There are some super underrated legends of the game from back in the day. Nique, Jermaine O’Neal, Dennis Johnson, Bernard King, just to name a few.
Who, out of the players active today that are considered superstars (or were at one point), do you think will be mostly forgotten about and underrated for future generations?
I used to have this discussion with my roommate and he always said James Harden, which I thought was a good pick but I figured he’d have a chip by now and I always thought “The Beard” was a memorable… gimmick? Idk. My pick was always Paul George, but now I think he was spot on with James Harden.
I don’t know if he was ever considered a superstar but it seems Joe Johnson has already been quickly forgotten about. Same with Deron Williams, although I wouldn’t count them since they aren’t active anymore.
Who’s your pick?
I like the teams angle. Being on the right team adds a lot.
I was really young in the eighties but anchoring them in iconic teams made it really easy to get to 10 without looking it up:
Julius Irving Moses Malone Maurice Cheeks Isiah Thomas Joe Dumars Bill Laimbeer Rick Mahorn Adrian Dantley Michael Jordan Craig Hodges
I think that’s probably why guys like Dominique Wilkins fade out of conversations. If your team isn’t the Celtics or Lakers and never becomes iconic, your individual accolades need to be special. Scoring titles and slam dunk contests aren’t enough.
Its telling that the first thing 95% people think of when they hear Dominique’s name is the famous duel with Bird in the playoffs. I was very young in the 80s but technically around, its very hard for me to remember many things that weren’t somehow Celtic or Laker connected.
Even that great 76er team, the first thing I think of is those great 7 game series vs Boston in the early 80s.
So yeah, if you’re career didn’t have many memorable moments involving the Celtics or Lakers you are probably pretty damned forgotten.