50 Years of NBA WAR — Day 1: San Antonio Spurs Top 50
With the 2026-27 season approaching, I wanted to do something with a dataset I’ve been working with that now covers exactly 50 NBA seasons, from 1976-77 through 2025-26. Over the next 21 days leading up to Opening Night, I’m going to post the Top 50 players by WAR for each franchise that has played in all 50 seasons covered by the dataset. I’m starting with San Antonio today and working down in order of each franchise’s cumulative WAR over that period.
The rankings use total WAR = regular-season WAR + playoff WAR, with both shown separately in the table. This also means WAR accumulated for another franchise doesn’t count — if a player was traded during a season, only the portion accumulated with that team is included.
For relocations/name changes, I’m treating them as the same franchise where appropriate (Braves/Clippers, Bullets/Wizards, etc.). Seattle and Oklahoma City are treated separately.
A quick note on the metric: The WAR used here comes from Neil Paine’s Estimated RAPTOR metric (which he has since renamed LAKER). Full credit for the metric and underlying historical data goes to Neil — you can find the methodology/data on his GitHub, and I’d also recommend checking out his Substack for his current sports analytics work.
One important caveat when comparing players across 50 years is that the underlying data available to the model isn’t identical across the entire period. Modern seasons have much richer plus/minus and play-by-play information available than older seasons, so the historical estimates necessarily rely more heavily on box-score data. The ratings are designed to put players from different eras onto the same overall scale, but a 1978 rating and a 2026 rating aren’t being produced from identical inputs.
WAR converts a player’s estimated impact and playing time into wins above a replacement-level player.
Neil Paine’s methodology/data: GitHub
Neil Paine’s current work: Substack
Of the 21 qualifying franchises, San Antonio ranks #1 with 1,928.5 total WAR over the last 50 seasons — 1,752.9 regular-season WAR and 175.6 playoff WAR.
And here’s their Top 50:
Rank
Player
Seasons
RS WAR
Playoff WAR
Total WAR
1
Tim Duncan
19
190.0
33.0
223.0
2
David Robinson
14
194.6
17.8
212.4
3
Manu Ginóbili
16
116.2
23.5
139.7
4
Tony Parker
17
89.4
9.4
98.8
5
Kawhi Leonard
7
63.9
12.9
76.8
6
George Gervin
9
66.8
4.7
71.5
7
Alvin Robertson
5
45.5
0.8
46.3
8
Avery Johnson
10
38.2
6.7
44.9
9
Johnny Moore
9
40.6
4.2
44.8
10
Danny Green
8
35.4
6.1
41.5
11
Sean Elliott
11
34.4
3.9
38.3
12
Larry Kenon
4
31.4
0.7
32.1
13
Bruce Bowen
8
28.6
3.3
31.9
14
Artis Gilmore
5
29.1
0.9
30.0
15
LaMarcus Aldridge
6
28.0
1.8
29.8
16
Mike Gale
5
24.1
0.9
25.0
17
Victor Wembanyama
3
21.1
3.3
24.4
18
Patty Mills
10
22.3
1.7
24.0
19
Vinny Del Negro
6
20.6
0.7
21.3
20
DeMar DeRozan
3
20.3
0.7
21.0
21
Devin Vassell
6
18.5
2.3
20.8
22
Willie Anderson
7
19.1
0.9
20.0
23
Dejounte Murray
5
19.3
0.4
19.7
24
Terry Cummings
6
17.6
1.6
19.2
25
Tiago Splitter
5
16.0
2.7
18.7
26
Robert Horry
5
13.6
4.8
18.4
27
Gene Banks
4
17.4
0.7
18.1
28
Matt Bonner
10
18.0
-0.2
17.8
29
Keldon Johnson
7
15.8
0.0
15.8
30
Brent Barry
4
13.9
1.5
15.4
31
Rod Strickland
3
13.8
0.7
14.5
32
Derrick White
5
13.8
0.3
14.1
33
Boris Diaw
5
10.7
3.0
13.7
34
Antonio Daniels
4
12.4
1.3
13.7
35
Mike Mitchell
8
13.3
0.2
13.5
36
Mark Olberding
6
13.0
0.5
13.5
37
Kyle Anderson
4
12.7
0.6
13.3
38
Jakob Poeltl
5
12.7
0.3
13.0
39
Dennis Rodman
2
11.3
1.5
12.8
40
Rasho Nesterović
3
12.6
-0.1
12.5
41
Terry Porter
3
12.0
0.3
12.3
42
Frank Brickowski
4
11.3
0.7
12.0
43
Malik Rose
8
11.6
0.3
11.9
44
Julian Champagnie
4
9.0
2.5
11.5
45
Billy Paultz
5
11.4
0.1
11.5
46
Rudy Gay
4
11.0
0.0
11.0
47
Michael Finley
5
9.6
1.1
10.7
48
Dale Ellis
2
10.7
-0.1
10.6
49
DeJuan Blair
4
8.9
1.1
10.0
50
Richard Jefferson
3
9.8
-0.1
9.7