Joining Stern in the unveiling of the 50 Greatest Players, which tipped off the League’s season-long NBA at 50 celebration, were four prominent members of the list — Wilt Chamberlain, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, George Mikan and Bill Russell.

Yes, you do It's August so here's a video of Michael Jordan and the 50 greatest plays he's had. What more do you need than it being 15 minutes of Jordan? It's August and there's not a ton to do with the NBA world at the moment.

At the start of the 1996-97 season the 50 players had accumulated 107 NBA Championships, 49 Most Valuable Player Awards, 17 Rookie of the Year honors, 447 All-Star Game selections, 36 scoring titles, 923,791 total points and 410,327 total rebounds. * * *

The 1995–96 Chicago Bulls had, at the moment, the best single-season record in NBA history with 72 wins. Six out of the 30 NBA franchises (29 franchises at the time of announcement) had a team named to the list; the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers had two teams selected.