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The penultimate edition of Yardbarker’s top 25 NBA players of the past 25 years is here.

As mentioned in previous installments (25-21, 20-16, 15-11), this list only accounts for a player’s post 2000 season career. So, while Michael Jordan is the GOAT, his Wizards swan song isn’t going to cut it. It also makes a player like Shaquille O’Neal tough to gauge, with eight of his 19 seasons ineligible for consideration.

Let’s count down players 10 through 6.

10. Dirk Nowitzki

Career Stats: 20.7 ppg; 7.5 rpg; 47/38/88 shooting splits.

Accolades: Hall of Fame; NBA Champion; MVP; Finals MVP; 12x All-NBA; 14x All-Star.

It’s exceedingly rare to play 21 seasons in the NBA. To do it for a single team is unheard of. To do it in an era where building your team around a sharp-shooter – and a European, at that – was revolutionary. Most didn’t see a star in the lanky German. The late, great Don Nelson knew what he had.

When Nelson traded Robert Traylor for Dirk (and Pat Garrity, later moved for Steve Nash), he resurrected a Mavericks franchise that had spent the 90’s as the NBA’s laughing stock. Despite a 2006 playoff failure that might have derailed some, Nowitzki rebounded to eventually claim the Mavs’ only NBA crown in 2011, providing proof-of-concept that you could win centered around a jump shooter, a notion that revolutionized the sport.

9. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Career Stats: 24.1 ppg; 9.9 rpg; 5.0 apg; 1.1 spg; 1.2 bpg.

Accolades: NBA Champion; 2x MVP; Finals MVP; 9x All-NBA; 10x All-Star; Defensive Player of the Year; 5x All-Defense.

There are lots of NBA prospects who possess something close to Giannis’ length, strength and athleticism. Yet, it’s a feverish work ethic and a relentless motor that pushed the kid from Greece to the top of the mountain.

Giannis’ new chapter in Miami will be fascinating to watch as he joins a franchise that expects contention – a level that his Bucks have failed to reach since their 2021 championship. If he wins in Miami, Giannis will move up this list.

One of the great rags-to-riches stories of any professional sport, Antetokounmpo has far outreached even the most audacious of forecasts.