Hall of Famer Julius Erving appeared on Thursday’s episode of Front Office Sports Tonight, where the NBA’s age-old question was posed to him. Erving was asked to name his GOAT and also where he thinks he ranks among the all-time greats.
“I’m in the top 10,” Erving said. “Top 15 if you want to be liberal about it. Just based on the combined stats and the accomplishments. I think Bill Russell. He needs to maintain the position as the top guy for the effect that he had on the league. He was champion 11 years in 13 tries.
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“The [Michael] Jordan-LeBron [James] argument: Jordan has made a lot of noise and done some tremendous things, and can’t be discounted,” Erving continued. “So he’d be in the top five. You got to put LeBron in there in the top five. The leading scorer in the history of basketball. But LeBron is the guy who’s there now, and he’s still playing or whatever. So you have to acknowledge that and put him in that top five.
“Then Magic [Johnson], Jerry West,” Erving added.
That’s an interesting top five of Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Jerry West. Jordan, James, and Johnson are names you’d find on almost all top five lists, but not the other two.
Erving, though, believes Russell is the greatest of all time. He, of course, won a record 11 championships to go with five MVPs and four rebounding titles. Russell would have won many Finals MVPs too, but the award was only introduced in his final season. He’d also have won plenty of DPOY awards had it existed during his career, as he is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time.
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Someone who won all of those awards was Jordan. He won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. Jordan is the most common pick for that GOAT title, but has to settle for a spot in the top five on Erving’s list.
James is the other strong contender, but he too is just in the top five. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, one scoring title, and one assists title. As Erving mentioned, James is also the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He is putting that record beyond reach with his incredible longevity, which is boosting his GOAT case.
Now, Erving had left off James and Jordan when asked to name his top five players of all time in 2024. He said he made the list when he was 15 years old and was sticking with it. Erving’s stance appears to have changed over time.
Getting back to this list, Johnson didn’t have James’ longevity, but he achieved a lot in his 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. He won five titles, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, and four assists titles. Johnson is widely regarded as the greatest point guard of all time.
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Lastly, we move on from one Lakers legend in Johnson to another in West. He won a title, a Finals MVP, and one scoring title in his career, and his resume doesn’t quite compare to the ones mentioned earlier.
West would have won a lot more, though, if not for Russell’s Boston Celtics. He lost eight times in the NBA Finals, and six of those series defeats came at the hands of the Celtics juggernaut. This is why you barely ever see West in these top fives, but he deserves respect for an incredible career. Beating Russell’s Celtics was close to impossible anyway.
While Erving gave the ultimate compliment here to one Celtics icon in Russell, he didn’t mention another in Larry Bird. When Bird’s name was brought up, the 76-year-old claimed they’re at the same level.
“Yeah, Larry’s kind of like me,” Erving said. “We’re in the same category. We’re top 10 or top 15 depending on who you’re talking to.”
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Bird tends to be ranked higher than Erving. He won three titles, two Finals MVPs, and three MVPs with the Celtics.
Bird is mostly a lock in the top 10, but Erving isn’t. The reason being he only won one title and one MVP in the NBA. Erving actually had most of his success in the ABA, where he won two titles, three MVPs, and three scoring titles. He’d likely be held in higher regard today had he begun his professional career in the NBA.
Getting back to the GOAT topic, Erving has flip-flopped a lot over the years. He once called Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the greatest ever, and the Hall of Famer isn’t even in his top five here.
More recently, Erving said there is no GOAT, echoing Jordan’s take on the subject. He has seemingly changed his mind again now and gone with Russell.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
