Steve Nash

Steve Nash won back-to-back MVPs in 2005 and 2006, and those awards remain among the most debated in league history — not because Nash wasn't great, but because he was so unconventionally great that people couldn't process it. A 6'3" Canadian point guard with limited athleticism and suspect defense winning MVP over Shaq and Kobe? The basketball world didn't know what to do with that.

But Nash's impact was undeniable. His Seven Seconds or Less Suns revolutionized basketball offense. The pace, spacing, pick-and-roll wizardry, and three-point shooting that Nash orchestrated in Phoenix became the blueprint for the modern NBA. Every team that spaces the floor and plays fast today owes a debt to Nash and Mike D'Antoni's Suns. Nash shot 42.8% from three for his career and averaged 8.5 assists per game, leading the league in assists five times.

The great tragedy of Nash's career is that those Suns teams never won a championship. The 2007 Spurs series — marred by the Robert Horry hip check and the suspensions that followed — robbed Nash of perhaps his best chance. He was the engine of a basketball revolution that changed the sport, and his influence is visible in every NBA game played today.