National Basketball Association

Top 50 NBA players from last 50 years: Julius Erving ranks No. 11

Updated Jun. 27, 2022 3:36 p.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. 11, Julius Erving.

Julius Erving's career highlights:

• Two-time ABA Playoffs MVP
• Three-time ABA MVP
• 1981 NBA MVP
• 16-time All-Star
• Five-time first-team All-NBA, two-time second team
• Four-time first-team All-ABA, one-time second team
• Three-time ABA scoring champion
• One-time ABA All-Defensive first team
• 1972 ABA All-Rookie team
• Eighth on all-time scoring list (NBA/ABA)

Say the name "Julius Erving" and a flood of images come to mind. The dunks, the afro, the flair. "Dr. J" is as iconic of a nickname as there is in sports.  

Over time, his inimitable style has perhaps overshadowed his outstanding substance. 

"The idea that Dr. J is one of the greats but not one of the greatest, I reject it out of hand," Wright said. "You can’t dismiss what he did in the ABA."

Julius Erving is No. 11 on Nick Wright's Top 50 Players of the Last 50 Years

Known to many by his nicknames "Dr. J" and "The Doctor," Julius Erving was among the most exciting players in NBA history.

The sinuous small forward entered the fledgling league out of college and instantly established himself as one of the best players on the planet, averaging 27.3 points and 15.7 rebounds as a rookie. In five ABA seasons, Erving secured three scoring titles and three MVPs, two team championships and two Playoffs MVPs, which the league uniquely awarded to the best player of the entire postseason. He is the only member to win it twice.  

Although his virtuosity gave the ABA credibility, it couldn’t solve its financial issues. The innovative, freewheeling league boasted comparable talent to the NBA and regularly got the best of the senior circuit in exhibition matches, eventually forcing a merger in 1976. Between fees to join the NBA and play in the New York area alongside the Knicks, the Nets regrettably sold Erving to the 76ers. 

Philadelphia reached the Finals immediately.

In his NBA playoff debut, Erving went for 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against the defending-champion Celtics. Doc was spectacular in the title round versus the Trail Blazers, despite the Sixers' blowing a 2-0 lead. He scored 77 points over the final two games, which included an iconic dunk on Bill Walton, and his 30.3 average for the series was more than 10 points greater than anyone else on either team. 

Erving was more than just a scorer, of course. The undeniable penetrator didn’t have the strongest midrange game yet made up for it with his dominance above the rim, playmaking and underrated defense. His all-around contributions kept the Sixers in title contention, though they didn’t get back to the Finals until 1980 versus the Showtime Lakers. Erving was again stellar, delivering a baseline reverse layup for the ages and a 36-9-6 line with the series tied 2-2. But Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was simply too much in Game 5, dropping 40 and 15, and Game 6 belonged to a rookie named Earvin Johnson. 

Dr. J won MVP in 1981 and brought Philadelphia one win from another title appearance, only to see the Celtics win the final three games of the conference finals by a combined five points. In 1982, Philly avenged its playoff loss to Boston, with Doc outplaying Larry Bird in Game 7, but couldn’t do so against the Lakers in the Finals. 

"He had a decade where no matter what league he was in, he was either the best guy or a top-five guy," Wright said. "And it wasn’t just that he was this great regular-season player. In the playoffs, he’s unbelievable." 

At 32 years old, Erving was still a superstar but began to show signs of decline. He’d already played in more than 1,000 games between the ABA and NBA regular seasons and postseasons. In Philly’s latest deep playoff run and third Finals loss in six seasons, Andrew Toney was its top performer. In other words, the Sixers needed a bit of help if they were going to get over the championship hump. They got more than that from trade acquisition and reigning MVP Moses Malone. 

The pantheon pairing of Erving and Malone morphed Philly into not only the best team in basketball but one of the greatest ever. Erving punctuated its 65-win campaign with his "Rock the Baby" dunk over the Lakers’ Michael Cooper late in the season and made his last All-NBA first team. The Sixers rolled through the playoffs, sweeping the defending-champion Lakers and becoming the first champion in NBA history to lose just once in a postseason run. Malone won MVP for the season and the Finals, but Doc was an invaluable No. 2 for the "Fo, Fo, Fo" Sixers.

Over six Finals appearances, Erving averaged 28-9-5 on 54% shooting.

Erving would play three more years and make three more All-Star teams, earning the nod and reaching the playoffs in all of his 16 seasons. He finished with regular-season and playoff averages of 24.2 points and 8.5 rebounds, in the top 10 all-time in scoring for each part of the season, and as one of just two players (Hakeem Olajuwon) with more than 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game for his career. 

All that production, coupled with Dr. J's personality, was instrumental in building basketball into one of the most popular sports in the world.

"The resume, it’s not unimpeachable," Wright said. "But it is damn-near bulletproof."

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