Every NBA Team's Mt. Rushmore of the Century
Every NBA franchise has its list of all-time immortals, but B/R's Dan Favale and Grant Hughes are here to offer a more contemporary perspective by choosing four players who've mattered most to each team since 2000.
Individual and team success are key components. Winning a championship, earning an MVP, multiple All-NBA selections, or leading the franchise in scoring since 2000 makes a player an automatic candidate.
This can't just be a spreadsheet-type exercise, though. Partly because we can't let the computers win that easily, but also because any fan putting together a Mount Rushmore of his or her favorite team is going to be guided by some emotion.
The player with the highest total of win shares doesn't always mean the most to fans of a particular team. Keep that in mind, as there will be a handful of sentimental picks sprinkled in among the statistical greats.
In one of the stranger sentences ever typed, let's put some NBA faces on mountains.
Atlanta Hawks
1 of 30
C Al Horford
PG Trae Young
SG Joe Johnson
PF Paul Millsap
Al Horford was the face for some of the most menacing Atlanta Hawks squads in recent memory. Trae Young is as talented as he is divisive. He’s already first all-time for the franchise in assists and made threes and inside the top five of total points.
Meanwhile, Bob Pettit (11) and Dominique Wilkins (nine) are the lone players with more All-Star selections in a Hawks uniform than Joe Johnson (six).
Room for debates creeps in with the final spot. Josh Smith shows up across more statistical benchmarks, including pacing the franchise in games played during this window. However, Paul Millsap did more to impact winning, and he earned as many All-Star nods as Horford and Young (four).
—Favale
Boston Celtics
2 of 30
SG/SF Jaylen Brown
PF Kevin Garnett
SF Paul Pierce
SF Jayson Tatum
Most of the Boston Celtics' Mt. Rushmore is pretty straightforward. Paul Pierce is a franchise icon with a Finals MVP on his resume. Jayson Tatum was the best player on a championship team, Finals MVP results be damned. Not only does he lead the organization in All-NBA selections since 2000 (five), but he's already sixth all-time.
Kevin Garnett's inclusion isn't worth quibbling over. He won Defensive Player of the Year during the Celtics' 2007-08 championship campaign while hovering somewhere between their second and third offensive option. His entire Boston tenure featured four All-Defense nods, and he ranks in the top five of total points, rebounds and blocks among all Celtics during this span.
Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo both have claims to the final slot. Ditto for Al Horford. Rondo comes closest. His peak petered out earlier than expected, but he was a human assist and All-Defense candidate for the better part of the decade.
Jaylen Brown gets the nod in the end. Winning Finals MVP carries a lot of weight, and he's in the top five of total points (third), rebounds (fourth) and steals (fifth) for this window.
—Favale
Brooklyn Nets
3 of 30
SG Vince Carter
SF Richard Jefferson
PG Jason Kidd
C Brook Lopez
Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson have to crack this list. They represent the absolute peak of Brooklyn Nets/New Jersey Nets basketball.
Kidd spearheaded two Finals trips and is one of two players in Nets history with multiple All-NBA selections. Jefferson was a rookie for that first Finals run but played an integral role for the second, and he spent most of his Nets tenure on the fringes of the All-Star discussion.
Carter retained his megastar status for some of his time in New Jersey. He racked up three All-Star appearances and finished on the back end of the MVP ballot in 2004-05. Even if the iteration of the Nets with him, Kidd and Jefferson never lived up to its potential, that 2005-06 campaign was rollicking as hell.
Brook Lopez's long tenure secures his spot over higher-profile players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who had shorter stays. Lopez is the team's all-time leader in points and blocks and ranks third in rebounds.
—Favale
Charlotte Hornets
4 of 30
PG LaMelo Ball
C Al Jefferson
PG Kemba Walker
PF Gerald Wallace
Well, this is rough.
Kemba Walker is a lock. He's a franchise icon on the short list of Charlotte Hornets to make an All-NBA squad, and he's a symbol of the team's last brush with competence.
Gerald Wallace compiled his resume on mostly bad squads, but his longevity matters. He is first in steals and second in points, rebounds and blocks during this window, with 2010 All-Star and All-Defensive selections to boot.
Although injuries clouded LaMelo Ball's tenure, he remains the Hornets' most dynamic talent. However, he is also the most electric and most high-end talent Charlotte has employed. Only 10 other players in NBA history have averaged 20 points and seven assists through the first five seasons of their career. LaMelo has made more threes than all but two of them (Luka Dončić and Trae Young).
Al Jefferson might be a controversial pick given his short tenure in Charlotte. Let's agree not to care. He earned an All-NBA selection and top-10 finish on the MVP ballot in 2013-14. Not even Kemba ever managed the latter.
—Favale
Chicago Bulls
5 of 30
PG Derrick Rose
SF Jimmy Butler
C Joakim Noah
SF Luol Deng
Derrick Rose’s prime and tenure with the Chicago Bulls veered off course after he tore his left ACL during the 2012 playoffs. The “What if…” factor alone meets the criteria of this exercise. He solidified his case further with a 2008-09 Rookie of the Year award and 2010-11 MVP, and by placing in the top five of total points (fourth) and assists (second) among all Bulls since 2000.
Luol Deng and Joakim Noah are among the most prestigious remnants of two separate eras: the one with Prime Rose, and the one thereafter. They embodied the Bulls’ more-than-enough-to-win ethos—Noah with his relentless motor and Defensive Player of the Year staying power, Deng with his bandwidth to ferry unfathomable workloads.
Jimmy Butler should be remembered as the best overall player among this foursome. His place in Bulls lore is undercut only by their decision to trade him.
—Favale
Cleveland Cavaliers
6 of 30
SF LeBron James
PG Kyrie Irving
PF Kevin Love
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Never mind since 2000. LeBron James’ place among the Cleveland Cavaliers’ all-time Mt. Rushmore was never in doubt. He is the franchise. Spearheading a 3-1 comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals is an unprecedented feat that ended the city of Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought.
Kyrie Irving cruises into his spot on a similar basis. It helps that he’s third in points, assists and steals among all Cavs since 2000, won Rookie of the Year in 2011-12, racked up four All-Star appearances and snagged one All-NBA selection. Hitting one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals history matters more than all of that.
A handful of options are on the table for the final two spots. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejão, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love all have cases. Big Z did the best job of blending longevity with a dash of stardom (two All-Star appearances), so he’s in.
Length of tenure likely demands the final slot land with Thompson or Varejão. Love gets the nod anyway. The 2016 championship earns him a huge bump over Varejão. Popping up in the top five of points, rebounds and assists for the team since 2000 gets him past Thompson, although given Tristan’s defense through the Finals, this could be debatable.
—Favale
Dallas Mavericks
7 of 30
PF Dirk Nowitzki
SG Jason Terry
PG Luka Dončić
PF Dwight Powell
Luka Dončić put together one of the best first half-decades of a career we've ever seen, and he managed to get the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals. However, his departure at the 2025 trade deadline ensures Dirk Nowitzki will remain the franchise's most iconic and successful figure.
Nowitzki is a Hall of Famer and 12-time All-NBA megastar who logged all 21 of his career seasons in Dallas. He was the best player on the franchise's only title-winner and even took less money toward the end of his career so the Mavs could spend it elsewhere.
Terry has the fourth-most win shares in Mavericks history (ahead of Dončić) and was Nowitzki's key second scorer en route to that 2011 championship.
Dwight Powell has never been a star, but his 700 games played trail only Nowitzki among Mavs this century. It just felt right to include such a Dallas staple.
—Hughes
Denver Nuggets
8 of 30
C Nikola Jokić
PF Carmelo Anthony
PG Jamal Murray
PF Aaron Gordon
Three of these guys brought the Denver Nuggets their only championship, even if we should probably acknowledge that both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon could have been swapped out for other non-All-Stars without making much of a difference. That may sound harsh, but it's really just another way to acknowledge three-time MVP Nikola Jokić is the one who made everything work.
Carmelo Anthony is also strongly associated with the New York Knicks, but he actually played more seasons (7.5) in Denver than he did anywhere else. Jokič leads Denver in just about every stat this century, but Melo checks in at No. 2 in games played, minutes and points.
As the best player on the most successful non-Jokić Nuggets teams this century, Anthony led Denver to the playoffs in every season of his tenure with the club, peaking with a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2008-09.
—Hughes
Detroit Pistons
9 of 30
PG Chauncey Billups
SG Richard Hamilton
SF Tayshaun Prince
C Ben Wallace
Including 80 percent of the starting lineup from the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons team doesn't just feel right. It's the only call when factoring in longevity.
Chauncey Billups (three) and Ben Wallace (five) rattled off multiple All-NBA selections during their time in Detroit. Wallace is tied with Rudy Gobert and Dikembe Mutombo for the most Defensive Player of the Year nods in league history with four. All of those came in a Pistons jersey.
Tayshaun Prince's longevity is unmatched. He played in 137 more games than any other Pistons player during this era. He ranks in the top five of all the major counting stats (including steals and blocks) as a result.
Meanwhile, Rip Hamilton was a bucket-getting anomaly on contending cores that prioritized a defensive lean. He not only leads this quarter-century era in total points, but he's second in assists and third in steals.
Cases can be made for Rasheed Wallace and Andre Drummond and maybe even Cade Cunningham. They're just not strong enough.
—Favale
Golden State Warriors
10 of 30
PG Stephen Curry
SG Klay Thompson
PF Draymond Green
SF Andre Iguodala
The Golden State Warriors have won four titles this century, and these four guys were there for all four of them.
Stephen Curry changed the sport and won a unanimous MVP. Draymond Green was (and still is) his ideal running mate. Klay Thompson might be the second-greatest pure shooter of all time. And Andre Iguodala’s willingness to come off the bench set a selfless culture that still influences the team today.
Maybe we can get a smaller plaque installed for Baron Davis, who was the catalyst for the We Believe teams that produced the only two winning seasons for the Warriors this century that didn’t involve the Core Four.
—Hughes
Houston Rockets
11 of 30
SG James Harden
C Yao Ming
C Clint Capela
SF Shane Battier
Tracy McGrady was part of the run, but Yao Ming was the Houston Rockets' main driver of success during the first decade of the 2000s. The hulking 7’5” center made the All-Star game in every year of his career except for 2009-10, when he missed the entire season due to injury.
Yao got a major All-Star voting boost from his home country, but sheer popularity is a factor in choosing who belongs on any team’s Rushmore. Yao was as big, literally and figuratively, as it got in the early 2000s.
James Harden is the only Rockets player to win MVP this century, and he elevated the team to even greater heights than Yao. From 2012-13 to 2019-20, Harden led the entire NBA in win shares, collected three scoring titles, reached a pair of conference finals and made Houston the biggest in-conference obstacle to the dynastic Golden State Warriors.
Shane Battier’s best years came in Houston, where he made two All-Defensive teams and finished among the top five in Defensive Player of the Year voting three times. More than that, he was the famous “No-Stats All-Star” who introduced Daryl Morey’s analytically-driven team-building method to the masses.
Clint Capela was Harden’s most productive teammate during the mid-to-late 2010s. An excellent rebounder and lob-finisher, he was an excellent support piece during Houston’s best run of the last 30 years.
—Hughes
Indiana Pacers
12 of 30
SF Paul George
PG Tyrese Haliburton
C Jermaine O'Neal
C Myles Turner
Let's begin with a potential snub: Reggie Miller is an all-time Indiana Pacers Mt. Rushmore member. However, only one season's worth of his semi-prime overlaps with this 25-year window. Feel free to include him based on the merits of everything he did outside this timeline if you so please.
Tyrese Haliburton's inclusion could be a case of recency bias. That's the point. He just captained consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one NBA Finals berth, all on the back of a playing style that birthed an entire era of Pacers basketball into existence.
The rocky end to Paul George's tenure in Indiana cannot taint his body of work. He headlined one of the Pacers' contention windows while establishing himself as one of the game's premier two-way players. His three All-NBA selections tie a franchise record with Miller and Jermaine O'Neal.
Speaking of O'Neal: We collectively don't appreciate his heyday. The versatility in his game, particularly on offense, was unique for his era. No Pacers player has scored more points since 2000, and he's second in both rebounds and blocks to go along with his All-NBA nods.
Toss-ups abound to round this out. Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and Domantas Sabonis all have varying degrees of arguments. Myles Turner's longevity—he's first among Pacers in minutes played—and highly coveted combo of floor-spacing and rim protection gets him over the hump.
—Favale
Los Angeles Clippers
13 of 30
PG Chris Paul
PF Blake Griffin
C DeAndre Jordan
SG Jamal Crawford
Lob City doesn’t exist without someone tossing basketballs to the rafters for high-flying bigs to ram through the rim, so there’s no Los Angeles Clippers Mt. Rushmore without Chris Paul. Thanks in large part to the Point God, Blake Griffin put together one of the greatest peak highlight reels anyone’s ever seen. Mozgov, Perkins, Humphries—Griffin benefited most often from CP3’s setups.
Paul made the Clippers a serious NBA team for the first time in a long while, but Griffin’s finishing and underrated passing got people to pay attention.
The Point God also furnished DeAndre Jordan with plenty of on-the-money dimes, helping him lead the league in effective field-goal percentage every year from 2012-13 to 2016-17. DJ deserves credit for extreme durability and oodles of rebounds, but his offense derived mostly from lobs and putbacks.
Jamal Crawford rounds out the group. He finished in the top seven in Sixth Man of the year voting every season that he played in L.A. and won the award twice. Aside from Griffin’s dunks and CP3’s pick-and-roll mastery, the most enduring image from those Clippers teams was Crawford yo-yoing the ball and hitting a jumper against some hapless defender.
—Hughes
Los Angeles Lakers
14 of 30
SG Kobe Bryant
C Shaquille O'Neal
PF Pau Gasol
PG Derek Fisher
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal don't need much justification here, as they won three straight titles together (only two of which technically count here). Bryant won two more later in the century with Pau Gasol as his second option.
A three-time All-NBA selection in his seven years with the team, Gasol averaged 17.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 blocks from 2008 to 2014—averages no one in the league matched during that span.
Derek Fisher may seem like an unusual inclusion, but he and Bryant are the only links between the Lakers' early-century title runs and the pair they pulled off in 2009 and 2010. Lamar Odom had more of an impact on the latter two championships, but Fisher feels more significant because of the sheer volume of his contributions.
He's second only to Bryant in total games played for Los Angeles since 2000.
—Hughes
Memphis Grizzlies
15 of 30
PG Mike Conley
PF Zach Randolph
C Marc Gasol
SG Tony Allen
We’re pulling from a single era here, and it just feels right to zero in on the guys who established the Memphis Grizzlies’ Grit ‘n Grind identity in the early 2010s.
Marc Gasol is the headliner. He was coincidentally acquired from the Lakers in a trade for his brother, who had a real case to be included here.
Gasol won Defensive Player of the Year in 2012-13 and finished eighth in MVP voting two seasons later. His savvy play on both ends was key to Memphis routinely winning at least one playoff series during his time with the team, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2013.
Conley was another absolute lock. He averaged 14.9 points and 5.7 assists in his dozen seasons in Memphis, offsetting the rougher edges of Zach Randolph and Tony Allen with his professionalism and zero career technical fouls.
—Hughes
Miami Heat
16 of 30
SG Dwyane Wade
SF LeBron James
SF Jimmy Butler
C Bam Adebayo
Dwyane Wade is the Miami Heat franchise and needs no justification. LeBron James spent only four years with the organization, but he spearheaded two titles and four consecutive NBA Finals appearances. Leaving him off would be unforgivable.
Jimmy Butler's tenure with Miami ending in a contentious fog can't negate over a half-decade's worth of serious impact. The Heat made three Eastern Conference Finals and two Finals trips with him in the fold. Playoff Jimmy became the stuff of lore, and D-Wade and LeBron are the franchise's only other players with more All-NBA nods since 2000.
Settling on the last spot is a journey. Udonis Haslem wins the Emotional Attachment Olympics. Shaquille O'Neal picked up a title along with two All-NBA appearances during his three-plus seasons in South Beach. Chris Bosh deserves an honorable mention for his role during the Big Three era.
However, Bam Adebayo's longevity is ultimately too much for anyone else to overcome. He's a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate who ranks second among all Heat players during this era in points, rebounds and assists, third in total minutes and steals and fourth in blocks.
—Favale
Milwaukee Bucks
17 of 30
PF Giannis Antetokounmpo
C Brook Lopez
SF Khris Middleton
SG Michael Redd
Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to contend with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the Milwaukee Bucks’ greatest-of-all-time crown. His inclusion here is implied.
Ditto for Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, two of the most important members of the Bucks’ 2021 championship squad. Lopez’s transformation into a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber rim protector who also stretched the floor erases any semblance of doubt. Middleton trailing only Giannis and Kareem all-time in points scored for Milwaukee while placing third in assists and routinely contending for All-Star honors Sharpies him in, too.
Adventure ensues from here if you’re smitten with Brandon Jennings or Andrew Bogut, or if you want to give Jrue Holiday a bump for his role in the 2021 title.
Michael Redd is the actual answer. The dude could flat-out score and shoot. His body of work between 2000 and 2011 was enough for him to score more points in a Bucks jersey than all but five other players all-time and make more threes than anyone except Middleton and Ray Allen.
—Favale
Minnesota Timberwolves
18 of 30
PF Kevin Garnett
SG Anthony Edwards
C Karl-Anthony Towns
PF Kevin Love
Kevin Garnett was the first player to earn the Minnesota Timberwolves a modicum of respect. Though only about half of his Wolves career came in the 2000s, the franchise's all-time win shares leader took a team that missed the playoffs in the first seven years of its existence and hauled them to the postseason eight straight times from 1996-97 to 2003-04, when they finished first in the West, won a franchise-record 58 games and fell in the conference finals.
KG's exit in 2007 ushered in 10 straight lottery seasons, though Kevin Love (third in Wolves win shares since 2000) teamed with fan favorite Ricky Rubio to make a few of those years interesting.
KAT showed up next, and though he didn't reach the playoffs until Jimmy Butler arrived to toughen everyone up, he also paired with Anthony Edwards in three straight playoff trips. With Towns now playing for the Knicks, Edwards is ascending on his own. A short-list MVP candidate and charismatic face of the league, Ant may already sit second only to Garnett in the hearts of Timberwolves fans.
—Hughes
New Orleans Pelicans
19 of 30
PG Chris Paul
PF/C Anthony Davis
PF David West
PF Zion Williamson
Chris Paul doubles up here after also earning the first spot on the Clippers' top four, but there's no way to keep him off the mountainside for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Despite a tenure that only stretched from 2005-06 to 2010-11, Paul is the franchise leader in win shares. He led the league in assists per game twice and steals three times as a New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornet, earning Rookie of the Year honors, three All-NBA nods and a second-place finish in the 2007-08 MVP race.
David West may not have Paul's Hall of Fame resume, but he made two All-Star teams and averaged 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds as the Hornets' rugged-but-skilled frontcourt enforcer.
Anthony Davis is just behind Paul in 2000s win shares and received a trio of first-team All-NBA nods during his seven seasons in New Orleans.
Lastly, Zion Williamson earns a potentially controversial spot. He hasn't carried New Orleans to much team success, and his career has been defined as much by injury lows as on-court-production highs. But even with only 214 games played, he's sixth on the team in win shares this century and has unquestionably been the franchise's defining player since 2019.
—Hughes
New York Knicks
20 of 30
SF Carmelo Anthony
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Allan Houston
PF Julius Randle
Carmelo Anthony dropped a since-2000-leading 10,186 points and secured two All-NBA selections in a New York Knicks uniform. He’s a given.
Jalen Brunson isn’t just on this Mt. Rushmore. He has two All-NBA selections, just led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000 and already ranks inside the top six in franchise history for both playoff points (sixth) and assists (third). He’s on the Knicks' all-time Mt. Rushmore.
Say what you will about Julius Randle. The window in which we’re working for the Knicks is largely bleak. His two All-NBA bids and Most Improved Player award in 2020-21 amount to an automatic inclusion.
We are entering choose-your-own-adventure territory with the final selection. Names like David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Kurt Thomas, Amar’e Stoudemire, et al. will all be bandied about. Allan Houston wasn’t anywhere near his peak by the end of his tenure, but he played enough to rank third among Knicks in total points in this era and is a symbol of a better, scrappier era of Knicks basketball.
—Favale
Oklahoma City Thunder
21 of 30
SF Kevin Durant
PG Russell Westbrook
PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
C Nick Collison
Nick Collison falls squarely into “one of these things is not like the others” territory. He’s the only guy here who didn’t win an MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and his 5,359 points with the franchise aren’t anywhere close to the totals of KD (17,566), Russ (18,859) or even SGA (10,405).
However, Collison is something of an institution in Oklahoma City. His 910 games played this century slot him at No. 1 by a mile. For context, two other considerations here—Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka—combined to play just 1,054.
Basically, Collison is Mr. Thunder. He started his career in Seattle several years before Durant was drafted and never played for another franchise. That’s 14 years of service, and we’re rewarding him for it.
Gilgeous-Alexander was the best player on a championship team, something neither Durant nor Westbrook can say during their time with the Thunder. He has to be here despite his relatively short tenure in OKC. If the Thunder get another ring, Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren might have a shot to replace Collison.
—Hughes
Orlando Magic
22 of 30
C Dwight Howard
SG Tracy McGrady
PG Jameer Nelson
C Nikola Vučević
Dwight Howard spent nearly all of his eight years with the Orlando Magic as the NBA's most formidable big man. His three Defensive Player of the Year awards trail only Rudy Gobert, Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace, and he finished inside the top five of MVP voting four times. He remains the Magic's all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks.
Tracy McGrady's time in Orlando was brief and didn't feature any playoff success. He still managed All-NBA honors in all four of his seasons and joined Howard and Penny Hardaway as the sole players in franchise history with multiple first-team nods.
Nobody has played more games wearing a Magic jersey since 2000 than Jameer Nelson. In many ways, Nelson is to Orlando what Udonis Haslem is to Miami, except he played more. The 2009 All-Star is the Magic's all-time leader in assists and ranks fifth in both total points and steals.
Nikola Vučević is the face most synonymous with late 2010s Magic basketball. McGrady, Howard and Grant Hill are the only other Magic players to make multiple All-Star teams since 2000, and he ranks fifth or better in every counting stat over that span.
—Favale
Philadelphia 76ers
23 of 30
PG/SG Allen Iverson
C Joel Embiid
SF Andre Iguodala
PF Thaddeus Young
Allen Iverson is a Philadelphia 76ers legend for a multitude of reasons. He's the franchise's leading scorer, he won an MVP award and he led the team to its only Finals appearance over the past 40-plus years. His Mt. Rushmore case appropriately extends beyond 2000 and settles into all-time-lock territory.
Joel Embiid may go down as an all-time what-if, but he's also one of the best Sixers of all time. Iverson, Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Wilt Chamberlain are the only other players to win an MVP in Philly, and his five All-NBA appearances rank sixth in franchise history.
Andre Iguodala was seldom in the #RightRole during his time with the Sixers, but he nabbed a 2012 All-Star appearance, one All-Defense selection and top-five spots in all the major stat categories, including the most assists and steals of any Sixer since 2000.
Picking a fourth face is hard, and not the fun kind of hard. You can make a case for Ben Simmons, Lou Williams, Tyrese Maxey, Jrue Holiday, Robert Covington, maybe even James Harden and more. Thaddeus Young's longevity wins out. He's third among Sixers in total games played and steals and is fourth in scoring and rebounds over this span.
—Favale
Phoenix Suns
24 of 30
PG Steve Nash
SG Devin Booker
SF Shawn Marion
PF Amar'e Stoudemire
Two-time MVP Steve Nash was the man at the controls for the "Seven Seconds or Less" Suns teams that pushed the boundaries of offensive basketball and made multiple deep playoff runs in the mid-2000s. His remarkable scoring efficiency and preternatural unselfishness made Phoenix's attack work, but it wouldn't have been nearly as effective without Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire filling the lanes.
Marion was among the best defenders of his era, while Stoudemire was a one-of-one athletic marvel who won Rookie of the Year in 2003 and earned All-NBA spots in every season thereafter in which he played at least 60 games. He totaled five in all and averaged a dunk-punctuated 21.4 points in eight seasons with the team.
Devin Booker had nothing to do with that era of Suns basketball, but he belongs on Phoenix's Mt. Rushmore nonetheless. No Suns player appeared in as many as Booker's 673 games since 2000, and Marion is the only Sun within 5,000 points of Booker's 16,452 points.
—Hughes
Portland Trail Blazers
25 of 30
PG Damian Lillard
PF LaMarcus Aldridge
SG Brandon Roy
SG CJ McCollum
Damian Lillard's return to the Portland Trail Blazers this offseason meant so much because his initial 11-year stint with the team had already established him as the most respected and beloved Portland player since at least Clyde Drexler.
Dame spent over a decade racking up All-Star and All-NBA honors, and he's the organization's all-time leading scorer with 19,376 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge was right there alongside Lillard, putting up 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in nine stellar seasons from 2006-07 to 2014-15. He finished 10th and seventh in MVP voting during his last two seasons with the team, respectively.
CJ McCollum quietly put in a matching nine years with the Blazers. Though he never made an All-Star Game, he averaged 19.0 points and shot 39.6 percent from deep in Portland. The Trail Blazers made the playoffs in every single year of McCollum's tenure with the team.
Brandon Roy was in Portland for a good time, but not a long time. Though he put together just four relatively healthy seasons, the combo guard won Rookie of the Year, appeared in three All-Star games, made two All-NBA teams and authored one of the most thrilling postseason stretches in franchise history. Maybe he's a sentimental pick, but Roy means something special to Blazers fans.
—Hughes
Sacramento Kings
26 of 30
PF/C Chris Webber
C Vlade Divac
PG Mike Bibby
SF Peja Stojaković
The Sacramento Kings haven't given fans much to be excited about since the early 2000s, and the faces here reflect that reality.
At their peak, this quartet took the Kings to the Western Conference Finals in 2002, playing beautifully unselfish offensive basketball that was ahead of its time. Sacramento fell to the Lakers in seven games that year, but it was a championship-caliber group.
Webber was the headliner, earning three All-NBA nods in the span we're examining while averaging 23.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists across his entire Kings career. Bibby was the steady ball–handler in the backcourt, and Peja Stojaković (the 2000s leader among Kings in win shares) was a high-volume three-point sniper before it was cool.
Divac doesn't have the stats to justify beating out Brad Miller or even Domantas Sabonis, but neither of those two produced much team success. Divac's clever passing and general savvy were indivisible from the style that produced the best basketball since the franchise moved to Sacramento in 1985.
—Hughes
San Antonio Spurs
27 of 30
PF/C Tim Duncan
PG Tony Parker
SG Manu Ginóbili
SF Kawhi Leonard
Tim Duncan might belong on a leaguewide Mt. Rushmore for the 2000s. He won four titles in the century, collected two MVPs and finished among the top 10 in voting for that award 10 times between 2000-01 and 2014-15. Former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich credited Duncan for his team's nearly two-decade-long dynasty, and he's not wrong.
Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were Duncan's main supporting players early in the century. They unsurprisingly sit second and third in win shares for the franchise since 2000.
Those three are basically inseparable, but the fourth face on the mountain is the one that did split off. No matter; Kawhi Leonard was the main reason why San Antonio added a fourth ring to its 2000s count in 2014. His ascent to superstardom, complete with a pair of DPOYs and two top-three MVP finishes, extended the Spurs' run of relevance until he departed for Toronto in 2018.
—Hughes
Toronto Raptors
28 of 30
SG Vince Carter
SG/SF DeMar DeRozan
SF Kawhi Leonard
PG Kyle Lowry
Kyle Lowry is the Greatest Raptor of All Time (GROAT), without much competition. Others have made more All-NBA teams in a Toronto Raptors uniform, but he was the second-most important player on their only championship squad. The six-time All-Star hung around long enough to lead the franchise in assists and steals while placing in the top four of scoring (second) and rebounds (fourth) since 2000.
You also can't write the history of the Raptors without DeMar DeRozan, the organization's all-time leading scorer. He wasn't a member of the title team, but he spearheaded the era that put Toronto on the map.
Kawhi Leonard hit one of the biggest shots in postseason history while wearing a Raptors jersey and then went on to win a title and Finals MVP. One legendary season is all you need to make a Mt. Rushmore for some teams.
Vince Carter scurries into the mix—but only barely. That's probably a hot take. Vinsanity was an era unto itself. He is the most recognizable Raptor of all time, bar none. However, the temptation to roll with Siakam anyway is real.
Siakam tied Carter and DeRozan for the franchise lead in All-NBA selections with two and was the third-most important player—as well as the NBA's Most Improved Player that season—on Toronto's only championship team.
—Favale
Utah Jazz
29 of 30
C Rudy Gobert
PF Carlos Boozer
PG Deron Williams
PF Andrei Kirilenko
John Stockton and Karl Malone kept the Utah Jazz in the thick of things for much of the 1980s and 1990s, but they weren't major contributors in the 21st century. Both were done with the franchise in 2003.
Rudy Gobert is the easiest nominee. His 86.6 win shares are nearly 20 more than anyone else who's played for the team since 2000. Another defensive dynamo, Andrei Kirilenko, is a surprising No. 2 in that stat.
It's easy to forget because AK-47 left Utah in 2011, but he was among the most impactful defenders in the league for a good half-decade. He also happens to lead all Jazz players with 8,411 points this century.
Kirilenko averaged at least 2.8 blocks per game in three different seasons. Gobert, a three-time DPOY with the Jazz, never topped 2.7.
Lastly, we're throwing Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer into the final two spots. D-Will's 4,003 assists are nearly double the total of anyone else since 2000, and Boozer made a pair of All-Star games while posting the franchise's only two 20-point, 10-rebound averages since 2000.
—Hughes
Washington Wizards
30 of 30
PG Gilbert Arenas
PG John Wall
SG Bradley Beal
PF Antawn Jamison
John Wall and Bradley Beal were the cornerstones for the Washington Wizards’ most recent era of fringe-contention. They have the credentials to prove it. They make up the top two of total points and assists since 2000, and each owns a top-two spot in franchise history. Wall is the Wizards’ all-time leader in assists, while Beal ranks second in scoring, trailing only Elvin Hayes.
Gilbert Arenas’ time in the nation’s capital was peppered with controversy, injuries and a relative lack of playoff success, but he spent a large swath of time among the NBA’s most electric offensive players. Plus, Hayes and Gus Johnson are the franchise’s only other players with multiple All-NBA seasons.
Antawn Jamison grabs the fourth and final spot with relative ease. We can listen to cases for Brendan Haywood and Marcin Gortat. And yes, we’re all aware Michael Jordan wore Wizards colors for a minute in the early 2000s. But Jamison ranked fourth in scoring and first in rebounds over this span and even turned in a 14th-place finish in the MVP race during the 2007-08 campaign.
—Favale
.jpg?w=600 "New NBA Mock Draft 📝")
