Clyde Drexler Talks Potential NBA 75 Snubs, Why Damian Lillard Deserves to Be on the List

Clyde Drexler knows there’s going to be a snub or two this time around that really stings. When the spots are limited exclusions are inevitable.

“There’s a lot of guys who are deserving to be on that list, man,” says the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. “Like I said, it’s a very hard choice, but you only get 75 so you gotta make it count. Whoever is snubbed it’s only because there’s so many qualified applicants.”

He’s talking, of course, about the NBA 75, the highly anticipated and updated list of the Association’s greatest players that will finally be unveiled this week. The league last took a stab at identifying its legends in 1996, albeit just 50 of them to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Drexler was obviously on the last list and will absolutely be on the the updated one. He’s interested to see if some of the players he loved watching and respected playing against—like Bernard King and Adrian Dantley, Google ‘em kids—will ultimately make it. Or whether the best Blazer since Drexler suited up for Portland during the 80s and early 90s—that would be Damian Lillard—makes the cut. Most especially, Drexler’s happy an injustice will be remedied this time around after Dominique Wilkins, egregiously and ridiculously, was left off the top 50 25 years ago.

“That was an obvious snub and it should’ve never happened,” says Drexler. “He’s one of the top 5 best small forwards to ever play the game. How are going to leave him off the top 50 list?”

Drexler, now 59 but a fan of the league since he was a little kid, has the perfect perspective to truly assess the old school legends versus the modern day stars. So he’s appropriately serving as an ambassador of the NBA 75 along with Magic Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Bob Pettit, and Oscar Robertson. That means you’ll see Drexler and others talking about the list as the league unveils segments of the 75th anniversary team during special editions of TNT’s NBA Tip-Off and ESPN’s NBA Today starting Tuesday. Late last week, we chatted up the Blazers and Rockets legend—who made 10 All-Star teams, was a five-time All-NBA player, and won a title in Houston in 1995—about how he voted and tried to get him to reveal who deserves to be included on the list, plus some some other debatable NBA topics.

“I’m just happy to be part of the process,” says Drexler. “Happy to have been blessed to be a part of the NBA, which I loved so much as a kid, and still a fan of to this day. I think I’ve always been more fan than player.”

As you’ll read, Drexler isn’t kidding.

(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Do you know all the names on the list?

I do not.

I was curious if they gave you some insider access. Good to know. Next question: Did you get a vote?

I did get a vote, yes.

Everyone who had a vote seems to have their own process of identifying the 75 best players in NBA history. How did you go about the process?

I grew up loving the NBA. So I’ve been a fan since the mid-60s. I have a long span, almost 50 years of watching the NBA. The guys I watched were truly phenomenal, but I also have a lot of respect for the guys who played before that era. When you dominate in your era, and the numbers show that, you have to give those guys full credit. You don’t want to leave anyone off who’s deserving, but it’s a tough process because there’s so many great players. You love ‘em all, but if you’re a fan how can you leave a Bob McAdoo off? I loved watching Bob play. Dave DeBusschere. Those guys were great players. But there’s so many of them. You have to make a decision at the end of the day and it’s never easy.

Who were the guys that you really struggled to fit onto your list?

I can’t…cut it out. Just quit it.

Gimme a little something. So I’ll ask you this: Are you more a numbers guy or eye test kind of guy when it comes to judging?

A little bit of both. Numbers have to be there. That lets you know they were present night-in, night-out. You can’t get 31 one game and then 2 the next. You gotta have numbers, right? Then leadership is the second part of my deal. Did you lead your team to victory, were you winning more games than you lost because anybody can put up good numbers on a bad team. The guys who did that got really bad ratings because they couldn’t propel their team to win. So if your numbers are real they should translate into winning. So leadership was a big part of it: did you win, did you help your teammates, did you make them better? The third part of it was did you have longevity? Did you command the double-team? Did you get that top defender every night and still produce or were you a third-tier guy who never got the best defender but you put up ok numbers? Those are the things that I look at because that’s what’s real. The guy who got the double-team every night—team’s game-planned but he still has great numbers—that guy’s on my list.

Is Dominique Wilkins on your list?

Oh absolutely.

I’m just checking because the last time the NBA did one of these lists Dominique didn’t make it.

He was one of those guys who got the best defender every night, teams game-planned to stop him and he still gave you 35, 40 in our era. You know how hard that is to do night-in, night-out?

How crazy was it at the time to see Dominique left off the list when it came out since he was the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history in 1996?

That was an obvious snub and it should’ve never happened. He’s one of the top 5 best small forwards to ever play the game. How are going to leave him off the top 50 list? It’s unbelievable. But whoever did that I’m sure they had good reasons for it, but as a purist of the game, who only looks at the integrity of the game, there’s no way he’s not on that list. Dominique Wilkins was legit, you couldn’t stop the guy, and he was consistently over .500. And in the East it was tough. You had Philly and Boston, powerhouses during that time. But they were right there with them, giving them all the trouble they could. If Dominque had played with Magic and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and Byron Scott and Kurt Rambis how good would he have been? How many championships would he have had? A ton. It wouldn’t have been fair. Also guys like Dominique, if he had a supporting cast he would’ve played toward winning, he was always a winner. But if he didn’t, he could still put up numbers and make it team competitive. But at the end of the day when you’re the eighth-leading scorer in the era of physical hand-checking and teams coming after you, doubling you night-in, night-out, that says tons about your skill level.

Who are you most worried about being snubbed on this list?

Well, there’s so many guys who are deserving. It’s like are you kidding me? Bernard King had a great run in the NBA. When you look at the total body of work you go, ‘Is he worth it? Should he be on it?’ I loved Bernard King coming up. Guys like Adrian Dantley, Kiki Vandeweghe, those guys were some of the best scores in the league for quite some time. And nobody ever talks about it. Guys like Ronaldo Blackman and Mark Aguirre, look at the carers they had. Unbelievable. There’s a lot of guys who are deserving to be on that list, man. Like I said, it’s a very hard choice, but you only get 75 so you gotta make it count. Whoever is snubbed it’s only because there’s so many qualified applicants.

We know LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and even James Harden should be on this list. What other current players do you expect to see make it?

Those guys are sure. [Laughs] I think you can throw Kawhi [Leonard] on there. Giannis Antetokounmpo you can throw him on there. There are a few guys on the bubble. Kyrie [Irving], how can you leave him off? [Damian] Lillard, how can you leave him off?

I was going to bring up Dame. I saw some ballots, that have been made public, had him on there. Is Lillard—somebody who has a great resume but not quite the winning aspect of others guys—somebody that definitely he deserves to be a top 75 player?

Absolutely. I think so. So does Chris Paul. He should be high up there. He’s unbelievable. There are a lot of guys worth. Fans like to go by championships. There are a couple of guys who have two or three championships, but they never really played. Credit to them, but there are some great players who played, who were the meat and potatoes of their team, and they didn’t win a championship. But this is a team game—it’s not tennis, it’s not golf. Championships should be thought about but you also have to look at during our era we couldn’t say, ‘Hey, I’m going to play with the Lakers. You know why? Because I want to win a ring.’ I’m here in Portland, they drafted me, I’m stuck there. If they don’t bring talent around me, it’s too late, too little. There’s nothing you can do. But if I don’t go to Houston, I don’t get a ring. It’s totally not fair. You gotta look at it from that perspective.

Want to ask you were it ranks, amongst your many accomplishments, being named to the top 50 team?

Ninety-seven in Cleveland was a tremendous deal. You know why? I got to meet the Big Dipper, Wilt Chamberlain, for the first time. We he had a whole hour conversation. To be part of that team was special. Lot of just legends of the game. If you grew up loving and watching the game like I did, I was like a kid in the candy store. You can imagine. That was my 14th year in the league so I was old enough where you can appreciate it and enjoy it and put it in the right perspective. So that was a great moment in time. The NBA just does things the right way all the time. And back in Cleveland for the 75th anniversary, it doesn’t get any better if you’re a hoops fan.

What other recollections do you have of being on the court with all those living legends?

Being next to Jerry West and Clyde Frazier. Next to Julius [Irving] and Ice [George Gervin], guys you crew up watching, but who are also friends at the time. Karl [Malone] and Charles [Barkley]. [James] Worthy and Kareem and Magic, guys who played against and fought against. Hakeem [Olajuwon], my brother. It was just a phenomenal time. Shaq was on that team. Pip [Scottie Pippen]. When you celebrate the icons of the game and you’re there, it’s a surreal feeling. And you know these guys sacrificed a large part of their lives to develop that skill level that made them a legend. So you appreciate the work that they put in it and you appreciate the men that they are. So that’s what’s it’s all about to me. Who put in the work and who got the results?

You personally, I want you to rank these accomplishments: Dream Team, NBA title, top 50 player.

That’s like having three kids.

I’m trying to ask the hard hittin’ questions here, Clyde. So rank ‘em for me.

You know me. That’s like having three kids. Which one do you love the best? I love them all equally because they all signify what you intended to do: to be the best that you can be. When you get those kinds of honors and accolades it’s a tremendous honor and a blessing. For a guy like me being the biggest [NBA] fan, come on.

Incredibly diplomatic answer. You should be a politician. I’m going to ask you one more hard hittin’ question and you have to answer. Now you don’t have to rank ‘em, but can you give me your NBA Mt. Rushmore.

[Laughs] You know me, here’s what I will tell you. I don’t know if you can say somebody was better than somebody else. You know what I’m saying?

Fans and the media, we do that all the time.

And I disagree with that. Who was ever better than Wilt Chamberlain? Who was better than Julius Irving? Who was better than Larry Bird? Who was better than Magic Johnson? I’d be hard pressed to say somebody’s better. People can have opinions, but I don’t think you can say somebody’s better. Anybody in the top 75 will light you up on any given day. On both ends of the court. So you can’t say somebody’s better.

My Mt. Rushmore would be, in no particular order, MJ, LeBron, Kareem, and Wilt.

I’ve got so many friends, how can I leave someone off?

This is strictly business.

But they’re all good. So here’s what I will tell you: If you had to pick one player at the age of 21 to start your franchise you mean to tell me you wouldn’t pick Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell or Kareem? I don’t care what era. Nobody else is even close. Who else? Then you get to the players like Jordan, Oscar, Bird, Magic. But those guys are titans. You start your franchise with those big guys. That’s just me because every year they’re going to be in the run for the championship no matter who they’re playing with.