Fresh off securing a berth in the NBA Finals for the first time, Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray is enjoying the finest stretch of his career. With that success comes added attention—and, in today’s opinion-driven sports media landscape, a chance to divulge his hottest sports takes.
The topic of the day: Who are the five best players in NBA history?
In his top five, Murray included two active players—including one he just dispatched in the Western Conference Finals—in LeBron James and Stephen Curry. His other three have 15 NBA titles between them.
Jamal Murray names his top 5 NBA players of all time:
— Guru (@DrGuru_) May 24, 2023
- MJ
- Kobe
- Steph
- Shaq
- LeBron
(h/t @__adel11)pic.twitter.com/okp7ELftCk
While all the players Murray mentioned are undoubtedly among the best the game has ever seen, the list certainly skews to the more recent. All five players appeared in the league this century, while Michael Jordan has the earliest debut of the bunch (1984). Murray, who was born in 1997, likely wasn’t quite old enough to remember seeing Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s Lakers pull off their three-peat, but their run clearly left an impression on him.
Still, there are plenty of inner-circle Hall of Famers Murray failed to mention. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell are just a few names that many (if not most) would include in their list of greatest basketball players ever. Perhaps if the Nuggets are able to win their first title in franchise history, teammate Nikola Jokic will be mentioned among that group years from now when his playing days are through.
