In the 90‘s, it was the common opinion that Michael Jordan was the best player in the league, even if he didnt win the MVP every season. So at least from 1991-1998, Jordan was the leagues best player.
But after 1998, which players would you say held the unofficial title of „the best player in the league“? What were the time spans between the respective passing the torch?
Jordan wasn’t always the best player in his seasons (think Iverson, Barkley, Magic, and lots of others) but that period belonged to him. In that same spirit I think you can argue for Shaq, maybe Duncan, Kobe, and LeBron. But other than that all those other names are just players who were great at one point. And it’s still LeBron right now even though he’s barely top 10.