Magic Johnson

Now, onto my personal opinion in this debate.

My opinion on the greatest all-around player to ever play in the NBA is Earvin "Magic" Johnson,

who came out of Michigan State and played with the Los Angeles Lakers for the entirety of the

80's. Again, when talk about all-around, I mean his ability to excel at every level of the game, which includes points, assists, rebounds, steals, mobility, leadership, play-making, creativity, determination, etc, and he was the epitome of just that. He was a 6'9" point guard, which was virtually unheard of prior to his arrival, and has acquired 5 championship rings, 3-time MVP, 9-time NBA all-first team and 12-time NBA All-Star, among many other achievements. Magic even inspired the triple-double into the stats sheet, even though Oscar Robertson is known as "Mr. Double-Double". His biggest rivalry was against the "Great" Larry Bird, who both had played against each other in the 1979 championship (Michigan St. vs. Indiana St.), and since then they both battled it out on the court all throughout the 1980's. Having Bird and other greats as competition, Magic always had to perform at the highest level night in and night out. Bird has even considered him "head-and-shoulders better than everyone else." After his 13 years in the league, he was forced to retire, due to his diagnosis of HIV, which was a very large issue in the medical field. What he did for the sport, I believe, considers him to be better than popular opinion.