The 14 NBA Players With the Most All-Star Appearances are Legends

There have been a lot of All-Stars in NBA history, and a lot of their stories are weirder than you think. Some guys made a lot more games than you'd remember or think they would deserve (Joe Johnson made seven All-Star teams?).

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Some guys made way fewer than you'd think they deserved (Scottie Pippen made only seven All-Star Games?). There were a lot of random dudes who just made one or two games — if you hold a special place in your NBA heart for guys like Terrell Brandon, Tyrone Hill, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mookie Blaylock, both Antonio and Dale Davis, Xavier McDaniel, Anthony Mason, Mehmet Okur, Wally Szczerbiak, Otis Thorpe, Steve Smith, Cliff Robinson, Nick Van Exel, Mo Williams and (perhaps most improbably) Christian Laettner, well...you're on a very short list of people.

But some guys...some guys have the number of appearances they deserve to have, by which I mean a whole heckin' lot of appearances. A full 42 guys have appeared in at least 10 NBA All-Star games, and they're all names you'd expect to see there. It's a Murderer's Row of most of the best players of all time.

When you winnow the list a little more, it gets even more impressive: 14 guys have appeared in at least 13 All-Star games, and there's not a fraud among them (with maybe one exception, but we'll get to him). Guys like Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, James Harden and Steph Curry might some day join them, but for now these guys stand alone with the most All-Star Game appearances in NBA history.

One caveat: we're not including ABA All-Star games, which is why Nets/76ers legend Julius Erving and Spurs star George Gervin aren't appearing here.

Most All-Star Appearances in NBA History

14. Dwyane Wade: 13

Dwyane Wade would probably rank higher on this list if his career-long style of play hadn't caught up to him. Wade made 13 All-Star games (every one of them with Miami), 12 in a row at one point, with a style of play summed up by the mantra "get knocked down seven times, get up eight." Eventually, all that punishment was too much for his body to handle, and he was effectively cooked as a star player by his mid-30s.

13. Bob Cousy: 13

There were no star point guards before Bob Cousy (at least not as we understand them). Cousy was the first guy to dribble behind his back and between his legs, blasphemy according to basketball praxis at the time. He had more All-Star appearances than fellow Celtics stars Larry Bird or Bill Russell, with 13 to his name. Modern basketball doesn't exist without Bob Cousy.

12. John Havlicek: 13

John Havlicek and his 13 All-Star Games might be more unknown to modern audiences than any superstar in NBA history. "Hondo" got a late start thanks to his presence on the absolutely stacked 1960s Celtics teams, where he didn't become the team's primary option until age 26. Havlicek was the original do-everything superstar, a guy who could fulfill any role necessary on the court. Think of him as LeBron long before LeBron.

11. Wilt Chamberlain: 13

The Big Dipper personified the NBA, whether he was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers or San Francisco Warriors. Chamberlain made the All-Star team in 13 seasons, only missing it once (1969-70, when he was injured 12 games into the season). There's a reason he was considered the league's first super-duperstar.

10. Jerry West: 14

Jerry West might be the only pre-1980s white guy who would've been better in a later era. West had the athletic ability to keep up with modern guys, half-court range in an era before the three point line existed and good assist numbers in an age when you pretty much had to throw an alley-oop (if they'd been allowed) to get credited for one. It's no surprise the guy showed up in 14 All-Star games. The league considered him so iconic they literally made him the logo.

9. Dirk Nowitzki: 14

There's not a debate about the best European player ever. Dirk Nowitzki settled it. At his best, the 14-time All-Star was completely unguardable, a 7-footer with an unstoppable fadeaway and virtually unlimited range. The thing that always struck me about Nowitzki was he always seemed to be moving in slow motion, and yet no one was ever fast enough to stop him.

8. Karl Malone: 14

There's probably not any more consistent player in NBA history than Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone. Malone may not have come up big in the NBA Finals, but during the regular season, virtually no one showed up more on a night-to-night basis. That's how you make 14 All-Star teams and win two MVP awards (dubious ones, but all right).

7. Michael Jordan: 14

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The fact His Airness doesn't top this list is purely due to an artificially shortened career thanks to the season and a half he spent playing baseball, along with his first retirement in 1998. The Chicago Bulls legend is widely regarded as the GOAT, and he was an All-Star every single full season he played (even those two abysmal Washington Wizards years). No surprise he'd have 14 All-Star appearances to his name.

6. Shaquille O'Neal: 15

There has never been a more physically dominant player than Shaquille O'Neal. To say Shaq overpowered opponents was like describing Alaska as "somewhat chilly"; it isn't wrong, exactly, but it also doesn't really cover it. Shaq only winning one MVP award despite his 15 All-Star appearances is one of the strangest statistics in NBA history.

5. Kevin Garnett: 15

There's not a debate about the best player in Minnesota Timberwolves history: it's K.G. and K.G. alone. "The Big Ticket" was the most intense player in living memory. Honestly, he might be the one guy who showed up for the All-Star Game and treated it like Game 7 of the NBA Finals. His 15 All-Star appearances are tied for the third most in NBA history.

4. Tim Duncan: 15

Tim Duncan is probably the most unassuming superstar in any sport, let alone basketball. The San Antonio Spurs star's signature move was...well...pretty much just doing everything right. He didn't get the nickname "The Big Fundamental" by accident, but the 15-time All-Star and two-time MVP was just quietly capable his entire career. He didn't win five championships by accident.

3. LeBron James: 18 

LeBron will probably rank No. 1 alone on this list by the end of his career, but for one more year at least, he's tied with the guy in second place with 18 appearances. It doesn't matter if he's in Cleveland, Miami, Cleveland (again) or Los Angeles. King James just keeps making the All-Star team year-in, year-out. James has been an All-Star every single year since 2005, his second season in the league (and he should've made it as a rookie, if we're being honest).

2. Kobe Bryant: 18

It's genuinely amazing Kobe Bryant made the second most All-Star teams in NBA history considering he's not even a top 10 all-time NBA player (I don't care what Los Angeles Laker fans think, he just wasn't). He was a wildly inefficient gunner who broke the NBA because every young idiot shooting guard in the league decided it would be a good idea to jackup fadeaway long two's all night. He's the reason I had to suffer through the Nick Young era, and his early and untimely demise doesn't change that. But he did have 18 All-Star appearances, even if it was more due to reputation than merit.

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 19

Kareem stands alone (even if 'Bron is likely to catch him). It's fitting that the guy who won more MVP awards than any player in league history has more All-Star appearances than any player in league history. For two decades, whether he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks or the L.A. Lakers, Kareem was the NBA All-Star Game. He only missed the 1977-78 game in his 20-year career (and it's not clear why he didn't get selected that season; his numbers were typically great). The league's all-time leading scorer had its most unstoppable shot, but young Kareem did it all: rebound, play defense, pass. Just an all-around legend.

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