HoopsHype ranks the players who averaged the most games played per season in NBA history, playoffs included, to rank NBAs top iron men ever.
In this NBA era plagued by load management and resting during the regular season, it’s doubtful we’re going to see very many Iron Men. For instance, a player who played in 1,192 consecutive games appears on this list, and it’s hard to envision a modern player doing that.
Regardless, there is one active player – a star, at that – who finishes in the Top 10 of this ranking, who you’ll see just below.
Today, we added up games played between the regular season and playoffs to rank the players who appeared in the most games per season in NBA history.
Now, we’re about to see James break another one of Abdul-Jabbar’s records in a few games.
As of Wednesday, December 11, LeBron has played 57,403 total minutes in the regular season. Kareem holds the record for minutes played at 57,446.
So, at some point over the next couple of games, LeBron James will become the NBA’s all-time leader in minutes played. Here’s a look at the top 10 via Basketball Reference.
Folks, this means we’ll have seen more of LeBron James than any other NBA player in the league’s history. That’s wild. That’s nearly 1,000 hours of basketball on an NBA court — and counting. And we’re not even counting all the playoff minutes or the minutes played for Team USA during the summer.
HoopsHype ranks the best No. 2 second-fiddle players in NBA history, including Dwyane Wade, Scottie Pippen, Kyrie Irving and much more.
There’s no shame in being the second-best player on an NBA team, especially if the player ahead of you on the pecking order is an all-time great and your team is doing a lot of winning in the process.
For some players, accepting the No. 2 role on a team is more difficult than it is for others. One player on this list even took the second-fiddle role on his own team after becoming a superstar and winning a championship with that same team.
Below, we present the best No. 2 guys in NBA history, the best Robins to all-time great Batmans.
UCLA men’s basketball head coach Mick Cronin voiced the desire to commemorate Bruins’ basketball legends Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with statues around Pauley Pavilion according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
“Behind the scenes there’s a lot of push from their teammates and I’m right with them. What you find at state schools, it’s unbelievably hard to get a wall painted, let alone a statue built.”
Currently, the only statue at Pauley Pavilion is one of the legendary John Wooden, who was honored with the 8-foot bronze statue in 2012, two years after Wooden passed away in 2012.
Wooden joined the Bruins as their head coach for the 1948-1949 season after signing to a three-year deal worth $6,000. Wooden remained in the position until 1975, by the time he retired he was 10-time National Champion and a record of 620-147 with the Bruins while establishing UCLA as an elite program over his tenure.
Abdul-Jabbar, a Bruins’ Hall of Famer in his own right, had a near-flawless UCLA career, starting his career with a 56-point debut. Adbul-Jabbar, known then as Lew Alcindor, won three national championships in three seasons with the Bruins while also earning three national Player of the Year awards before collecting the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year award before heading to the NBA. Alcindor had his No. 33 retired by UCLA in 1990, one of ten Bruins basketball players to receive the honor.
Walton didn’t lose a single game in his first two seasons with the Bruins, with UCLA having consecutive unbeaten seasons that resulted in national titles. Walton won the Naismith award three straight years along with three national Player of the Year awards. Walton had his No. 32 retired along with Abdul-Jabbar’s in 1990.
HoopsHype ranks the 78 greatest players in NBA history, a list led by the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
For the fourth consecutive year since the league released its NBA75 list, we’re updating our GOAT rankings, adding a 78th player as we leave the league’s 78th season behind.
This one comes with a momentous update at the top, one that will irk many and delight many others (especially on the younger side). For the first time, Michael Jordan, the unassailable GOAT for so many years, doesn’t hold the No. 1 spot in our ranking. This shift follows a season in which LeBron James remained one of the premier players in the league, and was actually the best on a star-studded Team USA and the Olympic tournament as a whole.
As in previous years, we held a team vote with the opinions of eight HoopsHype staff members, discarded the highest and lowest ranks for each player, and awarded points based on the remaining positions.
Legends of the hardwood throughout high school basketball’s long history.
Choosing the most outstanding high school basketball players of all time is as difficult as it can be an argumentative stalemate.
It’s no secret that the game has changed, so looking at an icon from the 1960s might not equate to a player who dominated in the past five or so years.
But there is also an argument within the argument (the game behind the game, if you will) where historical talent is…well, historical talent—the fact that it occurred when Twitter didn’t exist has little meaning on the overall resume. And vice versa.
That thought process provided the foundation for answering our questions about the 25 greatest of all time. We wanted to look at dominant players throughout history—ones who could easily suit up and play tomorrow and have the same results as they would in any era.
Of course, the criteria needed more substantial elements beyond that as well. So, understanding that it would still finalize as an opinionated ranking, we included simple factors such as location and competition, plus weighed what the player meant to the team’s success—while trying our hardest not to consider what each player did after high school.
Once the research hoopla settled, we landed at these 25.
HoopsHype chooses an NBA Playoffs MVP for every postseason, including LeBron James, Michael Jordan and many more all-timers.
In the NBA, there is a regular season MVP and a Finals MVP, but no award for the best player of the postseason, which is odd if you think about it. Hell, we even had a bubble MVP that one time.
No worries, though, because we are here to right that wrong by naming a Playoff MVP for every postseason dating back all the way to the BAA days. There’s a bit of overlap between Finals MVP and our pick for Playoff MVP but there are also many years in which our Playoff MVP pick didn’t even see his team win the championship.
With so many players to discuss and so many Playoff MVP awards to hand out, let’s get right to it.
(You can go to the bottom of the page to see how many times each legend is selected).
A look back at the 1987-88 Lakers, who had to rely on grit and toughness, and not just “Showtime,” to repeat as NBA champions.
Over a span of several decades, the Los Angeles Lakers became the gold standard of basketball by winning championship after championship. They did so with a formula that consisted of transcendent leaders, star players, selfless supporting contributors and a healthy team concept.
The Lakers are one of very few teams in sports that have had multiple dynasties. They had one in their embryonic years in Minneapolis, one during the Showtime era of the 1980s and yet another one in the first decade of the 21st century. As such, not every one of their championship teams can be put on a top 10 list.
We continue our ranking of the 10 greatest Lakers teams to win it all with one that solidified the decade of the 1980s as one that belonged to the franchise.
Upping the Ante
After being unceremoniously upset in the 1986 Western Conference Finals by the Houston Rockets, the Lakers recommitted themselves to their core values heading into the 1986-87 season — with a twist. They re-emphasized their commitment to fast-break basketball, but with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar nearing his 40th birthday, head coach Pat Riley shifted the offensive burden to Magic Johnson, asking Johnson to become the team’s No. 1 offensive option.
It resulted in 65 regular season wins and the Lakers’ fourth NBA title of the decade, which was won in six games over the Boston Celtics.
But the team was heading into the late 1980s, and the wear and tear, both physically and emotionally, was building up for it. It had been done in by complacency in 1986, so Riley guaranteed at the championship parade that it would repeat as world champions in 1988.
No NBA team had gone back-to-back since 1969, back when there were 14 teams in the league. By the 1987-88 campaign, there were 23 teams, and it was thought to be nearly impossible to win two straight titles. But Riley didn’t care. He knew that if his Lakers were to make their argument as the greatest team in league history, they had to win it all again for a second straight year.
They started the season 8-0, then went into a slump that saw them lose six of their next nine games. It was starting to look like perhaps they were becoming old and tired and that the rest of the league was catching up with them. But they then recaptured their old mojo and ripped off 38 wins in their next 42 contests.
However, along the way, the signs of the wear and tear that had accumulated over the last several years became apparent. James Worthy struggled with knee problems that eroded his legendary explosion. Michael Cooper, L.A.’s invaluable sixth man, suffered a severely sprained ankle in February and was out for most of the next two months. Magic Johnson was forced to sit for 10 games late in the schedule with a groin injury that would continue to affect him afterward.
While the Lakers finished with a league-high 62 wins in the regular season, they looked a bit vulnerable going into the playoffs.
Seven, Seven, Seven — Jackpot
The Lakers were a lot healthier when the playoffs started than they were during the second half of the regular season. They swept the San Antonio Spurs in the first round — then ran into plenty of trouble in their quest to repeat.
The Utah Jazz, who had two young future Hall of Famers named Karl Malone and John Stockton, were L.A.’s second-round opponent. They took a 2-1 series lead over the defending champs, but Johnson and crew had just enough ability and resourcefulness to win Game 5 by two points, allowing them to survive and eventually prevail in Game 7.
The Lakers then faced the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Dallas had been building a contender for the past several years, and it felt like its time had come.
After the Lakers won the first two games at home easily, Dallas tied the series at two games apiece. The Lakers responded with a blowout win in Game 5, narrowly lost Game 6 in Texas and then put away the Mavs in Game 7.
Their opponents in the 1988 NBA Finals would be not the Celtics but the Detroit Pistons, another team that had been gradually building a winning program. The Pistons had also been building what many would consider a thug academy that reviled in physically beating up opponents and committing the type of fouls that would have them facing the prospect of arrest in this day and age.
Detroit won Game 1, causing concern that L.A.’s reign was about to end. The Purple and Gold won the next two games, even though Johnson was suffering from flu-like symptoms, then dropped the next two contests to fall behind 3-2 in the series. They were one game away from giving up the NBA crown to a team that was widely hated and the antithesis of Showtime.
Los Angeles survived a 25-point third quarter from a hobbled Isiah Thomas to scrape by in Game 6 by one point. It then rallied from a five-point halftime deficit in Game 7 to build a 15-point lead, only to see the Pistons fight back like a pack of ravenous animals and come to within one point with six seconds left.
But the Lakers ended up winning, 108-105, to claim basketball’s grand prize once again. Worthy had the game of his life with 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, earning him the finals MVP award.
They were now firmly the team of the 1980s and quite possibly the best team the NBA had ever seen, or will ever see.
HoopsHype takes a look at the NBA players who made the biggest scoring jumps from the regular season to the NBA Finals.
For NBA players, there’s stepping up in the playoffs, an impressive enough feat, and then there’s stepping up in the NBA Finals, a whole different level of greatness.
Throughout NBA history, there have been various examples of players who made huge scoring leaps in the NBA Finals, from Jerry West in 1969 to LeBron James in 2015 and Kevin Durant in 2017, and much more.
Today, we’ll highlight the NBA stars who elevated their scoring the most from their regular-season averages to the Finals stage, a list featuring some of the biggest names in the history of the sport as well as a few surprises.
A number of former and current Lakers stars reflected on the life and legend of Bill Walton after he died on Monday.
On Monday, the NBA world lost a giant figure when Bill Walton passed away at the age of 71 due to cancer.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he was a Hall of Fame center with the Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics. While his career was cut short by numerous foot injuries, he won NBA championships in 1977 and 1986.
Before that, he was a big part of the University of California, Los Angeles’ basketball dynasty under head coach John Wooden. While Walton was there, the team won an incredible 88 games in a row and back-to-back national titles. Those who were around back then still remember him going 21-of-22 and scoring 44 points in the 1973 national championship game against Memphis State University, which the Bruins won.
Multiple Lakers legends paid tribute to his memory, including fellow Bruins great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Magic Johnson talked about how Walton was ahead of his time with his skill set.
Rest in peace to a friend, 2X NBA Champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most skilled centers we’ve ever seen Bill Walton! His NCAA Championship performance as a UCLA Bruin against Memphis is by far the most dominate NCAA Championship performance ever – he shot 21 for 22 and had…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 27, 2024
Walton not only had the ability to score, rebound and defend, but he was especially praised for his passing skills, both out of the low post and from the high post.
James Worthy reminisced about meeting Walton in 1982 and his relationship with the former Clipper.
I met Bill my rookie year in Anchorage Alaska for Lakers/Clippers preseason game. At the same hotel I came down early 4 breakfast & Bill invited me 2 his table. To this day we never talked basketball-just love, life, happiness & peace. A true friend & mentor. You will be missed pic.twitter.com/FUP1gozxMC
Byron Scott, yet another member of those Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, sent good vibes to Walton’s survivors.
The thing that I loved about you the most was that you would say just about ANYTHING! I'm going to miss you my friend. One of the best defensive center to ever play the game. Rest in Heaven "Big Red". My heart and prayers go out to Lori, Luke Walton and the rest of the Walton… pic.twitter.com/Tt83DLz2Si
In 2016, Walton’s son Luke became the Lakers’ head coach after a stint as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors. Even though the younger Walton was fired in 2019, he coached LeBron James for one season.
James sent his best wishes to the elder Walton’s soul.
The elder Walton, of course, became a well-known broadcaster for many years after his playing career ended. While some found him annoying, he was very entertaining, and the fact he overcame a lifelong stuttering problem to be a longtime broadcaster was a major accomplishment.
