"We're talking about Top 3 if you played against Mamba" - Dwyane Wade explains why Bleacher Report's Top 100 list shouldn't be taken seriously

Yahoo

5 hours ago

"We're talking about Top 3 if you played against Mamba" - Dwyane Wade explains why Bleacher Report's Top 100 list shouldn't be taken seriously originally appeared on Basketball Network.
It's been a week or so since the Bleacher Report released its latest Top 100 NBA players of all-time list. Talking heads are still debating about where certain players should've been ranked on that list. Some want a few names to move up. Others think certain names have to be ranked lower.
Meanwhile, Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade says he does not understand why there is such a fuss over one basketball article written by people who never played the game at the NBA level.
"I don't care about that stuff," said Wade, reacting to Bleacher Report ranking him No. 23 overall in its latest list. "It literally means nothing. I've gotten everything out of this game, and I'm still eating out of this game. That's just someone's opinion that's never played the game at our level. So you can't put nothing on it."
Wade says Kobe is Top 3 all-time
Published over a week ago, the B/R's latest Top 100 list was voted upon by the publication's own "legion of experts", who used stats, awards, playoffs, championships, cultural impact and overall greatness as their metrics. Right off the bat, there was controversy.
According to the article, Michael Jordan edged LeBron James for the No.1 spot by the slimmest of margins - just one vote. To many, that's ridiculous because, as great as LeBron has been, most former and current NBA players don't think he's in the same stratosphere as MJ, even if he's No.2.
But the bigger debate on the list was B/R putting Steph Curry at No.10, one ahead of the late Lakers great Kobe Bryant, who was at No.11. Wade says this is crap, but it's also the reason why none of us should take the list seriously.
"If you want to ask us hoopers who played against Kobe, we're talking, all of us are talking Top 3. We're talking about Top 3 if you played against Mamba. But for someone's opinion that's never played against Kobe, that's never played the game of basketball at the level we played at, have him at #11, why am I up in arms about something like that?" he added.Broussard says he isn't ready to put Steph ahead of Kobe
The latest NBA talking head to react to the list is Fox Sports' Chris Broussard, who, during the Tuesday episode of "First Things First", argued that there is no way that he's putting Curry ahead of Bryant in any all-time list.
"With all due respect to Steph, I'm not ready to put him ahead of Kobe. One of the biggest reasons is the defense. Kobe was obviously a very good defender, and made All-Defensive team several times. Steph, that's a weakness of his game. A lot of players who played with Kobe have him in the GOAT conversation. Neither myself, nor Nick does, but they have him in the GOAT conversation because he was such a killer. And Steph is too, but in a different way," explained Broussard.
Well, Brou had a valid argument there. However, as Wade discussed, it's just their list, not yours and not mine. Different people could have different lists. But at the end of the day, one's peers' opinions matter most because they're the ones who saw that player firsthand.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.