5 Greatest team leaders in NBA history

Chris Paul’s leadership is a hot topic in basketball circles after leading the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals and taking Game 1 from the Milwaukee Bucks. Afterwards, teammate Devin Booker was quoted as saying that Paul was the “greatest leader to play this game.”

But is he correct? If not, will CP3 crack the top five greatest all-time leaders in NBA history?

Great NBA players who are great leaders

Not every great NBA player is a great leader but the greatest leaders are winners. Leadership expert John Maxwell defined leadership in this way:

"Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."

To rank the five greatest leaders in the NBA, we’ll have to look at the influence they had on their teams and what happened when they played on the roster that was handed to them. It’s difficult to place Chris Paul at the top of the leadership pole without winning a championship.

With that said, here are our five greatest leaders in NBA history.

#5 Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan #21 Marco Belinelli #3 after Belinelli made the game winning shot.

Given his personal performance and how many times he was able to lead his team to a championship from his younger days to his twilight years, Tim Duncan is among the greatest leaders in the NBA.

The San Antonio Spurs forward learned from David Robinson, who handed Duncan the leadership baton even though the Spurs were still technically his team. Robinson recognized Duncan as being better than him and gave him an example to follow in the years to come.

Later, Duncan formed a bond with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and let them outshine him when injuries and Father Time had caught up to him. All three of them also let Kawhi Leonard slowly transition into The Man in San Antonio, albeit briefly, when all three of them were already close to retirement.

The result? There were five championships in 19 years with the Spurs, forming a dynasty that spanned 15 years (1999 to 2014). In the end, San Antonio never missed the postseason throughout Duncan’s career.

#4 LeBron James

LeBron James #6 celebrates on the bench.

Anywhere that LeBron James goes, the teams that he joined would win more games than the season before and the teams he left ended up missing the playoffs. James knows how to win and how to squeeze everything out of the roster that he’s presented for them to compete for a championship.

Without another All-Star on the roster as a teammate, King James brought down the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference in six games during the 2006-07 season before getting swept by the Spurs in the Finals.

Additionally, that Cavs team is considered by many as one of the weakest teams to make it to the championship round, but there they were because of the leadership abilities of a 22-year-old.

He was in the NBA Finals for eight straight years (2011 to 2018) despite playing for two different teams, the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, and winning three rings along the way.

Last year, after winning the title with the LA Lakers, James became the first player in league history to win an NBA Finals MVP for three different franchises and to lead each one to a championship. His four Finals MVPs are second only to Michael Jordan’s six, winning the last one at 34 years old yet still able to lead a team to a title.

#3 Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls celebrate [Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images]

One of the greatest winners and leaders in NBA history is six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan. It may seem controversial to some people to consider Jordan a great leader when he burned bridges with teammates, got into fistfights with them and said demeaning things to those who failed to live up to his standards.

Those aren’t traits of great leaders from any industry. Then again, his Airness was able to get everybody in line and follow him.

During scrimmage, he challenged and goaded every teammate to play with aggression as if it was a regular season or playoff game. His reasoning was that if the intensity at practice was higher than in games, then everyone would have an easier time playing in pressure situations.

Golden State Warriors coach and former Jordan teammate Steve Kerr said he thanks the Chicago Bulls legend as often as possible for the championships and for the opportunities he has because of them.

Dennis Rodman, a hated opponent from his Detroit Pistons days, went to the Bulls and became a valuable teammate and Jordan was able to get him to follow him. To this day, Rodman respects His Airness and considers him the greatest NBA player ever.

#2 Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson vs. Michael Jordan [Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images]

The greatest winner in LA Lakers history is Magic Johnson and he’s also one of the greatest leaders in NBA history. Magic was the player who turned the Lakers into “Showtime'' and led them to five championships in the 1980s. Though Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the leader of the team early on, it became Johnson’s team pretty soon.

The Lakers’ devastating fastbreak was perhaps the most feared offensive “play” in the 1980s as there was no stopping L.A.’s attack once Johnson had the ball in the middle of the floor going coast-to-coast with James Worthy and Byron Scott on the wings with A.C. Green and Abdul-Jabbar trailing.

Many all-time great teams challenged the Lakers for the title, such as Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, Dr. J’s Philadelphia 76ers and Isiah Thomas’ Detroit Pistons. Magic’s titles are all the more impressive because his Lakers squad beat every one of these teams at their peak. That’s a testament, not just to Johnson’s competitiveness and talent. It’s also a testament to his leadership.

#1 Bill Rusell

Bill Russell celebrates with Red Auerbach [Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images]

The greatest winner in all of team sports is also the greatest leader in NBA history. Bill Russell won 11 championships in 13 years. No one has come close to this achievement and no one will likely surpass it. The Boston Celtics great wasn’t concerned with winning individual awards. All he cared about was winning titles which weren’t tainted by people’s opinions of his game.

In the process of winning 11 titles including eight straight, another achievement that will likely never be surpassed, Russell won individual awards, nonetheless. He won five MVPs and 11 All-NBA selections and was named to 12 All-Star Teams during his career.

During the last three years of his Celtics’ career, Russell took over from legendary coach Red Auerbach and became player-coach for three seasons. The result? Two NBA championships in three years, including back-to-back titles, as he rode off into the sunset with his final championship in hand.

Moreover, Russell was a leader off the court. He supported Muhammad Ali at the “Cleveland Summit” for refusing to be drafted into the Army, and was in Jackson, Mississippi after activist Medgar Evers was assassinated for running a basketball clinic.

Russell lived and breathed leadership and that’s what makes him the greatest leader in NBA history.

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