About Future Hoop Legends

Future Hoop Legends aims to compare current and former NBA stars against the best that ever played the game using easily understood metrics.

Traditional statistics (points, rebounds, steals, etc.) can be useful when comparing players at the same position who played during the same era, but don't provide much help when comparing careers of players across time and position.

Legends Score

The "Legends Score" is a simple measure of individual career accomplishments using the following point system, relatively weighted based on the award's exclusivity:

  • 1 point per All-Star Selection
  • 5 points per 1st Team All-NBA Selection
  • 3 points per 2nd Team All-NBA Selection
  • 1 point per 3rd Team All-NBA Selection
  • 9 points per 1st Place regular season MVP
  • 7 points per 2nd Place regular season MVP
  • 5 points per 3rd Place regular season MVP
  • 4 points per 1st Place Defensive Player of the Year
  • 2 points per 2nd Place Defensive Player of the Year
  • 1 point per 3rd Place Defensive Player of the Year
  • 8 points per Finals MVP
  • 1 point per ABA All-Star Team Selection
  • 5 points for ABA All-Time Team

Applying this scoring system to current Hall of Famers provides a basis for evaluating active and retired players. For example, a Legends Score of 50 should put a player in the running to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

It should go without saying that the individual accomplishments that make up the Legends Score don't tell the entire story of a player's career. The Hall of Fame voters takes into account these metrics as well as additional statistics and accomplishments along with evaluations from the player's peers.

Eligibility Rules

The eligibility waiting period for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has considerably shortened over the years:

Retirement YearHall of Fame Eligible
2014-Present4 years after retirement
2011-20135 years after retirement
1950-20106 years after retirement

Using those dates allows us to create a list of NBA First Ballot Hall of Famers. The Hoop Hall's backlog of deserving players is relatively short compared to other halls of fame, which allows them to induct the majority of players as soon as they become eligible.

Massive thanks to the all-time legends at Sports Reference for the bulk of the data used on this site.

Future Hoop Legends is not affiliated with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame or the National Basketball Association.