The Overflow

Tom Barrasso	Ilya Kovalchuk	Adam Oates	Joe Mullen
Clint Benedict	Paul Kariya	G. Perreault	Corey Perry
Frank Brimsek	John Leclair	Jean Ratelle	Mark Recchi
Turk Broda	Brad Marchand	Henri Richard	Rob Blake
Grant Fuhr	Markus Naslund	Jeremy Roenick	G. Boucher
Charlie Gardiner	S. Schriner	Denis Savard	King Clancy
Herb Gardiner	Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Dit Clapper
Ed Giacomin	B. Shanahan	Darryl Sittler	S. Cleghorn
G. Hainsworth	Steve Shutt	Peter Stastny	Bill Gadsby
Curtis Joseph	Keith Tkachuk	Jonathan Toews	Eddie Gerard
Harry Lumley	Sid Abel	Pierre Turgeon	E. Goodfellow
Carey Price	Max Bentley	Norm Ullman	Tim Horton
Jonathan Quick	Frank Boucher	H. Zetterberg	Phil Housley
Tiny Thompson	Russell Bowie	G. Anderson	Mark Howe
Mike Vernon	Rod Brind’Amour	Hobey Baker	Ching Johnson
D. Andreychuk	Bill Cowley	Dino Ciccarelli	J. Laperierre
Jamie Benn	Alex Delvecchio	Charlie Conacher	Larry Murphy
Doug Bentley	Ryan Getzlaf	Bill Cook	Babe Pratt
Johnny Bucyk	Dale Hawerchuk	Y. Cournoyer	B.Quackenbush
Bun Cook	Dick Irvin	Jack Darragh	Borje Salming
Cy Denneny	Dave Keon	Babe Dye	Serge Savard
Bob Gainey	Pat Lafontaine	Theo Fleury	Earl Seibert
Clark Gillies	Jacques Lemaire	Mike Gartner	Jack Stewart
Michel Goulet	Mike Modano	Marian Hossa	PK Subban
Busher Jackson	J. Nieuwendyk	Jere Lehtinen	Shea Weber
Aurel Joliat	Frank Nighbor	Claude Lemieux	Sergei Zubov

*Does not include active players

Every ranking update ever (Last Women’s MMA update: 6/12/22)

The making of the list.

The Rules

If you disagree with the placement of an athlete whose prime occurred before 1975, please read The ChatGPT Cautionary Tale before commenting.

Rank	Fighter
1	Amanda Nunes
2	Cris Cyborg
3	Valentina Shevchenko
4	Zhang Weili
5	Rose Namajunas
6	Joanna Jedrzejczyk
7	Carla Esparza
8	Ronda Rousey
9	Jessica Andrade
10	Cat Zingano
11	Kayla Harrison
12	Tatiana Suarez
13	Jessica Aguillar
14	Mega Megu
15	Claudia Gadelha
16	Germaine de Randamie
17	Julianna Pena
18	Holly Holm
19	Liz Carmouche
20	Alexis Davis
21	Sarah Kaufman
22	Miesha Tate
23	Marina Rodriguez
24	Jennifer Maia
25	Raquel Pennington

It’s hard to say whether Tony Parker is underrated by every demographic, or just the one that does a surface level check before rendering a verdict. Judging by career accomplishments, it would be easy to assume that he was a fairly nondescript role player for a championship level franchise. First, it would be unfair to Parker to call him a role player. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times, and garnered MVP votes in seven different seasons. He was also a six-time all-star selection. Just from his regular season output alone, Parker has a strong case as a top-100 player of all-time. When we add in the fact that he’s one of the most decorated playoff performers in NBA history, it’s not a question of if he’s a top 100 player, but how high on the list does he go.   

Parker helped lead the San Antonio Spurs to five NBA Finals appearances, including four NBA Championships. He was the leading playoff scorer for the Spurs on the 2014 title team, and was named the Finals MVP in 2007. He is one of only three point guards since 1960 to win four NBA Championships with a career scoring average of at least 17 points. The other two are Magic Johnson and Steph Curry. He’s also one of only two point guards in history with four NBA Championships while holding at least a 49% career field goal percentage. Magic Johnson is the other. Parker has played the 6th most playoff games in NBA history, and is one of only five players to play at least 220 playoff games with a career scoring average of at least 17 points. The others are LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kobe Bryant. 

Parker’s playing style was truly one-of-a kind for point guards. He probed and broke down defenses in a way the league had never seen before and has not seen since. In truly one of the more remarkable stats in NBA history, a whopping 34.8% of Parker’s field goal attempts came from within three feet of the basket. Even more remarkable, his field goal percentage on these shots was a mind-blowing 64.8%. To put that in perspective, both of those percentages are higher than Hakeem Olajuwon’s, who just happens to be one of the top-5 centers the league has ever seen.

The number of point guards who have been the focal point of multiple NBA Championship teams–let alone four–is few and far between. The point guard position has historically not been the straw that stirs NBA dynasties. Outside of Magic Johnson and Steph Curry, it just hasn’t happened, which is a testament to how unique Tony Parker’s career was.