The National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball is one of the most followed sports all over the world.
The NBA has evolved perhaps more than any other major sports league in terms of its revenues.
In the 2010s, some players performance in the NBA championship for their respectively clubs can not be overlooked.
Here is a shortlist of the players and their records in no particular order.
Stephen Curry
The 31-year old American made his NBA debut in 2009, and currently plays for the Golden State Warriors.
He was the NBA's most elite 3-point shooter in this past decade.
A six times NBA All-star.
He was named the NBA most valuable player twice, and won three NBA championships with the warriors.
Other honours
3-times All NBA first team (2015, 2016 and 2019)
NBA Sportsmanship Award (2011)
NBA All Rookie first team (2010)
AP Athlete of the year (2015)
He has won 2 FIBA World Cup with the USA basketball team in 2010 and 2014.
LeBron James
The 35-year old USA superstar, ply his basketball trade for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA.
He has been regarded as one of the greatest basketball player of all time, leading to comparisons to Michael Jordan.
Honours
3 - NBA championships titles
4 - NBA MVP awards
3 - NBA finals MVP awards
2 - Olympic gold medals
LeBron's team appeared in 8 consecutive NBA finals (2011 - 2018 season).
He leads the record for all time NBA play offs points scored.
He is third in all-time NBA points scored, and 8 in all-time NBA assists.
He was selected to the All NBA first team for a record twelve times, All defensive first team five times, played in sixteen NBA all star games and All-star MVP three times.
USA - Basketball male Athlete of the year (2012) and sports illustrated sportsperson of the year.
Teams he played for in the NBA
Cleveland cavaliers twice (2003 to 2010 and 2014 - 2018)
Miami Heat (2010- 2014)
Los Angeles Lakers (2018 till date).
James Harden
The 30-year old shooting guard made his NBA debut for Oklahoma city thunder in 2009, but he plays for Houston Rockets presently.
He won Olympic gold medal and FIBA World Cup with USA in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
Honours
2-times NBA scoring champion (2018 and 2019)
5 times: All NBA first team (2014, 2015 and 2017 - 2019).
8-times NBA All-star (2013 - 2020)
NBA Assists leader (2017)
NBA sixth man of the year KIA MVP (2012)
He recorded the most 50 points games this decade 18 in the process.
Kevin Durant
The 31-year old American professional Basketball player currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA.
He played for nine seasons with Oklahoma city Thunder before joining the Golden State Warriors in 2016, and later left in 2019.
Honours
He won 2 NBA championship titles (2017 and 2018)
2 NBA finals MVP (2017 and 2018)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2014)
10-times NBA All star (2010 - 2019)
2-times NBA All-star game MVP (2012 and 2019)
6-times All NBA first team (2010--2014,& 2018)
2-times: USA Basketball Male Athlete of the year (2010 and 2016)
2 Olympics gold medals (2012 and 2016)
He also won the 2010 FIBA World Cup with USA.
4 times NBA scoring champion (2010 - 2012 2014), and other honours.
Kobe Bryant
The Basketball icon in the NBA died in an helicopter crash at the age of 41 years.
His father Jelly Bean Bryant played 8 seasons in the NBA.
Kobe played for 20 seasons in the NBA with Los Angeles Lakers (1996 - 2016)
Honours
He won 5 NBA championship titles (2000 - 2002, 2009 and 2010).
NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (2009 and 2010)
He won Olympic Gold medals with USA in 2008 and 2010 - Beijing and London Olympics respectively.
NBA regular season MVP in 2007 - 08 season and a record-tying four times NBA All-star game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011).
NBA All star 18 times (1998 and 2000 - 2016)
Two-times NBA scoring champion (2006 and 2007)
On January 22 2006, he scored a career high 81 pionts in LA Lakers 122 - 104 victory over the Toronto Raptors, second most points in a game in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain 100points
He scored 33,643 points, grabbed 7,047 rebounds and passed off 6,303 assists in over 1,346 career NBA games.
In 2016, he became the oldest player in NBA history to scored 60 points at 37 years and 234 days n Lakers 101 - 96 victory over the Utah jazz.
In 2018, his movie titled "Dear Basketball" won the Academy Award for best Animated short films.
Kawhi Leonard
He is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference of the NBA.
The small forward played for San Antonio Spurs (2011 - 2018), Toronto Raptors (2018 - 2019) with which he won the NBA title before moving to Los Angeles Clippers.
Honours
2-times NBA Champion (2014 and 2019)
2-times NBA finals MVP (2014 and 2019)
4-times NBA All-star (2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020)
2-times All NBA first team (2016 and 2017).
Chris Paul
He currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA, the point guard basketball player played for New Orleans Hornets from 2005 to 2011, Los Angeles Clippers (2011 - 2017), Houston Rockets (2017 - 2019) before joining Oklahoma City Thunder
Honours
10--times NBA All-star (2008 - 2016 and 2020)
NBA All-star game MVP (2013)
4-times All NBA first team (2008, 2012 to 2014).
4-times NBA assists leader (2008,2009,2014 & 2015).
He won Olympics gold with USA in 2008 and 2012 respectively, and FIBA World Cup bronze in 2006.
Carmelo Anthony
The 36-year old American basketballer plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA presently.
The power forward has represented 5 different clubs - Denver Nuggets (2003 - 2011), New York Knicks (2011 - 2017), Oklahoma City Thunder (2017 - 2018), Houston Rockets (2018 - 2019) and Portland Trail Blazers (2019 till date) all in the NBA.
Honours
10-times NBA All-star (2007, 2008, 2010 - 2017)
2-times All NBA second team (2010 and 2013)
2-times USA Basketball Male Athlete of the year (2006 & 2016)
3-times Olympic Games gold medals winner (2008, 2012 and 2016)
He also won Olympic Games bronze medal (Athens 2004), World Championship bronze (Japan 2006), and Americas Championship gold in Las Vegas (2007).
Will the next gen do better in the NBA in this decade?
Fabiyi Ridwan
Sports Writer and Analyst
