11/02/2026
In 1980, the NBA Celebrated Its 35th Anniversary and Named Bill Russell the Greatest Player in League History. Wilt Chamberlain Finished Second. He Did Not Take It Quietly.
No two players in NBA history faced each other more than Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. They met 143 times between the regular season and playoffs, and Russell's teams won 86 of those games. That rivalry defined an entire era of basketball, and in 1980, it got one more chapter.
To celebrate the league's 35th anniversary, the NBA selected its all-time team and crowned Russell as the greatest player ever. Wilt was named second. For most people, finishing second on a list like that would be an honor. For Wilt, it was an insult, and he made sure everyone knew it.
"I think I did more for basketball than any one player. I'm the only guy who could successfully change his style of play when asked. Russell is not my choice for the best. The best at what? They had people voting who didn't see all of the players. Russell did win those 11 championships at Boston and you can't take that away. It would have been fairer if those who voted had followed the NBA since its inception."
That's classic Wilt. He gives Russell credit for the rings in one sentence and questions the entire voting panel in the next. And honestly, he had a point about changing his game. He led the league in scoring when asked to score, led it in assists when asked to pass, and became a defensive anchor on the 1972 Lakers when asked to defend.
The head-to-head numbers made his case too. Across all those battles, Wilt averaged about 26 points and 28 rebounds against Russell, while Russell put up around 15 and 25. Even Russell himself admitted over the years that anyone who would draft him over Wilt purely on talent would be crazy.
But Russell had the one thing Wilt could never take away, 11 championships, and that was always going to win the vote.
Years later, after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt's all-time scoring record, he spoke up for the man he had passed, and he explained exactly why people undervalued him.
"They took Wilt for granted, all right... They tried to make it seem it was easy for him to do that. They tried to do the same thing to me. It's not enough to have just the height. You have to have the height, the talent and the dedication. Wilt was all of that and more. It wasn't his fault he didn't play on a lot of good teams."
That's the whole debate in a nutshell. Russell was the greatest winner basketball has ever seen. Wilt was the most dominant individual force it has ever seen. The NBA picked Russell in 1980. Wilt spent the rest of his life making sure nobody forgot there was another answer.
