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A genuine three-level assassin, Pierce was the go-to scorer for over a decade in Boston, including their Big Three championship season. Oh, he also won Game of Zones.

18. Jason Kidd

Career stats: 25.3 ppg; 4.7 rpg; 5.3 apg; 1.4 spg; 51/36/86 shooting.

Accolades: Hall of Fame; NBA Champion; 6x All-NBA; 10x All-Star; 9x All-Defense; 5x Assist Champion.

Kidd would be much higher on this list if it encompassed his entire playing days. Alas, he was already six seasons into his Hall-of-Fame career by the time he was eligible for this list.

Third all time in both assists and steals, Kidd was the Russell Westbrook prototype. Good size, incredible speed, irresistible power, a wonderful feel for the game and – at least until his dotage – no jumper to speak of. It’s a testament to Kidd’s adaptability that he eventually added an outside shot, even connecting on 2.2 treys per game at 42.5% in 2010, his final All-Star campaign at age 36.

17. Russell Westbrook

Career stats: 20.9 ppg; 6.9 rpg; 8.0 apg; 1.6 spg.

Accolades: MVP; 9x All-NBA; 9x All-Star; 2x Scoring Champion; 3x Assist Champion.

Pour one out.

Over the course of 18 seasons, Westbrook was one of the most tenacious, athletic, fearsome and, yes, most polarizing players we’ve seen this century.

The man who ushered in the normalcy of the triple-double, Westbrook’s sheer physical might was phenomenal. He was an anomaly, in that he was a heliocentric force in a three-point era, yet was perhaps the worst volume shooter of the era. At his best, that didn’t matter. You simply couldn’t keep Westbrook away from the cup.

While that burst diminished with age, Westbrook was still an effective, if not exactly efficient, player to the end, never averaging single figures throughout his career.

16. James Harden

Career stats: 25.3 ppg; 4.7 rpg; 5.3 apg; 1.4 spg; 51/36/86 shooting.

Accolades: MVP; 8x All-NBA; 11x All-Star; Sixth Man of the Year; 3x Scoring Champion; 2x Assist Champion.

You can lament his style of play and his playoff flameouts have become notorious, but you simply cannot deny the sheer weight of numbers when it comes to The Beard.

His scoring barrages in the 2019 and 2020 seasons have become criminally underrated. Every defense knew exactly what Harden was going to do…and none of them could stop him.

Even the usually unflappable Quin Snyder, as Utah Jazz coach, was forced to resort to the gimmickiest of defenses. It still didn’t work.