The late Jerry West wasn’t like other legends who often praised every notable player who graced the NBA hardwood. For The Logo, the word “great” was probably the most overused term in the sports lexicon.
West believed there were layers to this game, and only a few truly deserved to be called great. In fact, while the NBA traditionally selects 15 players for its annual All-NBA team, Jerry said he would’ve just narrowed it down to the Top 5.
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“There’s a difference between an All-Star player and an all-pro player,” the Hall of Famer told Richard Jefferson in an interview. “They pick three all-pro teams today and if I would pick ’em, it would probably be only 5 [players]. I could do a second team, but I certainly couldn’t do a third team.”
What separates the great players from the good players
Ironically, for a player who was chosen to be the silhouette that became the NBA’s identity, West was famously modest about his own greatness. He never put himself on the all-time rankings and rarely boasted about his skills and qualities as a player. However, “Mr. Clutch” was humbled to recognize that he was ahead of his time.
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Despite being one of the best players of his era, West had always known that his talent and athletic abilities did not separate him from the rest. Instead, it was the relentless drive to deconstruct his own game and an obsessive passion for improvement that made him different.
“When I first started playing, I was a very modern-day athlete,” The Logo remembered. “38-inch vertical jump at that point in my life, could run, like to win, never got tired, I was gifted physically, but the thing that separates most players is this [pointed to his head] and this [pointed to his chest].”
“If you’re young, if you’re going through your life, you have to be able to kind of see things that other people don’t see, learn your weaknesses, your strengths, and it might lead you on a correct path to having success, but your mind really separates the great players, the truly great players,” he added.
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Jerry’s top all-time players
Because West wasn’t easy to impress and had even set the bar high for himself, it’s no surprise that his list of top all-time players was notably short. Through Jerry’s lens, only three legendary players made the cut.
According to West, in no particular order, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant were the only true generational talents in the sport.
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“There’s three players that would be on there right away. One of them is presently playing – LeBron James. Kobe Bryant. Michael Jordan,” West once declared when asked to name his dream lineup.
“I would pick those three players because of the uniqueness of the game today is because it is almost a positionless league,” he explained. “Those three players would fit in beautifully. All of them can play probably three positions. The greatness of them as players drives other people. They are the people that get it done when it counts most.”
Truth be told, it’s hard to question West’s takes on separating the good from the great, considering his status as arguably the greatest talent evaluator in NBA history. At the same time, it’s satisfying to discover The Logo’s criteria for determining which players are at the top of the pyramid.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.