Home - Famous Basketball Players

Famous Basketball Players

Here you will find some of Famous Basketball players who made significant impact in Basketball history. This is our choice of players. If you have any suggestions feel free to send your list of Famous players.

Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999), nicknamed Wilt the Stilt, The Big Dipper, and Chairman of the Boards, was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; and also played for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain, who weighed 250 lbs as a rookie before bulking up to 275 lb and eventually over 300 lb with the Lakers, played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in the history of the NBA. Read more here.

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a retired American NBA basketball player. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, teaming with legendary center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Due to back problems, he retired as a player from the NBA in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently still holds. Read more here.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time. Read more here.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player and active businessman. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Jordan was one of the league's most prolific scorers and was one of the best athletes to ever play the game (his vertical leap was 48"). After a standout career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he led the Tar Heels to a National Championship in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. Read more here.

Dražen Petrović, (October 22, 1964 – June 7, 1993) was a professional basketball player from Croatia . A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s. Petrović joined the National Basketball Association in 1989, becoming a member of the Portland Trail Blazers and playing mostly off the bench. However, after a trade to the New Jersey Nets, Petrović experienced a break-out, starting for the team and becoming one of the league's best shooters. His life and career were cut short when he was killed in an automobile accident in Germany on June 7, 1993. Read more here.

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