Tribute videos are a natural byproduct of sports that celebrate individual athletic achievement. No league does a better job of focusing on specific players than the NBA, where one player can quickly make or break a franchise.
In an ideal world, tribute videos would be reserved for fan-favorite stars who had to leave teams for reasons beyond the control of both sides. That's not always the case, however, and over the past couple seasons the bar to recognize players for their time with a team has only gotten lower.
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This season has been particularly interesting after all movement last summer of big-name players such as Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Zach Randolph. Some of these tributes made sense, some of these did not. Some players even received fan tribute videos.
Sporting News ranked the top 15 tribute videos so far this season, from least deserving to most deserving. For the sake of conciseness, this list was limited to active players (i.e., no Paul Pierce).
15. Dwight Howard, Hawks
Career with team: One season; 13.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks per game, 63.3 field goal percentage
In some weird, roundabout way, this tribute could have made sense. Howard followed the LeBron Standard and decided to play for his hometown NBA franchise before he completely left his prime. He averaged decent numbers and did a lot of community work in Atlanta. Unlike LeBron, however, he was bounced out of the first round of the playoffs in the lowly East. He was also outmuscled in the paint by the likes of Marcin Gortat and Jason Smith.
Howard reportedly lived up to his reputation of being a locker-room cancer: former teammates reportedly cheered when he was traded to the Hornets. On the night of Howard’s return to Atlanta, fans booed the big man in solidarity with Hawks players, who probably would have joined in if they were in the stands.
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14. Mike Scott, Hawks
Career with team: Four seasons; 7.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.1 blocks per game
During his time in Atlanta, Scott was known more for the tattoos on his arms than the basketball plays he made with them. During the 2014 NBA playoffs, the eighth-seeded Hawks were threatening to upset the top-seeded Pacers in the first round. National media attention naturally followed the team, and some reporters noticed Scott had emoji tattoos.
A couple of features and an Atlanta series loss later, Scott returned to relative anonymity as an above-average defender and 3-point shooter — a good, but not great, player. Considering this isn't the first or last time the Hawks show up on this list, fans shouldn’t be too shocked he got a video.
13. Jae Crowder, Celtics
Career with team: Three seasons; 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals per game
This is more about the length of Crowder's tenure than his performance. The Celtics acquired Crowder, among other assets, from the Mavericks in 2014 for Rajon Rondo in a move that seems like an absolute steal in hindsight.
As a starter for Boston, he set career-highs in almost every major statistical category and became an ideal 3-and-D player. But Crowder also had enough rough shooting nights in the playoffs to warrant being packaged in a trade for Kyrie Irving last August.
12. Jamal Crawford, Clippers
Career with team: Five seasons; 15.3 points, 2.6 assists per game; 88.0 free throw percentage; two-time Sixth Man of the Year
Crawford has long dazzled fans — and wrecked defenders' ankles — with moves that earned him his nickname, J-Crossover. The LA spotlight made clearer the devastation Crawford could leave behind.
Had his shooting off the bench continued in the postseason, he'd probably be compared to the likes of Vinnie Johnson as a clutch performer. Instead, his numbers dropped to disastrous lows, such as 27.6 percent shooting from 3-point range in five postseasons with LA, which often limited his impact.
11. Patrick Beverley, Rockets
Career with team: Five seasons; 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals per game
It’s easier to create tribute videos for players whose exit is a mutual decision and not the result of a team wanting to upgrade at a position. Beverley was often compared to a junkyard dog because of how he hounded his matchup on defense and took him out of the game, sometimes literally.
Beverley was a solid starter for Houston after his rookie year, but Rockets general manager Daryl Morey decided to move him in order to get better at guard with Chris Paul. That shows what the organization thought of its defensive standout, and why its tribute video wasn't all that long.
10. J.J. Redick, Clippers
Career with team: Four seasons; 15.8 points, 1.6 assists per game; 44.0 3-point percentage, 89.7 free throw percentage
Redick has embodied the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" during a successful career as a sharpshooter. During his four seasons in Los Angeles, his off-ball speed made him a reliable target for Chris Paul behind the 3-point line.
The tradeoff was Redick's defensive ability. He never finished with a positive defensive box plus/minus rating, and he ended his final Clippers season with a negative net box plus/minus. He was also LA's fourth scoring option among its starters, and that was because the Clippers never fielded an adequate small forward during the Lob City era.
9. Avery Bradley, Celtics
Career with team: Seven seasons; 12.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals per game; All-Defensive First Team in 2016, All-Defensive Second Team in 2013
Bradley's numbers might not cause anyone's jaw to immediately drop, but anyone who has seen the combo guard play in person knows how valuable he is on both ends of the floor. That's especially true among NBA players: John Wall, Isaiah Thomas and CJ McCollum have all said Bradley is one of the best defenders they've ever faced. In 2016, GMs voted him as the second-best perimeter defender in the league, behind only Kawhi Leonard.
And when Bradley wasn't smothering an opponent's best guard, he was sinking 3s on the offensive end. He was arguably the most important player on a Celtics team that was making the transition back to perennial playoff contender. Imagine how much less of an impact Thomas would have had without Bradley around to cover for him on defense.
8. Taj Gibson, Bulls
Career with team: Eight seasons; 9.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 0.5 steals per game
Gibson is the first player on this list from the last successful Bulls era. As a backup to perennial “AND ONE” bullhorn Carlos Boozer, the former USC Trojan provided needed defensive support with the second unit. As Boozer’s midrange jumper faded, Gibson's value rose, and he quickly became a formidable low-post defensive matchup.
His tenacity when grabbing rebounds and getting defensive stops made him the perfect player for coach Tom Thibodeau's system. Off the court, he served an important role as the "glue guy" in charge of limiting in-fighting among players, right up to February 2017, when Chicago traded Gibson to the Thunder for assets that are already gone.
7. Paul Millsap, Hawks
Career with team: Four seasons; 17.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals per game
The brilliance of Millsap's work with Atlanta can be found in the type of production that stat nerds rightfully fawn over. In 2016, he led the league in defensive win shares, meaning he beat out players like Draymond Green, Hassan Whiteside and Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard in a stat that measures how many wins a player's defense brought to a team.
Millsap was also a vital part of the Hawks' 60-win season in 2014-15, when he and three other starters earned All-Star berths. His star status dipped in 2017 after the Hawks lost Al Horford to the Celtics; Atlanta failed to secure home-court advantage in the playoffs and then got bounced in the first round.
6. Jimmy Butler, Bulls
Career with team: Six seasons; 15.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals per game
In the four seasons Butler was a starter in Chicago, he averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.8 steals. Only Russell Westbrook and James Harden had better stat lines during that span, and both of them averaged — or came close to averaging — a triple-double last season.
Butler grew from a raw, athletic talent to one of the best two-way players in the NBA during his years with the Bulls. His trade saga was handled poorly from a PR standpoint, but the team did him a favor when it traded him to a contender and away from a rebuilding squad. Even though the Bulls failed to reach great heights with Butler, anyone who can be considered the team's best player deserves a tribute — especially one who was this good.
5. Carmelo Anthony, Knicks
Career with team: Seven seasons; 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.0 steals per game
Amar’e Stoudemire was the first player to drag the Knicks away from being a laughingstock, but Melo was the player who brought them back to relevance. Did they come close to winning a championship? No, but that’s the price of playing in the conference that has LeBron James.
Anthony did help restore the Knicks' winning ways in his first three seasons, including a 54-28 record and No. 2 seed in the East in 2012-13. He also led the NBA in scoring that season. Madison Square Garden celebrates great players, and Anthony could bring those in the arena to their feet with game-winners and incredible individual performances. The decision to deal the fan favorite was made by a front office leader who is no longer around. A tribute video was the right thing to do.
4. DeMarcus Cousins, Kings
Career with team: Seven seasons; 21.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 1.2 blocks per game
Cousins developed into arguably a top-10 player in Sacramento amid periods of adversity and accusations by media personalities that he was a thug. He was averaging 27.8 points, 10.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 45.2 percent from the field at the time of his trade to the Pelicans following last season's All-Star Game.
Off the court, he showed his love for the city of Sacramento with charity work he continues to do despite playing in New Orleans. Cousins even broke down when saying goodbye to fans of a team that, in all honesty, did him a favor by trading him.
3. Brook Lopez, Nets
Career with team: Eight seasons; 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 blocks per game; 50.6 field goal percentage
Lopez experienced a lot during his time with the Nets. He went from playing in front of a passionate fan base in New Jersey to playing in front of an initially unenthusiastic hipster crowd in Brooklyn. He saw the franchise go from mid-seed playoff contender to embarrassingly bad lottery squad. His name was in trade rumors no matter how the team was doing.
He stuck with it, though, and was pretty good doing so. During Lopez's Nets tenure, only LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin had more win shares among players who averaged at least 18 points and seven rebounds and shot 50 percent from the field. Lopez also left the Nets as the franchise leader in points and blocks. Given all of that, he doesn't just deserve a tribute video; he might also deserve a jersey retirement.
2. Zach Randolph, Grizzlies
Career with team: Eight seasons; 16.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals per game
It’s not often a player defines an entire era of a franchise. It's even more rare when that era is the first true one in the franchise’s history. That's Randolph's legacy in Memphis. He and Tony Allen helped take a team of no-name underdogs to relatively lofty postseason heights. The Grizzlies never made an NBA Finals and only made one conference final with Randolph, but they knocked off higher-seeded teams such as the Spurs, Thunder and Clippers.
Z-Bo is also one of the most charitable individuals in the league, and he really spread the love in Memphis. A quick Google search of “Zach Randolph charity” will bring up at least one profile a year since 2011. Any player whose contributions on and off the court warrant a jersey retirement while that player is still in the league deserves a long tribute at the very least.
1. Chris Paul, Clippers
Career with team: Six seasons; 18.8 points, 9.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 2.3 steals per game
Recency bias dictates that fans will look at this ranking with disdain given how the Lob City era in Los Angeles ended, but make no mistake: Only someone who is arguably the greatest point guard of this generation could pull a franchise like the Clippers kicking and screaming out of painful mediocrity and into relevance.
Among the players on this list, none has more assists, a higher PER and a higher win-shares-per-season rate than Paul. In his first four seasons with LA, he led the league in either steals (2011-12, 2012-13), assists (2014-15) or both (2013-14). He also led the league in assist percentage in all but his last season in LA.
While his on-court demeanor could be confused for arrogance, his basketball IQ often helped the Clippers win games they probably shouldn’t have, and some of his teammates' best highlights would not have been possible without his initial pass. If you're wondering what he's truly worth, look at where the Clippers finish in this year’s standings and then look at the Rockets' record with Paul in the lineup. That should tell you everything you need to know.