I'm more into the NFL but I'll give it a shot
Magic Johnson- the first point forward they allowed.
Sadly, after Magic Johnson they never allowed anyone else to do it. We don't know if anyone was capable of doing it because coaches from high school up to the NBA frowned on it. They were stuck on having people who were a certain height play a certain position
The "positionless" basketball we know today, how many players did they "disavow" or relegate to a square peg round hole role instead of letting them be the player they could be?
If you were tall in the 80s & 90s early 2000s but you could shoot they wanted to you be a center and post up. The "Wing" player wasn't created until much later
LeBron- LeBron James was the final chess piece of what Magic Johnson tried to be. Magic Johnson could have been a way of instituting a new way of basketball but it didn't catch on because NBA coaches and executives along with high school and college coaches we're not willing to see the change
If you were 6'10" and could shoot they wanted your ass in the low block. If you took a 3-pointer or an 18-footer they set your ass on the bench and you were put in the coach's dog house
LeBron not only made point forward a thing, but he gave opportunities to people who were big and athletic. He essentially finished what Magic Johnson started. LeBron James brought on what is now the position-less NBA.
Dr. J. - before Dr. J. the NBA was boring as fuck. Had the NBA not merge with the ABA there is no way the NBA would stand as it currently does. Dr. J and other ABA players along with George Gervin ushered in a more crowd friendly style of basketball
The style, Grace finesse and flashing play, this is the reason why the NBA is as popular as it is now and that is largely because of doctor J and other ABA players bringing the excitement to the game from the tight white coaches
Steph Curry - before Steph Curry you better not shoot a shot more than a foot outside of the three-point line. The three-point line was the boundary to shoot 3-pointers. That was it, it Curry made it THE MINIMUM. Before Curry, a long 3 pointer, whether you made it or not, was a way of ending up on the end of the bench.
Yes, a 23' 9" shot is the minimum to shoot a 3, but with Curry, anywhere after half court he HAS to be guarded or he will toss one up...and make it more than half the time!
Curry made you guard him past the half-court line and that was a game changer in the NBA. From high school to college to the NBA there are players who chuck it up from far beyond the 3-point line and that is solely because of Steph Curry's prowess
Jordan and Kobe - you can't mention the NBA of the last 50 years and not mention these two players. They were as competitive and as ruthless as the NBA has ever seen.
Though Kobe was more human (the bullshit Colorado rape case transformed him into a more human player, and though he maintained the killer Instinct, he built relationships that he hadn't bothered to do beforehand),Both of them had the refuse to lose mentality. They hated to lose so much that it physically ailed them.
They are two of the most competitive players in NBA history. People remember them and their likeness and in many ways they all are the same player. Height and weight they are damn near identical. The NBA as we know it today could not have existed without these two immense competitors
