Cuttino Mobley was one of the best left-handed players in the NBA in the 2000s, and he gave his list of the five greatest lefties the league has ever seen on the All The Smoke podcast. Mobley went with a couple of big names, but did leave out arguably the biggest of them all.
“James Harden, Chris Mullin, Manu Ginobili, Nick Van Exel … and I mean, David Robinson, of course,” Mobley said.
The notable exclusion here, of course, is the great Bill Russell. Many don’t even realize that Russell was left-handed, though, and perhaps Mobley was unaware, too. Russell won a record 11 NBA titles and took home five MVP awards. He has gone down as one of the greatest players of all time. Despite Russell’s exclusion, this is still a solid list.
James Harden is the only active player in the top five. Harden has career averages of 24.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He has won an MVP, three scoring titles, and two assists titles along the way. Harden has also made 11 All-Star and eight All-NBA teams.
As for Chris Mullin, he spent 16 seasons in the NBA and averaged 18.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. Mullin never won any major accolades but did make five All-Star and four All-NBA teams.
Manu Ginobili, meanwhile, is one of the greatest international players in NBA history and averaged 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in his career. Ginobili won four titles while making two All-Star and two All-NBA teams.
Nick Van Exel is perhaps the most surprising inclusion here, considering he was never really a big star in the NBA. Exel still had a fine NBA career, averaging 14.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game over 13 seasons. He made the All-Star team once in 1998.
Lastly, we get to David Robinson, who was a no-brainer here. Robinson averaged 21.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game in his career. He won two titles, one MVP, one DPOY, and one scoring title. Robinson also made 10 All-Star, 10 All-NBA, and eight All-Defensive teams.
As for some other notable players who would have a strong case to be in the top five, the likes of Chris Bosh, Willis Reed, Bob Lanier, Dave Cowens, Artis Gilmore, and Nate Archibald come to mind.
