Throughout the 75 year history of the NBA there have been many good players and many have come and gone. The NBA South-East division is one of the newer divisions in being that all five teams were not a part of the original NBA.
The NBA South-East division has five teams. Those five teams are the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards. In this article we will look at the best player from all five of these teams.
Atlanta Hawks: Dominique Wilkins
Some may argue that Bob Pettit is the best Hawk of all time, but Dominique Wilkins is the guy many think about when they think of Atlanta sports. In 12 seasons with the Hawks, Wilkins averaged 26 points, eight assists and 12 rebounds a game.
Wilkins led the Hawks to eight playoff appearances and won the scoring title in 1986. Wilkins was most known for his dunking. Wilkins won the dunk contest twice, in 1985 and 1990.
So while Wilkins never won that ring, he is still a Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest Atlanta Hawk of all time.
Charlotte Hornets: Muggsy Bogues
The original Charlotte Hornets were established in 1988 making them one of the younger teams in the NBA. In their fairly short history they have had many players come and go. Muggsy Bogues is one of the longest-tenured Hornets players in history playing 10 seasons with the team from 1988-1998.
Bogues led the Hornets to five playoff appearances and even went toe to toe against Michael Jordan in one of those appearances. Bogues was also featured in the movie Space Jam and was the undisputed face of the Hornets in his 10 seasons with the team.
Miami Heat: Dwyane Wade
Some may argue that LeBron James is the GOAT of the Miami Heat but Dwyane Wade won a title before James even came to town.
Wade was a three time NBA Finals champion in 2006, 2012 and 2013, a finals MVP in 2006, a 13 time All-Star and a two time first team all NBA player. Wade played for the Heat from 2003-2016 and then returned to the Heat in 2018 after playing for the Bulls and Cavaliers. Wade has proved he can succeed with or without LeBron James.
Orlando Magic: Dwight Howard
The Magic are another fairly young team but have seen more success than the Hornets. The Magic have been to the NBA Finals twice and Dwight Howard led them to the ladder in 2009. Even though the Magic lost that finals in 2009, Howard is still the best Magic player of all time.
Howard led the league in rebounds five times and won the NBA defensive player of the year three times while in Orlando. Howard also had beef with Shaquille O’Neal, another magic player who left Orlando to play for the Lakers just like Howard did years later.
However, when we are talking about just their two careers in Orlando Howard comes out on top.
Washington Wizards: Wes Unseld
Wes Unseld played his entire career with the Wizards/Bullets and led them to an NBA Finals title in 1978. Unseld is the franchises all time rebounds leader and win shares leader.
Unseld was also an iron man, usually playing in all 82 games in the season. Unseld is also one of only two players to win rookie of the year and MVP in the same season, Wilt Chamberlain is the other. Even though Washington hasn’t had much success since the Unseld era, Washington fans can still look back and reminisce.
