Top 15 All-Time NBA Players

What’s up Hobby Fam?! Excited to dive into some basketball with the NBA and college seasons underway, as well as taking a look at a new seasonal product and sharing with you what’s buggin’ me in the hobby!

Top 15 NBA Players

It’s time for the debate of all debates as I am going to rank the Top 15 Best Basketball players of all time. I made my list comparing player stats, looking at how many years people played compared to others, and also how well they played when they were older. I also took into account special or unique achievements by the players. Did he have a double in the cross town classic? Does he have the 2nd most points in a game in NBA history? Did he have a rival that he never lost to? Does he have a super iconic nickname? So these rankings are how I view their careers, but how do you think these rankings match up with their rankings within the hobby? I’m also adding my favorite card of each of these players so let’s get into it:

1. Michael Jordan (1986-87 Fleer Rookie)

2. LeBron James (2003-04 Topps RC)

3. Magic Johnson (2017-18 Status Autograph)

4. Kobe Bryant (2020 Prizm Game Used Relic)

5. Bill Russell (1957 Topps RC)

6. Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar (1978-79 Topps)

7. Larry Bird (2017-18 Status Autograph)

8. Wilt Chamberlain (1969-70 Topps)

9. Oscar Robertson (1974-75 Topps)

10. Hakeem Olajuwon (1986-87 Fleer RC)

11. Tim Duncan (1993 Topps RC)

12. Julius Erving (1975-76 Topps)

13. Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team)

14. Steph Curry (2009-10 Topps Chrome Rookie)

15. Giannis Antetokounmpo (2013-14 Hoops Rookie)

Honorable Mentions: Jerry West, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Havlicek, Scottie Pippen, Dominique Wilkins, Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitski, John Stockton, Kevin Durant, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Elgin Baylor.

This year, Topps dropped their new Topps Holiday Advent Calendar and I am excited for this. I have been doing my Sports Cards Christmas Countdown for The Daily Riiip on my socials for a few years now and it’s really nice to see the idea being used by Topps. I believe Panini is also releasing one that has a chance to pull Kabooms in them. This is a fun thing for kids and should make their December fun. Make sure you stay tuned on my TikTok to see my Topps Advent Calendar Riiips and check out my X and Instagram accounts for The Daily Riiip Christmas Countdown.

Now, it’s time to share… “What’s Buggin’ Me” in the Hobby right now. It’s a simple one…prices for sports cards. We are supposed to be going through a correction phase for how much cards were during the pandemic, and we are close. The prices of singles have gone way down but we need box prices to go down in the same fashion. This doesn’t apply to every product, but some boxes you almost HAVE to hit a top card in the product to make close to your money back. For example, the new Topps Gilded are about $900 a box with 5 cards. You really would need to hit one of the biggest rookie autos or a huge cut auto to try and make your money back. I think it somewhat needs to happen through the companies websites themselves because $200 for a box of Stadium Club and $300 for a box of Luminance (with no Caleb or Jayden Daniels Autographs) on the secondary market is not correcting this issue for the people in the hobby, especially the kids! Hopefully we see box prices come down some as we go forward. 

Thanks for reading everybody! Let me know your thoughts on your Top 15 NBA players and where I am wrong! 

Check out @BrodyTK on Twitter and @BrodyTheKid1 on Instagram to play along!

Peace Out!

Brody TK