via Mitchell & Ness

Although there are many NBA players who have had great enough careers to get their numbers retired by their respective franchises, there is debate—in some cases—as to who deserves recognition as the best player for each number.

Mitchell & Ness, a vintage sports apparel company, took the time to go through each number (00-99) and determine which players earned top honors. As long as a player wore the number at some point in his career, his overall legacy was taken into account.

Of course, every list like this needs some reasoning behind each pick. Mitchell & Ness explained each of its selections and noted that not every number has been worn.

Here's the list the company came up with:

via Mitchell & Ness

Here are the players whose names don't appear on the back:

1) Oscar Robertson, 6) Bill Russell, 9) Bob Pettit, 13) Wilt Chamberlain, 14) Oscar Robertson, 15) Hal Greer, 17) John Havlicek, 18) Dave Cowens, 24) Rick Barry, 26) Buddy Jeannette, 42) Nate Thurmond, 47) Jerry Lucas, 60) Walt Kirk, 61) Dave Piontek, 67) Moe Becker, 68) Milt Schon, 89) Clyde Lovellette, 99) George Mikan

[Mitchell & Ness]