Which Celtic, Larry Bird or Bill Russell, would you rather to start your squad with?

The question of whether Kobe Bryant is the best player to have ever played the game has been the subject of intense discussion on Bleacher Report over the past few weeks.

However, rather than arguing over who should be ranked first, I and five of Bleacher Report’s best NBA writers chose to rank Kobe among the all-time greats.

Jordan Holz, Zander Freund, Andrew Ungvari, Dave Finnochio, Erick Blasco, and Dave Metrick participated in the longest roundtable column in Bleacher Report history.

Whittenberg, Michael

Championships are frequently considered when I argue for an all-time great, but they don’t always sum up a player’s career.

Championships are frequently considered when I argue for an all-time great, but they don’t always sum up a player’s career.

Even if they never experienced winning a championship, players like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley are still regarded as all-time greats.

Even though Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are still active players, they both rank in my top 10 players of all time.

Without further ado, here is my ranking of the current top 10 players in the NBA history.