Artis Gilmore

Artis Gilmore holds the highest career field-goal percentage in NBA history at 59.9% — a record that has stood for decades and reflects his extraordinary efficiency as a scorer around the basket. The 7'2" center with the iconic afro was a force in both the ABA and NBA, winning the ABA MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1972 and earning six All-Star selections across both leagues.

Gilmore's ABA career was dominant. He averaged 22.3 points, 17.1 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game with the Kentucky Colonels, numbers that would have made him a top-five player in the NBA during the same period. His transition to the NBA with the Chicago Bulls was seamless — he was an immediate All-Star and one of the league's best centers throughout the early 1980s.

The knock on Gilmore is that his teams never won a championship in either league, and he played much of his career in relative obscurity in Chicago and San Antonio. But his combination of size, efficiency, rebounding, and shot-blocking made him one of the most impactful centers of the 1970s and 1980s, and his belated Hall of Fame induction in 2011 corrected a long-standing oversight.