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#7 Nate Thurmond- 13,191 Points
In these days of small ball, it is rare to witness a dominating center who simply cannot be stopped. However in the late 1960s, such centers were in vogue as the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, Lew Alcindor (later to be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Russell dominated the NBA. Another such player was Nate Thurmond, a classic center who was vital to the Warriors.
Thurmond’s first season in the NBA came as a backup to the great Wilt Chamberlain (who makes an appearance later in these rankings). However, from the moment that Wilt left San Francisco for Philadelphia Thurmond transformed into an absolute beast.
His strongest suit was his rebounding: he averaged more than 16 rebounds for eight of the nine seasons between 1965 and 1974.
However, that doesn’t mean that Thurmond wasn’t a great scorer (otherwise he wouldn’t be on this list), he regularly put up double-doubles, also averaging more than 20 points for five seasons between 1968 and 1973.
Imagine if he played right now, would he get outplayed by small-ball lineups or would he instead dominate makeshift “centers” like Draymond Green or PJ Tucker. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
Guess the Lakers players!
