NBA 75: Which players are assured a spot in the Top 75 of NBA history?

As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, the NBA will announce the 75 greatest players in league history in October, which will be voted on by a select group of players and media.

The limited number of spots will undoubtedly lead to heated debates when it comes to which players meet the necessary requirements to be considered for the exclusive list. While there are several vacancies, it is already quite full with a few no-brainers such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Who and how many players can we go ahead and consider locks? To find out, we asked 10 NBA.com Global staff members. 

The 37 unanimous picks

Our staff agreed on 37 players who should absolutely be part of the Top 75.

Who are those players, you ask? In no particular order...

There are five active names among the 37: LeBron James, Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. On the flip side, there are five players on the list who made their debut in the 1950s: Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain - with Cousy, who made his debut during the 1950-51 season, being the most experienced.

Comparing these 37 to the 50 Greatest Players announced in 1996, there are 26 overlaps and 11 new names in Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Steve Nash and Tim Duncan.

Nearly consensus 

There were seven players who just missed out on being consensus picks by receiving votes from nine of the 10 voters.

Of the seven, there were three current players in James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook. The other four were Allen Iverson, George Gervin, George Mikan and Willis Reed. Surely, the seven of them will make it to the Top 75 despite not being unanimous picks among our staff. 

Additionally, Carmelo Anthony and Ray Allen received seven out of a possible 10 votes.

Other players to receive votes

In total, there were 71 different players who received at least one vote and 56 who received at least two. 

Here's the full list of players who received at least two votes:

Once again, it's important to remember that this is a list of players our staff consider as locks to make the 75th anniversary team, so there will be many other legends in the mix. 

Some players who will almost certainly be considered: Alex English, Bob Lanier, Connie Hawkins, Dave Debusschere, David Thompson, Dolph Schayes, Gail Goodrich, Gary Payton, Hal Greer, Nate Thurmond, Pau Gasol, Reggie Miller, Tiny Archibald, Tom Heinsohn, Tony Parker, Artis Gilmore, Dave Cowens, Earl Monroe and James Worthy.

We will continue to analyze candidates for the Top 75 in the coming weeks.

The voters: Agustín Aboy, Alex Novick, Benyam Kidané, Gilbert McGregor, Juan Estévez, Kyle Irving, Leandro Fernández, Scott Rafferty, Sergio Rabinal and Yash Matange.

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