The 15 Most Intriguing Basketball Players of All Time

Being an intriguing basketball player doesn't mean you have to be the best. It doesn't mean you have the greatest skill or will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Basketball players have long been more intriguing than other sport athletes because without helmets, gear, padding, or long uniforms to hide behind, basketball players are stripped bare to shorts and jerseys. Nothing hides them or their personalities from view.
Purists argue that basketball is a metaphor for life: the hard work, the tenacity, the miracle shots, the poetry and grace of movement, the required discipline, and the timely decisions of whether to go one-on-one or rely on your teammates. This is why individuals from all walks of life fall in love with the game. It isn't about where you're from, what you've been through or where you trained, it is about the burgeoning desire to play that grows inside a child from the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York or the wheat fields of Indiana.
Here then is a list of the 15 most intriguing basketball players of all time, whether trained to play through the most elite schooling systems or driven by determination to walk into an open tryout and ferment their love for the game. What makes them different is who they are. What brings them together is the art of basketball.

Allen Iverson

Long considered the "thug extraordinaire" of the NBA, Iverson never received the type of media favoritism lauded to other, more clean-cut players. To the untrained eye, he is a hood who found escape through the NBA. To the observant fan, he is more. He is misunderstood. Though he may not come from a place familiar to most NBA fans, it is clear through his history of play that the only true thing about Iverson relevant to the fan is his passion for the game. The only thing more amazing than his ability to knife through defenders two or three times his size, is his ability to finish around them at the hoop. You can question Iverson's morals, you can question his marketability, but one thing you can never question about Allen Iverson is his determination to play ball. There has never been anything more true.

Kobe Bryant