May 19, 2011 – Kevin Burke

Yesterday, Hall of Famer and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made headlines when he expressed his feelings about how he has been treated by the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. The biggest attention grabber was when he said he feels “slighted” that the Lakers never honored him with a statue outside of Staples Center although there are five statues currently standing. At first, I thought he came across as whinny and I was embarrassed for him. But after hearing him on ESPN’s Mike and Mike this morning, I learned that it goes further than the statue as far as he’s concerned.

However, one way or another, this whole scenario got me thinking. Recently, it seems like players are being honored with statues more and more. Within the last couple of months, we’ve seen Scottie Pippen honored with a statue at the United Center and more recently, Shaq was honored at LSU. Both of those, coupled with Kareem’s comments got me thinking about statue-worthy active NBA players.

To be statue-worthy in my book, you don’t necessarily had to have played for just one franchise, but you must be identifiable with just one team. Naturally, you must also be on the Hall of Fame path. So here are my statue-worthy active NBA players based on what they’ve accomplished already, not what they may do in the future.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe is arguably the greatest Laker ever and has earned the franchise five rings in his 15 years in L.A. Not only is he the 7th leading scorer in NBA history, but he has many Laker distinctions as well. While wearing a Laker uniform, he’s first in points scored all-time, points scored in the playoffs, points scored in any single season, points scored in a half and points in a quarter – just to name a few.

Tim Duncan

Although he’s fallen off pretty quickly, Tim is widely regarded as the greatest Power Forward ever. He was the key ingredient to three NBA championship teams, while playing a vital role alongside David Robinson for the other ring in 1999. He was a perennial All-NBA and All-Defensive first teamer in his prime. Ten years from now, when you think of the Spurs, his name will come to mind before anyone else’s.

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk is pretty much the only bright spot in Mavs history. He is the franchise. No, he doesn’t have a ring and who knows if he ever will win one? But he is statue-worthy because he is as synonymous with a relevant franchise as any other player has been over the past decade. And Stockton and Malone set the precedent for being honored with statues without winning a ring which makes it OK in Nowitzki’s case.

Dwyane Wade

This is only Wade’s eighth year in the NBA but I think he’s accomplished enough already. He’s clearly the franchise’s best player ever and was the key to their only championship to date, back in 2006. When LeBron James joined the Heat, Wade almost seemed like the forgotten man on the team that he had been with forever. But as the LeBron honeymoon is nearing it’s end, Wade has emerged from LeBron’s shadow and will always be beloved by the city and organization.

That’s it. I can only think of four active statue-worthy NBA players . The other guys that I gave consideration to were Shaq, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Shaq and KG are all-time greats but aren’t tied to any one franchise. Paul Pierce is close, but is ultimately a no. I don’t feel Pierce has accomplished enough and needed KG and Ray Allen to win. Not to mention the fact that Larry Bird doesn’t even have a statue yet. And Lebron? Well let’s just say I doubt the Cleveland Cavaliers will be erecting a LBJ statue any time soon….

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook