Wilt Chamberlain
Larry Bird
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Wilt Chamberlain leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Wilt Chamberlain at #6 and Larry Bird at #7.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Wilt Chamberlain
The most statistically dominant athlete any team sport has produced. Chamberlain's 1961–62 season — 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds per game, including the 100-point game in Hershey on March 2, 1962 — will never be approached; he averaged 48.5 minutes that season by playing overtimes on top of full games. He led the NBA in scoring seven straight times, in rebounding 11 times, and, after being criticized as selfish, led the league in total assists in 1967–68 — the only center ever to do so. His career marks of 30.1 points and a record 22.9 rebounds per game came with four MVPs and, contrary to the empty-stats caricature, two of the most dominant championship teams ever: the 68–13 Philadelphia 76ers of 1967 and the 69–13 Lakers of 1972, both of which broke the Celtics' grip. The honest case against him is Russell — a 1–7 head-to-head playoff series record and repeated Game 7 defeats — plus chronic free-throw shooting near 51 percent. But as a force of nature, no one else comes close.
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.