Larry Bird
Hakeem Olajuwon
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Larry Bird leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Larry Bird at #7 and Hakeem Olajuwon at #12.
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The case for Larry Bird
The greatest forward of his era and the most complete offensive skill set of the pre-analytics age. Bird won three straight MVPs from 1984 to 1986 — a feat otherwise achieved only by Russell and Chamberlain — and three championships with two Finals MVPs, anchoring Celtics teams that won 60-plus games five times. His career line of 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists is the classic all-around forward profile, and he was decades ahead of the sport as a shooter: two 50-40-90 seasons, in 1986–87 and 1987–88, when the feat was nearly unheard of, plus the first three Three-Point Contest titles. The 1985–86 Celtics, with Bird at his apex, went 67–15 and are routinely listed among the half-dozen best teams ever assembled. His trash-talking clutch resume — the 1981 comeback against Philadelphia, the steal of Isiah Thomas's inbound pass in the 1987 Eastern finals — and his rivalry with Magic Johnson, meeting in three Finals, carried the league's renaissance. Chronic back injuries ended his prime early; at his best, only Jordan was clearly better.
The case for Hakeem Olajuwon
The most skilled defensive center ever and the owner of one of the sport's great individual peaks. In 1993–94 Olajuwon became the only player in NBA history to win regular-season MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season, then defended the title in 1995 as a sixth seed by beating four consecutive teams that had won at least 55 games, out-dueling David Robinson, Karl Malone and a young Shaquille O'Neal along the way. He is the all-time leader in blocked shots with 3,830, added a second Defensive Player of the Year award and nine All-Defensive selections, and paired that rim protection with the Dream Shake — the most refined post footwork the game has seen, so coveted that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James later sought his tutelage. Career figures of 21.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 1.7 steals describe a two-way completeness no center has matched. A Nigerian who did not play organized basketball until age 15, he stands as both a global pioneer and, at his 1994–95 apex, briefly the best player alive.