The Basketball 100

A celebration of basketball by way of the 100 greatest players to ever grace the court in the history of the NBA—from The Athletic’s foremost basketball writers and analysts the game has to offer. With a foreword by Charles Barkley.

In this definitive work of basketball history, 100 luminous player profiles from the best sports newsroom on the planet paint vivid portraits of the game’s most compelling characters. There’s George Mikan, who was cut from his high school team because he wore glasses, then went on to become the fledgling NBA’s first transcendent star. Gary Payton, called “The Glove” for his skintight defense, who talked as much trash to his teammates as he did to his opponents on the court. Dennis Rodman, who started playing basketball at age 20, and in a few short years went from working as a janitor at the airport to being one of the strangest superstars that sport has ever known. Allen Iverson, who drew inspiration from hip hop for his inimitable style and swagger, on and off the court. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was so dominant in the paint that they changed the rules—and Steph Curry, who was so dominant outside it that he seemed to expand the very boundaries of the court.

The Basketball 100, edited by award-winning reporters David Aldridge and John Hollinger, also tackles the game’s toughest, most important questions, fueling the ultimate basketball debate: How should we weight championship rings, versus statistical profiles, versus the “eye test”? Were the great players of yesteryear, like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, propelled by the inferior athleticism of their competition or would they have been transcendent in any era? And of course, this book dives deep into the GOAT debate—MJ or LeBron? Speaking of GOATs, for the book, Hollinger (a pioneer in sports analytics and inventor of the statistical metric PER) has created a new benchmark, GOAT Points.

Wonderfully written, authoritative, and full of joy, The Basketball 100 is a fitting tribute to the greatest sport in the world, making this the perfect basketball gift book for any fan.

This comprehensive ranking of NBA legends delivers definitive portraits and answers to the game’s biggest questions:

• 100 Legendary NBA Careers: Go beyond the stats with vivid stories of icons, from George Mikan being cut from his high school team to Dennis Rodman’s journey from airport janitor to NBA superstar.
• Expert NBA Player Rankings: Discover a new, authoritative top 100 list from the celebrated writers at The Athletic, with a foreword by the legendary Charles Barkley.
• Groundbreaking Analysis: See the game in a new light with John Hollinger’s brand-new "GOAT Points" metric, a benchmark created exclusively for this book to compare stars from every era.
• Rings vs. Stats Deep Dive: Settle the arguments with in-depth analysis that weighs championship rings against statistical dominance, finally tackling the ultimate question: MJ or LeBron?

The Athletic has built the world’s largest sports newsroom by focusing on deep reporting, expert analysis, and unmatched journalism to drive its storytelling. It is a part of The New York Times Company.

DAVID ALDRIDGE is a senior columnist for The Athletic. He has previously covered the NBA for Turner, ESPN, and the Washington Post. In 2016, he received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as the Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

JOHN HOLLINGER is a senior writer for The Athletic. For the past two decades, he has been at the forefront of basketball’s statistical revolution, inventing several advanced metrics including PER. In addition to stints at ESPN.com and SI.com, he also spent 7 seasons as the Memphis Grizzlies’ Vice President of Basketball Operations. In 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.