10 Greatest Signature Moves In NBA History

Let's start off this awesome list with none other than Allen Iverson's signature crossover. Now, before AI arrived in the NBA, Tim Hardaway already had his version of the crossover, and recently he even self-proclaimed that his was the better of the two, but come on, let's be real here for a second. AI's version was more lethal, more explosive, and faster. AI's version got him into the Hall of Fame, but more importantly, his caught the eyes of the entire basketball world. I mean, just look at this. After bursting to the right, Iverson suddenly pulled the brakes and went for a snatch back, and when he saw Daniel staggering, he went right back at him to finish him off. AI literally broke this man's ankles twice, and made him look like Neo from the Matrix for a second there. Another aspect that makes AI's crossover so devastating is that he knew how to sell it by using head and shoulder fakes. In this clip here, you can see AI crossing up one of the greatest defensive guards in NBA history, Michael Jordan himself. After doing a mini-crossover, AI actually knew that Michael was in trouble. He allowed MJ to recover before hitting him again, but this time with a HUGE crossover in the mid-range J, which got the crowd on their feet. Man, crossing the GOAT like that was just plain nasty. And according to AI, MJ still hasn't forgiven him yet for doing him dirty like that. Now, AI's crossover is a signature move that was feared by many, but aside from that, here's another that scares the heck out of players, especially in transition. There's no easy layup if you've got a 6 foot 9, 250 pound monster tailing you from behind. LeBron's chase down blocks make sure that players always think twice in the open court. Take a look here. D-Rose ran out of the gates in this play, and notice how LeBron slows down to match his pace. He knows that Rose will have to decelerate because Dele is there waiting for him, and that little delay is all LeBron needed to catch up and block D-Rose's floater. LeBron's size, basketball IQ, and superhuman athleticism are the key components that allows him to do these superhuman blocks, and among all of LeBron's crazy chase downs, there's nothing that could top what he did on this next play. And to help me out on this one, let's hear it from LeBron's former teammate, Richard Jefferson. Anyway, from LeBron's iconic chase downs, let's now talk about the Black Mamba signature move. We all know that Kobe's fadeaway had some similarities with MJ's, but over the years, he polished it to make it even more lethal and effective. In this play here, Kobe backs down Barnes, and after two hard pounds, he gives him a little shimmy to freeze him momentarily. That small separation is all Kobe needed to spin the other way and hit the fadeaway. Anyway, one move that Kobe didn't do better than MJ was the stepback. During his prime in the 90s, nobody had a stepback like Mike, which he constantly used to abuse his defenders. You can see MJ posting up this guy here, once he leans back a little to feel the weight of his defender, he puts on a series of moves before pulling out the stepback. On top of the jab steps and fakes, the key to MJ's stepback lies in his footwork, and today, you can see players like James Harden and Jordan Poole have all put their own touches to this simple move and amped it up to a whole new level. Now, apart from the stepback, here's another signature move that transcended time and era. The Eurostep has always been tagged Manu Ginobili's name, but according to basketball historians, this move was already invented way back as early as the 50s and 60s. But nonetheless, Ginobili was the one who put this move on the map, and now you can see that a ton of NBA players are still using this, and even recalibrating it further by adding advanced footwork and swinging motions to draw fouls. Basically, the Eurostep is all about craftiness and deception. You have to convince your defender that you're going in a certain direction before quickly switching gears so that he'll have no time to establish a proper defensive position. Alright guys, next up on our list is the iconic skyhook of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Now, we all know that this might be the goofiest looking move on the list, cause you know, this is the kind of shot that you would see being pulled by 60 year old dads in the local rec centers. But if we're gonna take a look back at Kareem's career, this awkward shot has given him 19 NBA All-Star selections, 6 MVPs, 6 championships, and 2 finals MVPs. And he also became one of the greatest scorers in NBA history with this shot in his back pocket. Because of Kareem's 7 foot 2 frame, the skyhook became virtually unguardable as he would just use his left hand to shield the ball away from defenders, and then after that, the release point of the skyhook was just too high for any players to block. Though it was extremely effective back in the day, the skyhook eventually became outdated as time went by, but according to Kareem, here's the real reason why nobody uses it now. The reason that young kids today don't learn how to shoot hook shots is because everybody is so enamored with the three point shot. So the kids, they don't want two points. They don't want to work with their back to the basket. That's not cool. They want to go out there in the stratosphere and shoot three pointers. Anyway, from one legendary big man to another, let's now talk about Hakeem Olajuwon and his classic dream shake. When Hakeem arrived in 84, most big men in the league were either slow, had no legit post moves, and they just mostly shot the ball straight up on offense with no footwork whatsoever. But Hakeem changed all that when he brought a fresh new skill set to the center position and captivated us with his advanced footwork and incredible finesse when it came to his shot making. And this series of moves that he put together later on became known as the dream shake. Now, since retiring, Olajuwon has taught his footwork to a lot of great NBA players as he mentored players like Yao Ming, Amari Stoudemire, Kobe, and LeBron. And up to now, Hakeem is still imparting his knowledge to the younger generation, like Alperine Shingun of the Rockets, to show that this move can still be effective in the modern NBA. Heck, even Steph Curry uses the dream shake from time to time. Anyway guys, while Hakeem's signature move did put us on the edge of our seats, the same thing could be said of when Magic Johnson started dazzling us with this move. Just like Hakeem, Magic brought a different style of play when he came into the league as he revolutionized the point guard position with his electrifying showmanship. His no-look passes became his signature move, and because of that, the way he led the Showtime Lakers in the fast break was, uh, well, it looked like magic. Now, from talking about one of the most entertaining moves in NBA history, let's now switch gears and talk about Tim Duncan's bank shot. Back when we were kids, we were told that the most efficient way to shoot the basketball is by kissing it off the glass, and though that may be true, we eventually deviated from using it because it was just too difficult to make and obviously impractical when you're taking shots from the mid-range and out on the perimeter. Tim Duncan, however, was not one of those kids. He actually used the bank shot as his main weapon, and during his prime, this boring shot proved to be quite effective as it helped him win back-to-back MVPs and five NBA championships. He shot a total of 1,934 bank shots over his career, and although players like Dwayne Wade and Russell Westbrook have tried copying his signature move, there's no player better and more efficient at doing this than Tim Duncan himself. Alright guys, the last signature move we have on this list is Dirk Nowitzki's patented one-legged fadeaway. Dirk was a unicorn back in the day who brought a huge change to the big-man landscape of the NBA. The 7-foot German brought in lethal outside shooting and deep range on top of skillful footwork to the NBA, and eventually, he developed his ultimate go-to move, which was the one-legged fadeaway, and let's just say that it was unfair, to say the least. I mean, here's Dirk backing down Hito Turgelu, and after just one bump, Dirk went for the one-legged fadeaway. And as you can see, even though Turgelu is quite tall himself, he can't just simply go over and block Dirk's shot because he'll be called for a foul if he gets in contact with Dirk's right leg. And that leg separation, along with that high release point, are the main keys that make this shot so dang hard to guard. The one-legged fadeaway is still widely used to this day, most notably by Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant. And, in case you're curious about the origin of this move, according to Dirk, all he wanted to create was a shot that he could always use and doesn't take too much energy. Anyway, the NBA is transforming at an exponential pace at the moment. What are some of the new signature moves you think will be developed in the future? Maybe a one-legged three-pointer?