmgren. Holmgren may not be as tall as Wemby but he can do all the things Wemby does. Holmgren has a decent handle for a 7-1 player, which allows him to get to his hot spots. Holmgren is also one of the best shot blockers in the NBA, which allows OKC defenders like Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso to press up and stay attached because they know Chet has their back.

The Thunder and Pacers both subscribe to the pace-and-space philosophy, but what allows them to consistently play at hyper-speed is depth. Indiana and OKC throw a wave of bodies at teams, saving their starters from having to play heavy minutes.

Today’s NBA is littered with 3&D wing players and big combo guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and Cade Cunningham. What’s also becoming in vogue is skilled big men. Teams are looking for the next Nikola Jokic, a 5-man who can be the hub of an offense. We are deep in the era of positionless basketball where forwards can play center and centers can play guard.

Because the ball is in the hands of principal scorers, the traditional point guard is being phased out. What used to be the primary job of the point guard is now being distributed to other positions.
Haliburton might be one of the last of the Mohicans in terms of pure point guards, much like the gas-guzzling SUVs with V6 engines. It’s becoming harder and harder to find them. Suppressing point guards and centers isn’t healthy for the game. We need more of them, not less.

Shai, Cade, and Luka, on the other hand, are the archetypes of today’s point guard. They are big, heliocentric guards (6-6 and 6-7) built to play downhill, able to attack a compromised defense while coming off ball screens. They can score or draw fouls in the paint or draw multiple defenders and kick it out for open threes. It’s essentially an extension of what LeBron or James Harden have been doing for the past decade.

What separates SGA from Luka and Cade is his ability to do damage in the midrange area. The midrange (or the high post) is the area on the court that’s 4 to 5 feet below the 3-point line or roughly 15 to 20 feet away from the basket. It stretches from one side of the free throw line elbow to the next. Attack the mid-range is a core part of SGA’s game, and he’s proficient at it. During his 2024-25 MVP season when he averaged a league-leading 32.7 points per game, Shai made 57% of his mid-range attempts. The average NBA team’s midrange field goal percentage is around 42%.

There’s a fictitious narrative in basketball in terms of the mid-range shot. Many pundits and players jumped on the 3-point shot bandwagon and shoved the middie to the side of the road. But the middie never really went away. It is still the weapon of choice in the postseason, and it is still the best shot that’ll lead to a title. Outside of Steph Curry’s Warriors and Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics, the mid-range or the mid-post is where championship teams earn their money.

The adage of “what’s old is new again” seems fitting here because SGA is making the old mid-range shot the new viral trend.

As much as we’d like to see our sports heroes play forever, they can’t. Every now and then they might be able to summon a flicker of their greatness, but eventually the flame will go out.

We’ve been fortunate enough to watch all-time greats like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant entertain us for years. However, Father Time is undefeated and the clock will eventually run out on LeBron (who turns 41 next season), Steph (36), and KD (36).

It’s time for a new generation of stars to entertain us. Embrace the changing of the guard and get excited. It’s going to be fantastic.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastbreak.net. Follow and subscribe to his YouTube channel at @onemanfastbreak1.

Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world. In order to compete in a city full of celebrities, you need a star. The Lakers franchise have been lucky enough to land some of the best players in basketball throughout their storied history. From Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Magic Johnson to Shaquille O’Neal to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James, the Lakers have had a superstar headliner for the past 50 years.

LeBron is now in the twilight of his phenomenal career. His individual statistics still look good, but he is no longer an elite player. He is 40 years old and his star is slowly fading. The Lakers needed a new box office headliner to lead the Lake Show. Enter Luka Doncic.

ESPN reporter Shams Charania, Adrian Wojnarowski’s protégé, dropped an epic “Woj bomb” shortly after midnight eastern and 9 p.m. L.A. time. The breaking news post said the Dallas Mavericks were trading Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the L.A. Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick.

The post, which was viewed by 81 million users, was so unbelievable that Shams had to immediately do a follow-up post just to let everyone know that he didn’t get hacked. It was real.

The multiplayer blockbuster deal that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers and shipped Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks not only sent shockwaves around the basketball community but it ushered in a seismic shift in L.A. LeBron’s Lake Show residency is expiring soon, and Luka steps in as the new face of the team tasked with keeping the championship window open.

“Luka is a one-of-a-kind, young global superstar who will lead this franchise for years to come. His killer instincts and commitment to winning championships will be a driving force for the team,” Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement.

Doncic, who turns 26 this month, is just entering his prime. He’s coming off a season in which he led the NBA in scoring (33.9) and made his first NBA Finals appearance. He was named to the All-NBA first team five times in his seven seasons in Dallas.

Only time will tell if the Lakers’ Luka gamble will pay off and result in an NBA title. Where does the Doncic-for-Davis trade rank in Lakers lore? OMFB examined five blockbuster trades in NBA history involving the Lakers and what were ultimate payoffs.

Lakers traded for Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 — Wilt the Stilt was 31 years old and still in his prime when the Philadelphia 76ers sent him to the Lakers for Darrall Imhoff, Archie Clark, Jerry Chambers and cash. Four years later, the Lakers won an NBA title with Chamberlain teaming up with fellow Hall of Fame Jerry West on a squad considered by many as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. With Chamberlain as the anchor, the Lakers won a record 33 straight games and finished with a then-record 69-13 mark. Bill Sharman’s group capped off the season with a convincing series victory over the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.

Lakers traded for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 — The Kareem trade altered the fortunes of two franchises. The Milwaukee Bucks, which received Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith and Brian Winters from L.A., would go more than 50 years before winning their next championship. Meanwhile, the Kareem trade was the foundation of the Lakers’ dynasty in the 1980s. Abdul-Jabbar was named NBA MVP in each of his first two seasons in L.A. and never missed the playoffs in his final 13 seasons. Kareem and Magic Johnson became one of the greatest duos as the pair led the Showtime Lakers to five NBA championships and eight appearances in the NBA Finals in a 10-year span.

Lakers traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004 — One month after losing to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, the Lakers jettisoned Shaquille O’Neal to Miami for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, and a future first-round pick which turned out to be guard Jordan Farmar. The Heat clearly won the first half of the trade, winning a title in Shaq’s second year Miami. But the Lakers might have had the last laugh. The first season without Shaq (2004-05) the Lakers went 34-48 and earned a lottery pick, a pick they used to select center Andrew Bynum. Bynum, Odom and Farmar became part of the core group, spearheaded by Kobe, that reached the NBA Finals three straight years and won championships in 2009 and 2010.

Lakers trade for Pau Gasol in 2008 — In one of the most surprising in-season trades in league history, the Lakers swung for the fences and hit a home run by acquiring Spanish big man Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, and first-round picks in 2008 and 2010. Pau instantly clicked with Kobe, seamlessly fitting in without a hitch. He quickly picked up Phil Jackson’s complicated triangle offense the moment he arrived, and the Lakers went from pretenders to contenders almost overnight. Gasol, Bynum and Odom formed one of the best frontcourts, and the Lakers won 57 games in Gasol’s first four seasons. Gasol, whose No. 16 was retired by the team, will be remembered for his heroic 19-point, 18-rebound performance in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

Lakers traded for Anthony Davis in 2019 — Prior to the mega deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, the Lakers acquired LeBron James in free agency in the summer of 2018. LeBron wanted an All-Star running mate and he found it in AD. The Lakers gave up a big part of their young talent – Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart – plus three first-round draft picks (one a first-round swap) in order to get AD. But it was worth the gamble. The Lakers went on to win the NBA title in 2020 inside the Disney World bubble in Davis’ first full season teaming up with LeBron. Davis’ six years in L.A. was a mixed bag. He played in only 132 games from 2021-23 due to an assortment of injuries. When he’s healthy, he was outstanding. He played a career-high 76 games in 2023-24, a season the Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup, and made second team All-NBA.

On the anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game, Joel Embiid took center stage and eclipsed one of the many NBA scoring records held by Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.

Embiid scored 70 points in just 37 minutes on the court to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 133-123 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. It was the most points scored in a single game by a Sixer since Chamberlain scored 68 points on Dec. 16, 1967. Embiid, who also grabbed a personal-best 18 rebounds, made 24 of 41 field goals and 21 of 23 free throws. The reigning NBA MVP outdueled much-hyped Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama, who scored 33 points in 29 minutes.

“My mindset is to attack, dominate offensively and defensively, so tonight was no different,” Embiid said after the game on the local TV broadcast. The Sixers center was surprised to hear afterwards that Wilt “The Stilt” never had a 65-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist game in his Sixers career.

“Wilt never never did this? I don’t believe that,” Embiid said with a smile. “Some of those world records, you know, we still gotta see. I’m sure Wilt has done it at some point.”

Embiid’s reaction to accomplishing something Chamberlain never did is a testament to the great career of the man they called The Big Dipper. The NBA record book begins and ends with Chamberlain. He still holds the single-game record with 100 points, a record that may never be touched. Wilt was playing for the Philadelphia Warriors when he set the mark. Kobe’s 81 points is the second-highest scoring game.

Prior to Embiid’s 70-point game, Chamberlain held three of the four best single-game scoring marks in 76ers history. Allen Iverson is only other Sixer besides Embiid and Chamberlain to score over 60 points. Iverson scored 62 in 2005.

Embiid had tied his career high of 59 points through three quarters and re-entered the contest with 6:38 left and Philadelphia ahead 118-104. With the record in sight, the 76ers were feeding him the ball at every opportunity.

“Obviously he can score in so many ways, just his sheer size gets him a lot of stuff around the basket, gets him a lot of free throws,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “The shooting touch is the skill part. The way he moves, the skill he has, the size he is, and he gets motivated like that, anything can happen I guess.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joked before the game that the Spurs’ plan against Embiid was to “hammer” him. “I told Wemby to back him down over the rim and just throw him through the rim,” Popovich playfully told reporters.

But it was Embiid who backed down the young Frenchman to the hoop early and often. He had hit going early with 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the first quarter. Once Embiid got rolling, there was no stopping the big man.

The NBA honored its 75 greatest players — 76 to be exact because of a tie — on Feb. 20, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio. LeBron James was one of 45 members of the all-time 75 team who came in person and participated in the festivities.

For LeBron, being a part of an event to honor basketball’s greatest fraternity was like seeing the posters on his bedroom wall come to life. “To see those guys and then be on stage with those guys — it’s just crazy,” he said.

Bill Russell was one of the living legends who were honored in Cleveland. Russell won 11 championships in 13 years with the Boston Celtics. The man has more rings than fingers. Commissioner Adam Silver summed it best when he called Russell basketball’s Babe Ruth.

The NBA 75th anniversary team was selected by a blue-ribbon panel of current and former NBA players, coaches, general managers, team and league executives, WNBA legends, sportswriters, and broadcasters. Voters were asked to select the 75 greatest players in NBA history without regard to position. Panelists did not rank their selections. Current and former players were not allowed to vote for themselves.

Choosing the 75 greatest players in the history of the NBA was no easy task. For the most part, the blue-ribbon panel got it right. But there were a few notable misses.

OneManFastBreak thought it would be fun to revisit the list and rank them in order from 1 to 75, with some editing to make the list our own. The benchmarks were based on individual accomplishments, team success (with more weight placed on postseason resume and titles), how they performed against other great players in their era, overall influence and impact on the game, and legacy. But more importantly, the question we have to ask while ranking the best of the best is this: can you write the story of the first 75 years of the NBA without this player?

Here are the 75 greatest basketball players of all time, based on one man’s opinion.

1-Michael Jordan

2-Kobe Bryant

3-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

4-Bill Russell

5-Magic Johnson

6-LeBron James

7-Shaquille O’Neal

8-Tim Duncan

9-Larry Bird

10-Stephen Curry

11-Wilt Chamberlain

12-Julius Erving

13-Hakeem Olajuwon

14-Kevin Garnett

15-Jerry West

16-Dirk Nowitzki

17-Moses Malone

18-Oscar Robertson

19-David Robinson

20-Kevin Durant

21-Dwyane Wade

22-Giannis Antetokounmpo

23-Nikola Jokic

24-John Havlicek

25-Isiah Thomas

26-Willis Reed

27-Bob Pettit

28-Scottie Pippen

29-Rick Barry

30-Bob Cousy

31-Karl Malone

32-Charles Barkley

33-Kawhi Leonard

34-Jason Kidd

35-Dave Cowens

36-Bob McAdoo

37-Bill Walton

38-Allen Iverson

39-Wes Unseld

40-John Stockton

41-Dennis Rodman

42-Clyde Drexler

43-Elgin Baylor

44-Walt Frazier

45-Elvin Hayes

46-Gary Payton

47-Kevin McHale

48-James Worthy

49-Joe Dumars*

50-George Mikan

51-James Harden

52-Russell Westbrook

53-Klay Thompson*

54-Patrick Ewing

55-Manu Ginobili*

56-Tony Parker*

57-Dwight Howard*

58-Dennis Johnson*

59-George Gervin

60-Paul Pierce

61-Nate Archibald

62-Steve Nash

63-Earl Monroe

64-Ray Allen

65-Dikembe Mutombo*

66-Sam Jones

67-Hal Greer

68-Draymond Green*

69-Billy Cunningham

70-Bernard King*

71-Alonzo Mourning*

72-Reggie Miller

73-Pete Maravich

74-Dominique Wilkins

75-Paul Arizin

* Wasn’t included in the original NBA 75th anniversary team

Honorable mention: Lenny Wilkens, Nate Thurmond, Robert Parish, Dolph Schayes, Jerry Lucas, Bill Sharman, Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Artis Gilmore, Sidney Moncrief, Adrian Dantley, Dan Issel, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gobert, Chris Paul, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard.

OMFB’s top-12 list is rock solid. The gap between each of them is minuscule. You won’t hear pushbacks here if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was placed ahead of Michael Jordan, or LeBron James ahead of Kobe Bryant, or Shaquille O’Neal ahead of Magic Johnson. The order can be rearranged but the history of basketball can’t be written without mentioning Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Bill Russell, Magic, LeBron, Shaq, Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, and Julius Erving, and Stephen Curry.

Jordan is universally recognized as the Greatest of All Time — aka the GOAT. Air Jordan’s resume speaks for itself. MJ was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals and named Finals MVP six times. Once he dethroned Magic in 1991, he never relinquished the crown until he retired.

Kobe is No. 2 on the OMFB list. Black Mamba was a facsimile of Air Jordan. He was the closest thing to MJ. Kobe and Mike were the same height and had the same body type. Kobe even sounded like Mike. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Jordan gave rare praise to his contemporaries, but he made an exception for Kobe. “He was a mentally tough kid, maybe even tougher than I was,” Jordan said of Kobe, who tragically died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. Jordan spawned millions of ballers who wanted to be Just Like Mike. Kobe gifted the next generation of hoopers the “Mamba Mentality.” If you’re still not convinced that Kobe deserves to be No. 2 on the all-time list, pull up the YouTube video from Jan. 22, 2006. Kobe authored arguably the greatest individual performance in NBA history when he scored 81 points in 42 minutes. Phil Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan in Chicago, was sitting on the Lakers bench for Kobe’s 81-point game. He put it in proper perspective. “It was another level,” Jackson said. “I’ve seen some remarkable games, but I’ve never seen one like that before.”

Some LeBron fans might be aghast seeing their beloved king at No. 6. But here are the cold, hard facts. LeBron lost six times in 10 trips to the NBA Finals. He has a 22-33 win-loss record in The Finals. Magic (24-26), Erving (10-12) and Wilt (16-19) are the other top-12 players who had sub-.500 records in the NBA Finals. LeBron lost to Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs twice and he could have been 0-3 against Duncan if Ray Allen hadn’t made a ridiculous late-game 3-pointer, saving the Heat’s season and forcing a Game 7. LeBron is 1-3 against Steph Curry. It’s an unfair record because Curry teamed up with Kevin Durant in 2017 and 2018 against James, but they were “Ls” on LeBron’s resume nonetheless.

LeBron’s place among basketball’s all-time greats is secure. To say he’s had a better career than Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Magic, Russell, or even Duncan is up for debate.

Steph Curry broke into the top 10 after winning his fourth NBA title. Curry is considered the best long-range shooter in the sport, and the numbers back it up. When Steph hangs up his Under Armour sneakers, a strong case could be made that he was the most influential. Because of Steph — the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made — there’s a generation of players at various levels launching shots from beyond the arc.

OMFB made the difficult decision to remove 10 players from the league’s original top-75 list and inserted 10 new names: Joe Dumars, Dennis Johnson, Dwight Howard, Dikembe Mutombo, Klay Thompson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bernard King, Alonzo Mourning and Draymond Green.

Dumars was a two-time NBA champ and Finals MVP in 1989. Thompson is a four-time NBA champ and arguably the second-greatest 3-point shooter we’ve ever seen. Thompson pulled off an unthinkable feat in 2017 when he scored 60 points in 29 minutes, using just 11 dribbles. Dennis Johnson earned three championship rings and was Finals MVP in 1979. Larry Bird considered DJ the best player he ever played with. Howard was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), carried the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009, and won a title with the L.A. Lakers in 2020. Mount Mutombo was a four-time DPOY and pulled out the “finger wag” each time he blocked a shot.

Parker inspired a generation of new-age point guards. Aside from winning the 2007 Finals MVP, the four-time NBA champion’s biggest contribution to the game was his signature shot: the tear-drop floater. The vast majority of guards in today’s game, from high school to college to the pros, have a floater in their bag of shots. Parker’s backcourt mate in San Antonio, Ginobili, sacrificed personal statistics in order for the Spurs to win titles. Ginobili posted modest numbers throughout his career (13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists), but his 72% winning percentage ranks among the all-time best. Ginobili also introduced one of the best basketball moves in recent memory — the Eurostep.

Alonzo Mourning was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. Pat Riley’s famed “Heat Culture” in Miami wouldn’t exist without Zo. He embodies what Heat Culture is all about. The Heat prided itself on being the hardest-working, best-conditioned team, and that defined Mourning’s career until a rare kidney diseased robbed him of his athletic prime.

Bernard King was a scoring machine until he wrecked his knee at the peak of his powers. Armed with a smooth turnaround jumper that was nearly impossible to stop, King put on a show in the 1984 playoffs as he averaged 34.8 points and almost single-handedly led the New York Knicks to the conference semifinals.

Outside of Dennis Rodman, four-time champ Draymond Green might be the most unique player. The 2017 DPOY won’t blow you away with individual stats but he’s arguably the heart and soul of the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Green is the primary playmaker on offense as the point forward and the anchor on defense.

The first 75 years of the NBA can be broken down into six eras.

From the 1950s through the 1960s, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell were the pioneers.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Rick Barry, and Julius “Dr. J” Erving carried the torch through a rough patch in the 1970s when the ABA and NBA canceled each other and the audience dwindled.

Magic and Bird revived basketball in the 1980s, arguably the league’s golden era that also included the rise of Isiah Thomas’ “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons. Moses Malone teamed up with Dr. J during the 1982-83 season and together they co-authored one of the most dominant playoff runs, sweeping Magic’s Lakers in the ’83 Finals and capping off a 12-1 postseason.

Michael Jordan took the baton from Magic and Bird and ruled the 1990s. Jordan won six championships in eight years, pulling off the three-peat twice and denying peers Sir Charles Barkley and Karl “The Mailman” Malone from winning rings. Hakeem Olajuwon benefited from Jordan’s brief retirement, leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. David “The Admiral” Robinson teamed up with Tim “Big Fundamental” Duncan in San Antonio, winning titles in 1999 and 2003.

The immediate post-Jordan era was dominated by five players: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Duncan. Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan combined to win 13 NBA titles, four regular season MVPs, and eight Finals MVPs from 1999 to 2010. For a decade, the road to the NBA Finals went through Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan.

Dirk and KG revolutionized the game and ushered in a new era of big men. The Big Ticket made it possible for high schoolers to skip college and turn pro at 19. Nowitzki opened the door for European bigs who preferred to face the basket instead of having their back to it. Nowitzki and Garnett were instrumental in the game’s evolution, as more and more teams shifted away from traditional power forwards and opted for stretch-4s.

Nowitzki bridged the gap between the Kobe Bryant era and the LeBron James era. Nowitzki ended Kobe’s reign as the world’s best player when Dirk’s Dallas Mavericks squad knocked off Kobe’s Lakers in the 2011 playoffs. In the same playoff run, Nowitzki put a pause on LeBron’s title hopes when his Mavs defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

LeBron’s appearance in the 2011 Finals started a run of eight consecutive trips. He put together a super team in Miami, winning two titles in 2012 and 2013, but lost to the Mavs in 2011 and Duncan’s Spurs in 2014. After a four-year run in South Beach, LeBron returned to Cleveland to fulfill his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown team. He delivered on the promise by winning a title in 2016, ending Cleveland’s 52-year professional title drought.

LeBron took the Cavs to four straight NBA Finals but could muster just one victory in four matchups against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. Curry led the Warriors to four championships in eight seasons — two of those championship banners were aided by the addition of Kevin Durant.

The Warriors opened the portal to the “small ball” era and advanced metrics. Analytics experts preferred shooting 3s over 2s — it’s either a layup or dunk or a 3-ball — and the midrange shot was viewed as somewhat of a dinosaur idea.

The modern day NBA put a premium on pace and space. The traditional back-to-the-basket center is becoming extinct and today’s game is dominated by versatile wing players like LeBron, Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. All of whom can anchor a defense like a center and initiate the offense like a point guard. We are now in the era of positionless basketball.

Basketball is cyclical. What may be considered old school could swing back to new school. The next generation of players will determine what the NBA will become in 25 years when we celebrate the league’s 100th anniversary.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

LeBron James dropped 45 points on the Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

LeBron James made sure there wasn’t going to be another fourth-quarter meltdown on his part. He flexed his muscles and put the Miami Heat on his broad shoulders in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals and put on a performance for the ages.

James took apart the vaunted Boston Celtics defense for 45 points Thursday night, making a mind-boggling 19-for-26 from the field. You couldn’t come up with those type of numbers at a party bingo. He had the entire repertoire working: short jumpers, long jumpers, fadeaways, dribble drives, follow-up dunks, off-balance bank shots, and one-hand floaters in the paint. He also grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out five assists.

The last time — actually, the only time — those numbers appeared in the box score of a NBA playoff game was in 1964 when Wilt Chamberlain posted 50-15-6. Any time you bring up Wilt into the discussion you know you did something really special, and LeBron was absolutely special at TD Garden Arena Thursday night.

”He was absolutely fearless, and it was contagious,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”The way he approached the last 48 hours, and not only LeBron, but everybody else. Nobody likes getting dirt thrown on your face before you’re even dead. He showed great resolve.”

James’ on-court brilliance allowed the Heat to stave off elimination and send the series to a Game 7 in Miami, a winner-take-all grudge match with a spot in the NBA Finals at stake. For the Heat to knock out the Celtics James will need another “fearless” performance.

”I hope now you guys can stop talking about LeBron and he doesn’t play in big games,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ”He was pretty good tonight. So we can put that to bed and go play Game 7.”

All summer long James was the butt of all jokes for his fourth-quarter failures in the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. He spent the entire offseason absorbing low blows from writers, bloggers, TV analysts, and his peers. Even though James shrugs off all the criticism publicly, you know he was chomping at the bit to prove everyone wrong. Even though Game 6 in the East finals is not the NBA Finals and the Heat still has some work to do Saturday night against a very game Boston bunch, it was a huge step toward the rehabilitation of his shattered image.

”He played amazing. He was locked in from the beginning of the game like I’ve never seen him before,” said James’ teammate and good friend Dwyane Wade, who had 17 points in Miami’s 98-79 win in Game 6.

“The shots that he was making was just unbelievable,” Wade continued. “He really put on an MVP performance. Not just scoring the ball, rebounding the ball, defensively, he did it all. It was great to see him come out and lead this team the way he did.

“We just gave him the ball and got out of the way.”

LeBron was trending worldwide on Twitter and Facebook and everyone, including NFL Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders, had something to say about the three-time NBA MVP. Sanders tweeted: “If anybody doubted who is the NBA MVP is LeBron is showing us why. Start appreciating the skill set and stop hating.”

James called the game a “gut check” for the Heat after squandering home-court advantage with the loss in Game 5. James took it upon himself to pull the Heat together and send a powerful message to the Celtics.

“I just try to lead my team the best way I could. Whatever I needed to do on the floor I just to be there for them tonight,” James told ESPN’s Doris Burke. “I just do what I’ve been taught, which is play at a high level and have fun with it and at the end of the day I won’t regret anything. If I played hard and gave it my all I won’t regret anything.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

As good as those images were nothing compares to the iconic photograph of Wilt Chamberlain sitting on a bench and holding up a white piece of paper with the number “100” etched on it the night he set the NBA’s unassailable single-game scoring record on March 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pa.

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game against the New York Knicks in 1962 is one of the greatest records in sports history. (ASSOCIATED PRESS/PAUL VATHIS)

The photo was taken by Paul Vathis of The Associated Press. The man who concocted the whole idea was longtime NBA statistician Harvey Pollock. In the TV special “Wilt 100” that aired on NBA TV to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Chamberlain’s record-setting night, Pollock recalled when Wilt sat on a stool inside the Warriors’ dressing room while Vathis waited to get his shot. Pollock – who remains employed by the Philadelphia 76ers – asked the photographer, “Did you take your pictures yet? He said, ‘I don’t know what to take. What can I do?’ ”

Pollack thought for a second and then went over to Philadelphia Bulletin writer Jim Heffernan.

“Harvey asked me ‘Do you have any paper, Hef?’ “I gave him a piece of copy paper where you wrote your story on,” said Heffernan.

Pollock scribbled “100” on the clean sheet of paper and handed it to Chamberlain. “Do you see this sign?” Pollock asked Wilt. “That indicates what you did here tonight, and a photographer is going to take a picture of you. [Wilt] said, ‘Hey, great idea!’ ”

“It’s just Wilt sitting on this bench kind of sheepishly looking at a camera holding up a piece of paper. But it works,” said Gary Pomerantz, author of the book “Wilt, 1962.” “It’s as great as any image that’s ever been taken in basketball. Whether is Julius Erving’s dunks, or Michael Jordan levitating, or the sky hook by Kareem, that image trumps them all.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

With the retirement of Shaquille O'Neal (left), Orlando's Dwight Howard now stand alone as the NBA's most dominant big center. (GETTY IMAGES)

Shaquille O’Neal playfully boasts that he is the last true dominant center in the NBA. He would even gloss himself with nicknames such as MDE (Most Dominant Ever) or Wilt Chamberneezy, an ode to the late great Wilt Chamberlain. But is Shaq right? Is he the last of the prolific big men who commanded double teams on a nightly basis, averaging 25 points per game and walking the path paved by all-time greats like Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson?

Last season, only three centers were in the top 20 in the league in scoring: Dwight Howard, Andrea Bargnani and Brook Lopez. And Bargnani is more of a forward than a classic back-to-the-basket big man who does most of his work in the paint. Howard had the highest scoring average among true NBA centers in 2010-11, but his 22.9 average fell short of the very high bar set by the Hall-of-Famers who came before him.

In the last 10 years, only two centers have been ranked in the top 10 in scoring. One of them, Tim Duncan, prefers to play power forward. Who was the last center to lead the NBA in scoring? It’s the man with more nicknames than Apollo Creed . . . Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq’s 29.7 scoring average in the 1999-2000 season earned The Big Diesel his second NBA scoring title. It was also the same season Shaq won the trifecta: regular season MVP, All-Star game MVP, and NBA Finals MVP.

So what has happened to the dominant big men?

“The game has evolved,” TNT analyst and former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller recently said on NBA TV. “The notion that you had to have a dominant center to win championships is not the case anymore.”

Miller added, “Personally to me, the change really started in 1992 with the Dream Team and in ’96 with Dream Team 2 because if you look at the European big men they are not as dominant as a Shaq or a David Robinson or a Hakeem Olajuwon. They are more pick-and-pop players. Now that they’re in the NBA, that’s where the game has started to evolve.”

The center position, once thought of as the marquee position in basketball, has become an afterthought. If you scour current NBA rosters and find each team’s starting center, some of the names won’t strike fear in anyone: Marcin Gortat, Kwame Brown, Jason Collins, Roy Hibbert, Anderson Varejao, Samuel Dalembert, and Darko Milicic. Last season’s NBA finalist, the Miami Heat, reached the championship series with Joel Anthony as its starting center.

Successful NBA teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks have built their post-up strategies using hybrid big men such as Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemire. They all could play center and play with their back to the basket, but all five would rather face the basket and shoot jumpers.

Former Atlanta Hawks player and current NBA TV analyst Steve Smith believes the zone defense has eliminated the value of a classic low-post player, and added that coaches at the youth level don’t teach post moves to young players.

“No one is teaching the big guys the fundamentals,” Smith said, “and we don’t glorify a guy rebounding, playing defense and playing down in the post. I think it’s a lost art.”

Shaq said while he was growing up he had guys like Ewing and Olajuwon to emulate, centers who played the position like it was supposed to be played. But these days, high school big men never develop an inside game because they don’t have a template to follow.

Will we ever see another Shaquille O’Neal? “With all due respect to Dwight Howard, we will never see [another Shaq] a guy who dominated from block to block,” Miller said. “It’s all about highlights now. It’s not about dominating. It’s about looking good.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.

Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon were always considered two of the best centers in the game and their induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 officially cemented their place in history. But where does Ewing and Olajuwon rank among the greats? Who is the best center of all time? Wilt? Russell? Shaq? With apologies to SI.com’s Marty Burns, here’s the real top 10 list according to ONEMANFASTBREAK:

10. GEORGE MIKAN: A big salute to the man who started it all. The NBA owes a great deal of thanks to Big George because he carried the league through its early stages. The 6-foot-10 Mikan was ahead of his time. He dominated the sport and was a larger-than-life figure; the first true superstar of the NBA.

9. ARVYDAS SABONIS: By the time Sabonis entered the NBA, he was 31 years old and had chronic knee problems. But at the height of his basketball career, the big Lithuanian could score inside, shoot outside, and was a tremendous passer. “Arvydas was Dirk Nowitzki, only 7-foot-4. Passed the ball like Larry [Bird] or Magic [Johnson],” said Donnie Nelson.

8. PATRICK EWING: A friend of mine once told me that Ewing is the greatest Knick player of all time. Initially, I scoffed at the statement. Then the more I thought about it, he was right. Ewing was everything and then some to the Knicks and only a championship ring separated him and the next guy on this list.

7. DAVID ROBINSON: The Admiral won two NBA championships (with an big assist from Tim Duncan), a scoring title and voted regular season MVP in 1995. He played all 14 of his seasons for the San Antonio Spurs, and that alone is quite an achievement.

6. MOSES MALONE: Arguably the most dominant post player in the NBA from 1979-84. Three things come to mind: rebounds, rebounds, rebounds. His credentials include three regular-season MVPs, two trips to the NBA Finals and won a championship ring in 1983 with the Philadelphia 76ers.

5. HAKEEM OLAJUWON: For two years, Olajuwon was the best player on the planet. Of course, those two years were the ones Michael Jordan missed during the 1990s. Nonetheless, The Dream was a force on both ends. In 1994, he was the regular-season MVP, defensive player of the year and NBA Finals MVP.

4. SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: Despite all the weight issues and Kobe bashing, The Diesel is the biggest and strongest man to ever play the game. No player in NBA history attacked the rim like O’Neal. His dunks were so ferocious because he used every ounce of his 330-pound frame into every slam. Sure, he should have won more than four NBA titles or should have more than one regular-season MVP award, but Shaq’s dominance is measured by the amount of respect his peers have for him. He’s the modern-day Wilt!

3. WILT CHAMBERLAIN: The original MDE! Wilton Norman Chamberlain’s name is all over the record book. The man averaged 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds for his career. He was one half of the greatest center rivalry in history and the only reason why he’s not rated higher is because he won just two NBA titles. Wilt was always concerned about numbers ~ 100 points, 23,000 rebounds, 20,000 women, etc. His greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. He was such a dominant individual scorer it affected team play.

2. BILL RUSSELL: William Felton Russell is the other half of the greatest center rivalry in the history of the game. The anchor of the Boston Celtics Dynasty has more championship rings than fingers. Russell is responsible for 13 ~ two as coach and 11 as a player ~ of the Celtics’ 17 championship banners. Defense may have been Russell’s calling card, but his legacy was all about winning. He won in college, he won a gold medal in the Olympics and is the gold standard when it comes to championship rings in the Association.

1. KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: Speaking of winning…probably the greatest winner in the history of basketball when you consider high school, college and pro. He never lost a game in high school and was 88-2 while at UCLA.

In 20 years in the NBA, The Big Fella won six NBA championships (five with the Lakers and one with Milwaukee), a record six most valuable player awards and still holds the career scoring mark of 38,387. His best weapon on offense might be the greatest shot in league history: The Sky Hook.