National Basketball Association

Top 50 NBA players from last 50 years: Elvin Hayes ranks No. 31

Updated May. 11, 2022 11:54 a.m. ET

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Editor's Note: As part of a new series for his podcast, "What’s Wright with Nick Wright," FOX Sports commentator Nick Wright is ranking the 50 best NBA players of the last 50 years. The countdown continues today with player No. 31, Elvin Hayes.

Elvin Hayes’ career highlights:

• 12-time All-Star
• Three-time first-team All-NBA, three-time second team
• Two-time All-Defensive second team
• 1969 scoring champion
• Two-time rebounding champion
• 1969 All-Rookie team
• Fourth on all-time rebounding list

Maybe it’s because he spent most of his career with the Washington Bullets. Maybe it’s because he’s overshadowed by the other great big men of his era. Maybe it’s because he didn’t win league MVP or Finals MVP. 

Whatever the case, people hardly mention Elvin Hayes when discussing the all-time greats. His résumé ensures that he is one.

"Elvin Hayes’ numbers are mind-blowing," Wright said. "The fact that young people don’t respect history is his issue."

Elvin Hayes is No. 31 on Nick Wright's Top 50 NBA Players of the Last 50 Years

Elvin Hayes averaged 21 points and 12.5 rebounds for his career and was an ironman, playing 80-plus games in each of his 16 seasons. Nick Wright also believes that Hayes was robbed of Finals MVP in 1978, one of three times he led Washington to the title round.

The 6-foot-9 power forward cemented his place in history by never coming off the court, and always producing on it. Dubbed the "Bionic Man," Hayes appeared in at least 80 games in each of his 16 seasons. Even in his last one, as a 38-year-old getting 12 minutes a night for a last-place team, he played 81 games. He missed nine games total and registered 50,000 minutes. 

That final campaign cost him a whole point and half a rebound on his exquisite career averages (21.0 and 12.5). Over his first dozen seasons, each of which garnered an All-Star nod, Hayes averaged 23.6 points, 14.2 rebounds. As a rookie with the Rockets, he led the league in scoring with 28.4 points per game while averaging 17.1 rebounds. 

He also won — a lot. Hayes led the Bullets to the 1978 title and three NBA Finals in a five-year span. The first trip came in 1975, after Washington knocked out the defending-champion Celtics. In the conference semifinals, he dropped 46 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks in Game 5 against Bob McAdoo and the Buffalo Braves. 

In 1978, Hayes averaged 23 and 16 in the conference finals to propel the Bullets past Julius Erving and the 76ers. He was Washington’s top scorer (20.7) and rebounder (11.9) in a seven-game rock fight with the SuperSonics but curiously wasn't voted MVP. The award went to fellow Hall of Famer and Bullets lifer Wes Unseld, who averaged 9.0 points and 11.7 rebounds for the series but had team highs of 15 and 9 in a narrow Game 7 win. Hayes, who fouled out after playing 30 minutes, tallied 12 points and eight rebounds. 

"This is one of the most egregious voting results in not sports history but in voting history — politics, student council, Finals MVP," Wright said.

Hayes had the Bullets back in the Finals the following season after stringing together his best playoff run yet. He caught fire against the Hawks in the first round and stayed hot through the conference finals. With Washington trailing 3-1 to the Spurs, Hayes averaged 25 and 17 over the final three games. He then put up 20 and 12 in a Finals rematch with the Sonics. 

The Big E made one more All-Star team, at age 34, and remained a productive starter through 36 before hanging on for a couple extra seasons in a reunion with the Rockets. He still ranks fourth all time in rebounds and 11th in scoring. Hayes finished top 10 in the MVP race six times and top five three times. In the playoffs, he averaged 22.9 points and 13 rebounds.

"Unbelievable longevity, unbelievable production, Wright said. "He’s gotta be somewhere on anybody’s top 40 of the last 50 years, at the very least. He gets forgotten."

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