A list of the top 50 NBA players of all time was recently published by Bleacher Report, and Allen Iverson has some issues with it. The most obvious, of course, is that he is not on it.
Iverson was included on the honorable mentions list, which featured about 50 more players. Andy Bailey, the author of the piece, wrote that the “painful omissions may be about as large as the list itself” and admitted the criteria were mostly subjective, but Iverson felt his absence was a huge oversight. He also thought Kobe Bryant deserved to be higher than 14.
“I was discouraged when I seen that @kobebryant wasn’t top 10 on the all time on this @bleacherreport list and I’m not even on it. What’s the criteria?? Is it based on stats, cultural influence, a personal preference, or what because it can’t be about basketball…. How’s a MVP, 11x All Star, 2x All Star MVP, 7x All NBA, Rookie of the Year, 3x Steals leader, 4x Scoring Champ, 76x 40 point game scorer, 11x 50 point game scorer, a career high 60 point game, career scoring average of 26.7, 2nd leader in playoff ppg average not on this list???? It has to be something else because I don’t understand it. Name me 49 nba players that has this on their resume??? LOL,” Iverson wrote in an Instagram post.
He has a point with both. You would not find many people who would exclude Iverson from their top 50 NBA players, and Kobe could easily make a case for the top 10. That said, there are always going to be things that don’t make sense when lists like these come out. If you remember, fans were furious about Kobe’s spot on some NBA TV All-Decade lists that were released recently, though the justification for that made a lot more sense.
Those who watched Iverson play would probably tell you he is one of the most underrated players ever. He was virtually unstoppable at times, and he probably would make more lists like the Bleacher Report one if he had won a championship.
