Bill Simmons says Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the rarest of NBA players - true unicorns

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Giannis Antetokounmpo

Benny Sieu/Reuters

Giannis makes a move.

Bill Simmons, basketball historian, is famous for making lists. His latest at The Ringer names the 16 true unicorns in NBA history - i.e., players whose like we'll never see again.

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Not on the list: Michael Jordan (Simmons writes: "Kobe's relatively creepy Jordan impersonation opened the door for another MJ someday"). Also not on the list: LeBron James ("I could image another 6-foot-8 super-athlete like LeBron who never gets tired and plays basketball like he's the queen on a chessboard.")

The only active players on the list are superstars Kevin Durant ("McAdoo crossed with Gervin crossed with Spider-Man crossed with Plastic Man with 25-foot range???") and Russell Westbrook ("part point guard, part striker, part running back, part Terminator"), along with the relatively unknown Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis is a 22-year-old of Nigerian descent who grew up in Athens. Nearly seven feet tall, he has emerged as a playmaking small forward with the potential to be, in the words of Jason Kidd, something like "LeBron and Dirk [Nowitzki]" combined. Giannis also, according to Simmons, has 12-inch hands: by comparison, LeBron has 9.3-inch hands; Jordan's are 11.4 inches; even Wilt Chamberlain's were only 11.5.

While unicorns aren't necessarily the most successful players, they tend to be pretty good.

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Giannis currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, where he averages 24 points, 6 assists, and 9 rebounds, while ranking second only to Westbrook in ESPN's holistic PER metric. Give him time and he might just become a household name.

See the full list of true and partial unicorns, past and present, at The Ringer.

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