The center position is arguably the most important position in the game of basketball. Having a strong center means that a team has a willing interior defender who can grab rebounds, but can also score on the offensive end of the floor. The position has seen quite an evolution over the years, with centers being asked to do more than ever nowadays, so unsurprisingly, many of the best players are big men who can take control of games. But who are the best centers in NBA history? That's what we have set out to answer here, so let's take a trip down memory lane and pick out the 25 best centers in the history of the league.
25. Spencer Haywood
Spencer Haywood burst onto the scene for the ABA's Denver Nuggets in the 1969-70 season, averaging 30 points and 19.4 rebounds per game as a rookie, with both figures leading the entire league. That season, his only in the ABA (and technically his only listed as a center), earned him a spot on the ABA All-Time Team. Haywood would have a prolific NBA career for 13 more years, winning a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980.
24. Ben Wallace
A singular defensive force, Ben Wallace was one of the most feared rim protectors in NBA history. He broke the mold for many great centers before and after him, as he was not an elite two-way player thanks to his limited offensive skills. Fortunately for him though, he played in an era where he could make the most of his unique skills. During his career, he would anchor every team he played on, most notably the 2003-04 Champion Detroit Pistons.
23. Joel Embiid
Although he's very polarizing today thanks to his big personality and certain foul drawing tactics, Joel Embiid is a unique player who demonstrates the evolution of the modern NBA. Last year's MVP brings size, mobility, post-play, shooting, and defense not seen in other prominent big men. “The Process” has led the Philadelphia 76ers back to relevance after the dark post-Allen Iverson days, and although postseason success still eludes him, he still has the majority of his prime to cement a spot even higher on this list.
22. Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo was one of the greatest defensive players ever to play the game. A monster in the paint and on the glass, Mutombo came into the league and immediately helped transform a previously terrible Denver Nuggets defense into a formidable unit. Mutombo would lead the franchise to one of their defining moments in the 1994 NBA Playoffs, when he led the eight-seeded Nuggets past the one-seeded Seattle Supersonics in their first-round clash. Mutombo would go on to have a prolific, 18-year Hall of Fame career.
21. Chris Bosh
Sure, much of the conversation around Chris Bosh will be related to his health troubles shortening his career, but despite that, he'll always be an all-time great. Bosh was an All-Star every year besides his first two seasons in the league. With the Toronto Raptors, he became one of the league's best big men thanks to his effectiveness on both sides of the ball. Then, he teamed up with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade to create the Miami Heat's “Big Three”, and the rest is history.
20. Bob Lanier
Drafted first overall by the Pistons in the 1970 NBA Draft, Lanier had the misfortune of playing in an era stacked with some of the best centers in the history of the league. Despite that, he still made his mark playing for 14 years on his way to eight All-Star selections and an eventual induction into the Hall of Fame. Although he could never get past all of his era's other great centers and teams, he still marked himself as one of the best to do it.
19. Yao Ming
Another in a long line of truly great centers who struggled to stay healthy, Yao Ming is one of the poster children for the archetype. Whenever he played, he was great, going toe-to-toe with players like Shaquille O'Neal and often coming out on top. He played eight years and was an All-Star eight times. His partnership with Tracy McGrady remains one of the league's biggest modern “what ifs” fans like to toss around.
18. Artis Gilmore
Kentucky Colonels and ABA legend Artis Gilmore spent 18 years across the ABA and the NBA. Gilmore would cement himself as one of the best players in league history across his five years in the ABA, and he paced the league in minutes per game for the second straight year in the 1974-75 season when he led the Colonels to the ABA title. He would continue to have a significant impact after the ABA merged with the NBA, spending time with the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, and Boston Celtics.
17. Dwight Howard
Dwight Howard is the people's favorite snub from the NBA 75th Anniversary team, and he's another center in a long-list of them that has some big “what ifs” attached to him due to career-altering injuries. But despite the injuries, Howard easily ends up on this list. Getting the first overall pick in the draft the year after LeBron James went first may have felt like a sick joke to the Orlando Magic, but they ended up landing another superstar in Howard in the 2004 NBA Draft. Although the team's success never fully came together, Howard's run with the Magic was legendary, pairing high-flying offense with incredible defense, highlighted by three straight DPOY awards. And even after his injuries and time on the Magic came to an end, he was still a very effective player with several of his later teams.
16. Bill Walton
Another name on the list, another all-time great center who battled with injuries. Very few people can say they were mentioned in the same breath as Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and Wilt Chamberlain. Yet during Bill Walton's prime, he was on their level. Leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the title in 1976-77, Walton earned Finals MVP honors before earning league MVP the following year.
15. Dave Cowens
Following a franchise-defining talent like Bill Russell with the Boston Celtics was always going to be a tough job, but Dave Cowens somehow pulled it off. The undersized heir to Russell's position anchoring the paint for the Celtics, Cowens proved he too was a Celtics great. Cowens would retire as a league MVP, eight-time All-Star, and two-time NBA Champion, keeping the Celtics as perennial contenders in the years between Russell and Larry Bird.
14. Wes Unseld
Wes Unseld was another undersized center from the 1970s who battled with all-time greats and made his mark. Unseld spent his whole career with the Baltimore/Washington Bullets, and would lead them to four NBA Finals appearances and one title in 1978. Unseld won the league MVP his rookie year in 1968-69, and over the following decade he would continue to be a force on the interior on both sides of the floor and a rebounding machine as well.
13. Bob McAdoo
Bob McAdoo was a truly unique player, blending shooting, scoring, rebounding, and defense not really seen before or since, especially for a guy his size. For three straight seasons he averaged a 30-point double-double, tacking on over two blocks per game in each year as well. Yes, the league had seen scorers and defenders of his caliber before and it's seen them since. But rarely has a center demonstrated the unique versatility that made McAdoo so hard to stop throughout his 14-year NBA career and on his way to two NBA titles.
12. Nate Thurmond
Nate Thurmond battled many great big men during the 1960s and 1970s, and while he and Golden State Warriors teammate Rick Barry never won a title together, that has no bearing on Thurmond's impact on those teams. In a league chock full of center talent, Thurmond put together some of the most impressive performances of all time. He once grabbed 18 rebounds in a single quarter, and he averaged over 20 point-20 rebound stat line across an entire season, while also coming extremely close to reaching that feat in two more seasons. Thurmond also was the first player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double.
11. Robert Parish
Robert Parish played 21 years in the NBA after being drafted by the Warriors in 1976. Traded to Boston in 1980 (in a lopsided deal that also netted the Celtics Kevin McHale via the draft) he became a standout member of one of the decade's defining teams. Parish helped lead those Celtics to three titles in the 1980s, on his way to seven All-Star selections and six appearances on the All-Defense team. Along with Larry Bird and McHale, Parish helped form a big three well before the term became what it is today.
10. George Mikan
A Lakers legend while they were still in Minnesota, George Mikan's professional basketball career predates the NBA. Playing one season in the BAA and his other six in the NBA, Mikan was as dominant a force as the league has ever seen. Mikan won five titles in his seven years playing in the BAA/NBA as a three-time scoring champ and two-time rebounding champ. Mikan averaged 23 points and 9.5 rebounds per game across his career as the league's first true great center.
9. Patrick Ewing
The prize of the most controversial draft lottery of all time, it's no surprise that Patrick Ewing makes this list. Perhaps the most beloved player for one of the league's most well-known franchises, the New York Knicks legend led the team to their highest heights of the last 50 years. Ewing was a great player whose lack of team success can be attributed to the incredible competition in the Eastern Conference in the 1990s. From battles with the Bulls and Indiana Pacers to bringing the Knicks to Game 7 of the 1994 Finals, Ewing accomplished more than just about any player not on the Bulls in that decade. He stuffed the stat sheets and was a mainstay on All-Star and All-NBA teams throughout his career.
8. David Robinson
“The Admiral” is sometimes lost in discussing the modern San Antonio Spurs dynasty. Sure, the Spurs Big Three was fun, but you can't forget about David Robinson. He was a scoring, rebound, and blocks leader throughout his career, and racked up ten All-Star and All-NBA selections, eight All-Defense honors, a Defensive Player of the Year award, and even Rookie of the Year along the way too. Robinson won just about everything you possibly can in the NBA. He joined the league late at 24 due to military service but immediately became one of the league's best big men. He helped lead the Spurs to relevance and eventually two titles before handing the reins over to Tim Duncan and company.
7. Moses Malone
The “Chairman of the Boards” was a uniquely relentless player. Moses Malone played on nine different ABA/NBA teams and made his mark on each. Owning the unique distinction of being on the ABA all-time team and the NBA 75th Anniversary team, Malone was a shoo-in for All-Star selections throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He is also the most recent star to lead the 76ers to an NBA Championship. He collected the league and Finals MVP in 1983, and the franchise has tried to replicate what he brought them ever since. Malone was a monster on the offensive glass and would retire as the ABA/NBA all-time offensive rebound leader after leading the league nine times.
6. Nikola Jokić
This might be a bit of recency bias and maybe just a touch of projection, but it's hard to ignore the last three years. Nikola Jokić has realized his potential in a way few NBA players ever have or ever will. He's been the best player in the league for the last three years, winning back-to-back league MVPs before putting it all together and winning the Finals with the Nuggets and Finals MVP for himself. In his 2023 playoff run he averaged nearly a 30-point triple-double, finishing with 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game. And at just 28 years old, he shows no signs of slowing down.
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
Often glossed over in deification of Michael Jordan and the 1990s Bulls is that Hakeem Olajuwon led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships right in the middle of their run. Yes, it happened during Jordan's baseball years, but even after Jordan's return, Olajuwon's Rockets swept a young Shaquille O'Neal and a Magic squad that had just eliminated Jordan's Bulls. Olajuwon became the first player to win the MVP, DPOY, NBA title and Finals MVP award in the same year. Fellow members of this list in Robinson and O'Neal would shower praise on Olajuwon‘s unparalleled dominance of the center position in the 1990s.
4. Bill Russell
Bill Russell is the greatest winner in NBA history. Russell led the Celtics to 12 NBA Finals in his 13-year career, turning that into 11 titles won. He was league MVP five times, a 12-time All-Star and 11-time All-NBA member. No single player in the sport's history has dominated the league for so long and completely as Russell did. Russell was beyond clutch, leading his teams to a 17-2 record in elimination games throughout his career. He most notably put in a 30-point, 40-rebound outing to win Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals.
3. Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal is a transcendent talent with a personality that matches his colossal frame and incredible athleticism. O'Neal came into the league with the Magic and immediately made his mark, winning Rookie of the Year in the 1992-93 season. O'Neal would become the most dominant force in the NBA in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His legend would only grow when he teamed up with Kobe Bryant on the Los Angeles Lakers and ended up winning three titles in a row, and he'd later win a fourth title with Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat. The 15-time All-Star was arguably the most overwhelming physical force the NBA has ever seen.
2. Wilt Chamberlain
Maybe putting Wilt Chamberlain over Shaq here is a little contentious, especially today. One of the most legendary players to ever play the game of basketball, his legacy is still felt even today. “Putting up Wilt numbers” has become slang both in and out of NBA contexts for an otherworldly performance. No one before or since has stuffed box scores quite like Chamberlain did. He occupies total pages in the NBA record books, including his 100-point game and his 1961-62 season in which he averaged an eye-popping 50.4 points per game. Not to mention that he holds the four best PPG seasons ever and five of the top six.
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabaar
Sure, you could argue for a handful of others to take the top spot here, but it wouldn't be that convincing. A 19-time NBA All-Star, and a six-time champion, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the league's leading scorer from retirement until earlier this year. Abdul-Jabaar was so good that the NCAA banned dunking in college basketball for ten years to try to slow him down. So, he unleashed the skyhook and terrorized the NCAA and NBA for over two decades. Kareem's otherworldly skill, size, talent, and impressive longevity make him a near-consensus top-three player of all time for fans and figures around the league. There is no other choice to top this list.
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