ESPN Ranks the top 100 most influential players ever

[Roy H.]

Golly gee, I wonder who will be #1?

If it isn't Jordan then ESPN should be taken out back and whipped.

Why is Jordan such a #1
Wilt, Russ, Cousy, O, Pistol Pete, Bird, Magic, Kareem
I can make some lists for most influential, as someone else stated Petit, Erving..
Jordan should be up there as a great defender /offensive player but espn era, preferential calls, carrying the ball is sooo overblown
Hawkins, Mikan, Cowens, Akeem,  Durant etc etc

Marketing. Jump man. Shoes.

The Jordan brand is hugely influential.

[Moranis]

Golly gee, I wonder who will be #1?

If it isn't Jordan then ESPN should be taken out back and whipped.

Why is Jordan such a #1
Wilt, Russ, Cousy, O, Pistol Pete, Bird, Magic, Kareem
I can make some lists for most influential, as someone else stated Petit, Erving..
Jordan should be up there as a great defender /offensive player but espn era, preferential calls, carrying the ball is sooo overblown
Hawkins, Mikan, Cowens, Akeem,  Durant etc etc

Marketing. Jump man. Shoes.

The Jordan brand is hugely influential.

Yeah I really don't get how anyone other than Jordan is at the top of this list.  Nor why anyone would think it realistically should be someone other than Jordan.  After him, I really have no idea as it realistically could be any number of people, including Bill and Larry from the C's.

[Moranis]

Other strange ones = Ed O Bannon (85th most influential basketball player of all time) Jason Collins (78th), Jeremy Lin (75th)

Too low = Bob Pettit (80th). The guy was the prototype for the PF position from the 50s until Duncan and KG came along in the late 90s.

All 3 of those guys make a lot more sense when you consider the off-court component.

Yep. I refuse to read these lists, but is Spencer Haywood on there? He was a game-changer for player rights.

They had him at 50. 

50. Spencer Haywood
Teams
Denver Rockets (1969-70, ABA), Seattle SuperSonics (1970-75), New York Knicks (1975-79), New Orleans Jazz (1979), Los Angeles Lakers (1979-80), Washington Bullets (1981-83)

Influence
Growing up on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, Spencer Haywood knew the drudgery of working from sunup to sundown. The adolescent Haywood planted and chopped cotton for a pittance. After being thrust into hard and unfair labor as a child, Haywood as a young adult went on to challenge the unfair labor order of sports. It was a challenge that still benefits players some 50 years later.
At age 19, he led Team USA to a surprising gold medal at the 1968 Olympics. Desperate to support himself and his family, Haywood skipped the rest of his college years and joined the ABA for the 1969-70 season, winning MVP and ROY honors. The restless Haywood then jumped to the NBA for the 1970-71 season.
The league's legal attempts to enforce its four-year college rule on Haywood failed and established the "hardship case" rule that allowed underclassmen to enter the NBA draft. By age 25, Haywood had been selected to one ABA first team and two NBA first teams. Since then he has defeated drug addiction and continues to speak out against the exploitation of college athletes by the NCAA. -- Curtis Harris

[Moranis]

Where this list loses me is putting someone like John Thompson on it and at 44 no less.  I mean, I know he was technically a NBA player winning titles backing up Bill, but come on.  Absolutely ridiculous to have him on this list even with coaching so many HOFers.  At least Lenny Wilkens and Mike D'Antoni both coached in the NBA, and Wilkens was a very good player in his day, but they are still a stretch on this list because they aren't there for being a player.

[nickagneta]

I hope to God they have Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and Nat Clifton in the top 5-6, at least.

[ChillyWilly]

Golly gee, I wonder who will be #1?

If it isn't Jordan then ESPN should be taken out back and whipped.

Why is Jordan such a #1
Wilt, Russ, Cousy, O, Pistol Pete, Bird, Magic, Kareem
I can make some lists for most influential, as someone else stated Petit, Erving..
Jordan should be up there as a great defender /offensive player but espn era, preferential calls, carrying the ball is sooo overblown
Hawkins, Mikan, Cowens, Akeem,  Durant etc etc

Marketing. Jump man. Shoes.

The Jordan brand is hugely influential.

My granddaughter "rocks" Jordans and has no idea who he is. I'd say that's pretty [dang] influential. Maybe I'm bias because of my age but I can't even think of anyone else who's even half way to what Jordan did for basketball.

[TheisTheisBaby]

MJ, Larry, and Magic should all be top 3-5.  MJ for helping globalize the game and for his being the first real mega-superstar on an international level.  And Bird and Magic for saving the NBA, revolutionizing the game of basketball with their all-around skills, and for bringing back team ball.

[ChillyWilly]

Where this list loses me is putting someone like John Thompson on it and at 44 no less.  I mean, I know he was technically a NBA player winning titles backing up Bill, but come on.  Absolutely ridiculous to have him on this list even with coaching so many HOFers.  At least Lenny Wilkens and Mike D'Antoni both coached in the NBA, and Wilkens was a very good player in his day, but they are still a stretch on this list because they aren't there for being a player.

This isn't most influential NBA. This is about Basketball as a game.

[Roy H.]

Golly gee, I wonder who will be #1?

If it isn't Jordan then ESPN should be taken out back and whipped.

Why is Jordan such a #1
Wilt, Russ, Cousy, O, Pistol Pete, Bird, Magic, Kareem
I can make some lists for most influential, as someone else stated Petit, Erving..
Jordan should be up there as a great defender /offensive player but espn era, preferential calls, carrying the ball is sooo overblown
Hawkins, Mikan, Cowens, Akeem,  Durant etc etc

Marketing. Jump man. Shoes.

The Jordan brand is hugely influential.

My granddaughter "rocks" Jordans and has no idea who he is. I'd say that's pretty [dang] influential. Maybe I'm bias because of my age but I can't even think of anyone else who's even half way to what Jordan did for basketball.

I would distinguish "influence" from "what a player did for basketball".

If we're talking just about benefiting the game of basketball, Larry and Magic (as an inseparable player) have an argument for being most important.  The NBA was lagging in popularity and viewership until those two captured the attention of America. 

Back to Jordan, beyond his brand, the dude is an NBA owner and was the lead member of the Dream Team that helped spread popularity of the game world wide.  He's unquestionably #1 in terms of influence.

[gouki88]

Realistically Toine should get a top 20 spot for being the first unapologetic stretch 4 who couldn't shoot. He influenced an entire 2 generations of bad players. Plus he taught them to be out of shape, go bankrupt, have no degree, and yet still latch on to a team for ring. His fingerprints are all over the modern game

TP, hilarious.

[Donoghus]

I'm more interested to see who #2 is. 

Will ESPN go recency bias and go with Lebron?  Will it be Russell?  Will they do Bird/Magic tied for #2?   Someone else?

[CelticD]

Iverson's gotta be up there too. He had too much swag. Really helped bridge hip hop and basketball.

[mef730]

I'm going with Conner Henry, given his influence in the accelerating importance of the three-pointer.

Mike

[Donoghus]

Iverson's gotta be up there too. He had too much swag. Really helped bridge hip hop and basketball.

Absolutely.

[Big333223]

I never knew all that about Al Attles. Pretty cool.

Heinsohn at #81 as the president of the NBAPA who engineered the boycott that got the league to recognize the players union. And he's #81 but Chris Paul, current NBAPA is #49.

Bob Pettit is #80 because he defined the PF position for decades and Kevin McHale is #70 because he had a good post game and drafted Kevin Garnett?

Rick Barry is just one spot ahead of Paul, at #48, even though he was a hall of fame player who also paved the way for modern free agency back in 1967. All the credit is given to Oscar Robertson at #7, a huge leap ahead. Robertson deserves his spot but to not even mention Barry's contributions in the same area a decade before seems like an oversight.

And then Gervin at #47. Isiah Thomas #42. Jason Kidd #40. Ray Allen #36. 'Nique #35. All great players who influenced the way the game was played but none took it leaps and bounds ahead of where it was already going. These seem like "these guys were great, let's put them high" rankings that aren't in line with what the list claims to be about. There's more of these.

Why is Ewing on this list at all?

Wade at #60. I guess because he engineered James/Bosh to the Heat? Still seems high.

KG is #15 as the first modern player to jump from HS to the pros and starting a new era. And then Kobe is #12 as a player who jumped from HS to pros the next year?

Curry at #10 and Lebron #2 feels like recency bias. I get the argument for Curry as the modern Elgin/Julius who changed the way the game is played but 10 seems high. I'm not sure Lebron has done anything to warrant being ahead of Bird or Erving (or Curry) in terms of on-the-court influence and he's just riding the wave of Jordan and Shaq (#17) in his off-the-court influence.

MJ #1. Ok. Fine.

I'd love to see a little more digging into some of these ideas. What kind of influence did someone like Ben Wallace and his Pistons have on the defensive rule changes that eventually opened things up and ushered in the 3-ball era that Curry is heralded as influencing? How much is someone like Ray Allen actually responsible for change versus just being at the right place in the right time?