The Top 100 Best Defensive Players in the NBA for ChatGPT

Juan López | Tue, 02/18/2025 - 09:13

Michael Jordan, in a recreation of Grok.

Today we bring you a list of particularly interesting players, not because they are original, but because they are different. We present to you the 100 best defensive players in NBA history, not for Blogdebasket, but for ChatGPT.

The first thing to note is that it's not surprising that the top 3 on the list are the most iconic players from the 90s, a decade known for physicality and a huge increase in defenses, leading to such low scores that prompted the league to change rules to favor offenses, resulting in the current madness of monstrously high scores.

They consider Michael Jordan the best ahead of Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. It's incredible to think that 3 of the top 4 defenders of all time were on the same team, and that the best offensive player of all time is also the best defender.

MJ's ranking is impressive, but to claim that a shooting guard had a greater defensive impact on the league than big men is quite bold. No list by professional experts places him in the top 5, and almost none in the top 10. Men like Bill Russell (MVP from defense multiple times), Hakeem Olajuwon or Dikembe Mutombo always rank higher. Also making it to the top 15 is Kobe Bryant, who indeed defended with great intensity, but we can never consider him one of the best in history in this specific aspect.

Enjoy the list and draw your own conclusions:

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYERS IN NBA HISTORY