Get your pitchforks and torches ready, because I’m about to piss you off! I’m going to try not to hurt you too bad, but when it comes to the greatest players in the NBA who really knows who the best are, let alone the greatest. This top five list will look to continue the conversation of who is the best. With that little disclaimer out of the way, here are Crave Online’s top 5 NBA players of all time.

5. George Mikan

George Mikan never gets the credit he deserves as an NBA player. Likely the first ever big man, if it wasn’t for Mikan then the NBA would a totally different league. Mikan makes the list simply because he helped define the nature of the game. If it wasn’t for George Mikan we wouldn’t have the shot clock and the lane wouldn’t be a wide. No other player has managed to actually change the very rules the NBA is based on, at least not to the great effect that George Mikan had.

Mikan was also a driving force off the court after his playing days were over. He helped form the ABA and was the league’s commissioner for a time. He also helped found the Minnesota Timberwolves where a statue of him graces the entrance to the arena where the T-Wolves play.

George Mikan literally changed basketball forever, a claim that few NBA players can make.