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Stardom isn't something that's easily earned in the NBA.

The players who enjoy such celestial status have worked diligently at their craft for years, seeking out the weak spots in their games and trying to correct them while simultaneously building upon their strengths. We're talking about countless hours in the gym that lead to buckets of sweat.

But when a player gets to—or close to—the top of the positional hierarchy (positions, in this article, are determined by Basketball-Reference.com's designations), all the gain makes the pain worth it.

It's the ones who have experienced that positive feeling we're interested in. We're looking at the players who have managed to make the biggest on-court impacts while establishing themselves as household names—or at least getting on track to do so in the near future.

How that impact is achieved is ultimately irrelevant. An offensive stud can be just as valuable as a defensive anchor, and some mixture of the two diametric opposites is viable as well.

Basically, be the best at basketball, and you'll be rewarded here.