‘Pistol Pete’, Pete Maravich is one of the biggest legends in the history of the league. He’s lauded as one of the most creative offensive talents of all time. Maravich was a 5-time All-Star, an NBA scoring champion, and selected to 4 All-NBA teams. His passing in 1988 was quite a tragedy and fans of the teams he starred for, like the New Orleans/Utah Jazz and the Atlanta Hawks, mourned it along with the larger NBA community.
A fact about Maravich’s short but exciting career that is often forgotten is that he ended his career in 1980 playing with the Boston Celtics. After he was placed on waivers by the Jazz, he joined the Celtics in Larry Bird’s rookie season, as a scoring option off the bench. And while the team didn’t win the title that year and Maravich retired right after it ended, he had some choice praise for Bird after playing with him.
In 1987, Pistol Pete was on ESPN’s Up Close, where he christened Bird as the very best player in the entire NBA.
“I think he is the best, you know. Larry is not really the best rebounder in the NBA; he is not really the best passer, I don’t think, he’s not the best dribbler, he’s not the best shooter, he’s not the best scorer. He’s just the very best.”
By that point, Bird had won 3 MVPs and 3 NBA championships, making him a prime candidate for that praise, so it’s not even like Maravich had any bias towards an old teammate when he said this.
Larry Legend is widely considered to be in the Top 10 players of all time, his consistency was legendary, and Maravich isn’t the only person to call him the very best either. The Celtics legend’s achievements and his incredible rivalry with Magic Johnson were a huge factor in the NBA becoming as huge as it eventually became.
