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Best NBA centers

The community has spoken. Discover the world ranking, compare it to yours and see how everyone else voted.

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28contenders high-voltage

996votes

17TopList

0commentsUpdated on 10/06/2026 at 05:00 PM

Nikola Jokić1379

The worldwide ranking generated by 996 votes

28 / 28

Nikola Jokić1379

Yao Ming1338

Victor Wembanyama1317

Dwight Howard1289

David Robinson1248

Steven Adams1237

Shaquille O'Neal1236

Karl-Anthony Towns1227

Pau Gasol1226

#10

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar1223

#11

Hakeem Olajuwon1222

#12

Domantas Sabonis1221

Patrick Ewing1197

#16

Tim Duncan1195

#17

Marc Gasol1189

#18

Ben Wallace1171

#19

Bam Adebayo1166

#20

Joel Embiid1159

#21

Wilt Chamberlain1155

#22

Jarrett Allen1147

#23

Clint Capela1145

#24

JaVale McGee1134

#25

Anthony Davis1115

#26

Rudy Gobert1113

#27

Brook Lopez1096

#28

Deandre Ayton1032

What the community says

Nikola Jokić leads with an ELO of 1,379, ahead of Yao Ming (1,338) and Victor Wembanyama (1,317). Ranked over 996 duels between 28 contenders, last updated October 6, 2026.

Vote for your favorite NBA center from 28 legends and current stars: Jokić, Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Embiid and many more giants…

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.