The Best NBA Players Of All Time (part 3)
6. Larry Bird (1980-1992)
Killer Stat: 59 Triple Doubles
Larry Bird is considered as the most deadly shooter that there has ever been. That is proved by his leading of the Boston Celtics teams to three NBA championships as well as five NBA Finals appearances in the 1980s.
Larry held down averages of 24.3 points, 6.3 assists, and 10.0 rebounds each game in his NBA career, the numbers which together helped him to put 59 career triple-doubles. That is the seventh-most of all time in the history of NBA. Larry also gets a place in the list of top 10 for career box plus/minus in the regular season as well as the playoffs.
7. Kobe Bryant (1997-2016)
Killer Stat: 25 50-Point Games
Kobe Bryant, a winner of five NBA championships with the Lakers, proved why he was among the most feared competitors in the history of basketball.
Known as “Black Mamba”, he is tied for the first time with 15 All-NBA selections along with his 25 career 50-point games that rank him third of all time, behind only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. Speaking of that number, Kobe Bryant also averaged 25.0 points each game for his career, putting him on 12th of all time.
8. Elgin Baylor (1959-1972)
Killer Stat: 27.4 Points Each Game
One of the sport’s first all-around stars, Elgin Baylor also may have had the worst luck in the history of NBA, never winning a championship in spite of having helped lead the Lakers to 8 NBA Finals appearances through his 14 seasons on the court. Elgin was a beast with averaging 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds each game for his career, which ranks him third of all time – even ahead of LeBron James -and his rebounding average is 11th best, even ahead of Dennis Rodman.
Elgin was also named to the All-NBA squad for 10 times and also put up at least 50 points in 17 games, which is fifth-most all time.