

She was MVP three times (2001, 2004, 2006) and is the league's all-time leader in rebounds. At USC, she was college Player of the Year in 1994.īesides her four Olympic gold medals, she led the Sparks to WNBA championships in 20. International medals: Olympics (gold, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996) World Championships (gold, 2002, 1998) World University Games (gold, 1991).Ĭareer recap: The 6-5 Leslie was able to dunk a basketball by her sophomore year of high school and once scored 101 points in game.
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She was the WNBA's Most Valuable Player in 2011 and led the Fever to their only league championship in 2012.Ĭase for: No one else has ever been as productive in so many ways over so many years.Ĭase against: As great as she has been, she has been MVP only once.īorn: July 7, 1972, Gardena, Calif. She is the only player ever to finish a season in the top 10 of all five categories, and she has done so twice. International medals: Olympics (gold, 2012, 2008, 2004) World Championships (gold, 2010, 2002 bronze, 2006).Ĭareer recap: Catchings is the only player in WNBA history to rank in the all-time top 10 in points (fourth), rebounds (fourth), assists (eighth) and steals (first). "Blaze would be a modern-day (Diana) Taurasi, in terms of being able to shoot from anywhere on the floor," Krauskopf said.Ĭase for: There hasn't been a scorer like her since she retired.Ĭase against: Quality of opposition was poor, by 21st-century standards.īorn: July 21, 1979, Stratford, N.J. In the 1980-81 season of the Women's Basketball League, she was MVP and the league's top scorer (29.6 ppg) for the New Jersey Gems. boycott deprived Blazejowski of an Olympic stage in 1980. She averaged 18.7 points a game in the tournament. On the international stage, she led Team USA to a world championship in 1979, ending a 22-year drought. She averaged 38.6 points a game that season and was college Player of the Year, leading Montclair State to the AIAW Final Four. On March 6, 1978, she set a Madison Square Garden record by scoring 52 points in Montclair State's 102-91 victory over Queens College (before there was a 3-point line). International medals: World Championships (gold, 1979) Pan American Games (silver, 1979) World University Games (gold, 19).Ĭareer recap: "Blaze" embodied "Showtime" a few years before Magic Johnson.
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1: Breanna Stewart, 19, University of Connecticut Maya Moore, 25, Minnesota Lynx, and Candace Parker, 28, Los Angeles Sparks.Īlthough no formal poll was conducted, the list was assembled with the help of Krauskopf, TV analyst Debbie Antonelli and columnist Mechelle Voepel.īorn: Sept.

Three players early in their careers weren't considered for the top 10 but could end up becoming No. Five are in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Carol Blazejowski, Cynthia Cooper, Ann Meyers, Cheryl Miller and Lynette Woodard. Moreover, Catchings has won championships at every level: high school, college, WNBA and Olympics.įollowing is a list of 10 players, including a case for and against each as being the best ever. "Absolutely, she's one of the best players to ever play the game," Krauskopf said. While in high school, Catchings had the only verified quintuple-double in basketball history: 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals, 10 blocks in a 1997 game.

Fever forward Tamika Catchings was elected a starter for the Eastern Conference, as she has in every year in which there has been the game.Ĭatchings might not come to mind as the best ever, but she is a "stat-stuffer" along the lines of LeBron James, as Krauskopf put it. The 18-year-old WNBA will showcase its best in Saturday's All-Star Game at Phoenix. You can't say there's one player because that's how good the game is, and that's how much it's evolved over the years," said Kelly Krauskopf, president and general manager of the Indiana Fever. Not because there aren't candidates, but because it's a list that can't easily be pared. That might be a more difficult conversation. or Kareem? Wilt or Russell? What about LeBron? It's easy to ignite discussion in a bar or chat room on who's the greatest male basketball player of all time.
