Of all the GOAT sports discussions, none are as interesting or as hotly debated as the greatest basketball (i.e., NBA) players of all time. And that is because of the added criterion of the number of championships won since a truly great NBA player should be able to drag his team to a championship at least once in a typical 15 year career. Therefore, here is the criterion I came up with and use: Which player, say, in a healthy 15 year career and surrounded by a decent amount of talent throughout his career -- identical to any player that you are comparing him with -- would win the most championships? Assume that he had at least one great or 2 very good players throughout most of his career, which I think is typical for most NBA players. I realize this criterion is speculative and that they are criteria that you should also use, but it gets to the heart of the matter as to what the standard should be in team GOAT discussions. If you could magically envision several sets of teammates for each player’s career then this criterion would give you the answer to the NBA Goat question. Sadly, this is not possible so we will continue to guess, debate, argue, and pretend that our answer is without a doubt the correct one.