NBA 75th Anniversary Team

• 1. The Seventy-Sixth Name

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  The NBA 75th Anniversary Team was not supposed to have 76 members. A tie in the final vote stretched the list one name past the number in the title. The panel charged with the selection numbered 88, drawn from media, former players, coaches, general managers, and team executives. Together, the players they chose had combined for 158 championships, 62 Most Valuable Player awards, 48 Finals MVP awards, and 730 All-Star selections. The list was released in batches across three days, from the 19th of October through the 21st of October 2021, as part of the league's 75th anniversary celebration during the 2021-22 season. Eleven of the 76 players were still active in the NBA when the names were made public. Derrick Rose, whose MVP season came in 2011, was the only former Most Valuable Player as of 2020 not to be included.

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• 2. Twenty-Six New Names

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  All 50 players from the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, the 50th anniversary list assembled in 1996, were carried forward to the 75th anniversary team. The remaining 26 spots drew on players from the 1970s through the era of the announcement. Bob McAdoo and Dominique Wilkins were the two most prominent names to earn a place they had missed on the earlier list. When the 50th anniversary selections were made in the 1996-97 season, Wilkins was the only nine-time All-Star to be excluded. He was also the only six-time All-NBA selection who did not make the cut. McAdoo held a different distinction. He was the only former league MVP left off the 50th anniversary team, despite having won two NBA championships. Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, George Mikan, and Bob Pettit are the only four players to have appeared on all four NBA anniversary teams ever named.

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• 3. Four Lakers, One Miss

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  Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook were all on the Los Angeles Lakers roster when the 75th anniversary list was announced in October 2021. No other active team had more than two honorees. The Lakers still missed the playoffs in the 2022 season. Giannis Antetokounmpo, with the Milwaukee Bucks, was among the remaining active players on the list. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, and Chris Paul rounded out the active group. Durant and Harden were teammates on the Brooklyn Nets, making it the only other active franchise with multiple honorees. Tallying past and present players across all eras, the Boston Celtics claimed the deepest connection to the list with 20 players total. The Los Angeles Lakers were second at 15.

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• 4. Contested Omissions

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  Stan Van Gundy, a former NBA head coach and television analyst, called it "absolutely ridiculous" that Dwight Howard was not included. Howard's own response was brief: "I knew I wasn't going to be on it."

  Kyrie Irving's absence drew the most sustained public attention. The Brooklyn Nets had prematurely posted a congratulatory announcement for Irving before quietly removing it. Irving was allegedly left off due to controversy surrounding his public image at the time. LeBron James responded on Twitter: "Damn shame he ain't Top 75!" Andre Iguodala posted on Twitter as well: "So y'all saying Kyrie Irving ain't top 75? I agree... he top 20 at least..." Irving, alongside fans and commentators, also criticized the exclusion publicly.

  Klay Thompson, left off the list himself, turned to Instagram for his reaction. He wrote: "Maybe I'm just naive in my ability to play basketball, but in my head, I'm top 75 all-time." NBA coach Steve Kerr said he had hoped Thompson and Draymond Green "would be on there."

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• 5. The Coaches Companion

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  Forty-three current and former NBA coaches, convened separately from the players panel, voted to produce the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History. Eight of the ten coaches from the 1996 Top 10 Coaches in NBA History list were carried over. Bill Fitch and John Kundla were not. Nine of the 15 coaches were alive at the time of the announcement, and four of them, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers, and Erik Spoelstra, were still active head coaches.

  Don Nelson and Jerry Sloan were the only members who had never won a championship as a head coach. Nelson did win five titles as a player. Lenny Wilkens is the only person to appear on both the players and coaches versions of the list, a distinction he also held for the 50th anniversary edition. At the time of the selection, 10 of the 15 coaches had been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches. Nelson was the most recent inductee among them, having entered in 2012. Popovich and Rivers were later inducted in 2023 and 2026 respectively.

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