Tim Duncan is widely considered the greatest power forward of all time, but after him, there are many candidates, all of who are close to each other. Although people disagree on who’s the second greatest power forward of all time, there are several candidates for this title:
Dirk Nowitzki - 1x Finals MVP, 1x champion, 1x MVP, 14x All-Star, 4x All-NBA First Team, 5x All-NBA Second Team, 3x All-NBA Third Team. The championship run is widely considered one of the greatest playoff runs of all time, sweeping the 2 seeded defending champion, Kobe and the Lakers, and then defeating the KD, Russ, and Harden Thunder, and then the famed Big Three Heat.
Charles Barkley - 1x MVP, 11x All-Star, 5x All-NBA First Team, 5x All-NBA Second Team, 1x All-NBA Third Team. Despite having no ring, he had to play in the same era as Michael Jordan. His Suns team is widely known as one of the greatest teams to never win the title, and made it to the finals in 1993, and lost because Michael Jordan had inarguably a Top 3 Finals MVP performance of all time.
Giannis Antetokounmpo - 1x Finals MVP, 1x champion, 2x MVP, 1x DPOY, 8x All-Star, 6x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Second Team, 4x All-Defensive First Team, 1x All-Defensive Second Team. Though the ring is questioned by many, it is undeniable that that run is extremely dominant and that his Finals MVP performance is one of the greatest of all time, and that the closeout performance is also one of the greatest performances in NBA playoff history, as well as being one of only two people on this list to win a Defensive Player of the Year award.
Kevin Garnett - 1x champion, 1x MVP, 1x DPOY, 15x All-Star, 4x All-NBA First Team, 3x All-NBA Second Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 9x All-Defensive First Team, 3x All-Defensive Second Team. One of the greatest defenders in the history of basketball, it is a really good question about whether staying with the Minnesota Timberwolves too long has damaged his legacy, and how much.
Karl Malone - 2x MVP, 14x All-Star, 11x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Second Team, 1x All-NBA Third Team, 3x All-Defensive First Team, 1x All-Defensive Second Team. He is third in terms of points scored in the NBA of all time, and played with the all-time leader in assists and steals in John Stockton. Though he has no ring, this could easily be attributed to playing in the same era as Michael Jordan, widely considered the greatest player of all time.
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CWeb
Outside of the names mentioned, I would add Mchale, Moses Malone (unless he is considered a center), and I know a lot of older fans will bring up Dolph Shayes who in a lot of ways revolutionized the big man game.
For the record, Barkley definitely was considered a superior player to Karl Malone at a certain point (Phoenix MVP peak) but didn’t have a better career than Malone overall (36K points, career of steady Utah playoff appearances, etc).
My vote for second is Garnett - came in as a high schooler, dominated on both offence (people forget the Minnesota years) and defence, championships, longevity, etc…).
My vote for first would be Duncan. I won’t even list out accolades, all I will say that whatever level of appreciation we have for Duncan, it is likely well understated due to the fact that his game didn’t attract flash-type of attention. But my god!! Excellence personified! I feel the same way about MJ who gets all the flash appreciation but doesn’t get nearly enough for his dominance on fundamental details of the game (his footwork was IMO best of all time, movement without the ball probably only second best to Reggie, etc…).
almost everyone agrees duncan is #1
however i think the best off ball player oat is steph