NBA Players Ignore History, Give Atrocious Responses In GOAT Survey

"The Athletic" conducted its annual anonymous survey of current NBA players, asking them who they think the league's greatest player is. 

Their answers were absolutely atrocious.

Each year, the news outlet interviews as many players as it can and grants them anonymity to answer a variety of questions. This year they got 142 to respond. One of the topics of discussion was who these players believed is the greatest player in the history of the sport.

The surveyors got 133 answers to that particular question, and while the majority of people did say that Michael Jordan was the GOAT (the correct choice), the rest of the responses were, well, you'll see.

Nearly 46% of participants said that Jordan is the best basketball player ever. Only slightly behind him was LeBron James at 42.1%, and the rest of the answer just didn’t make any sense.

The top two answers aren’t that big of a deal. Jordan and James are pretty much always going to be No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in any GOAT. debate and there isn’t anything that either player can do to change that. I think the disparity in votes between the guys should've been higher, but at that point, you’re splitting hairs.

I cannot, however, condone the rest of the list, which shows a complete lack of awareness for the legends of decades past.

Bryant should have gotten far more votes than he did, frankly, at James’ expense. LeBron only has one less title than Bryant and is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, but the Black Mamba’s mamba’s ability to deliver in the clutch is something that separates him from James.

With all due respect to Curry, he does not belong on this list, not yet. Is he a great shooter? Yes, the best ever, actually. But being the best shooter ever does not mean you’re the best all-around player who has accomplished enough to be considered the GOA.T (four championships aside).

Paul Pierce (34) was a good player, but he does not deserve to be considered the game's greatest.  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

And the Paul Pierce support has to be a joke. We’re talking about a guy who won one title and wasn’t even the best player of his generation. Why would anyone think that he’s worthy of being considered the best ever?

As if all of that stupidity weren’t enough, it snubbed Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, and Larry Bird, all of whom should have gotten support over most of the names on this list. If that doesn’t reveal a lot of recency bias, I don’t know what does.

Kids these days. They just don’t understand the history of the game.