The scariest players in NBA history

In honor of Halloween being just around the bend, we’re going to have some fun today. While NBA teams don’t frequently have enforcer-types anymore, there is still a rich history of players that, for one reason or another, were downright terrifying. 

Here is our list of the top five scariest players in NBA history.

5. BILL LAIMBEER

The more distance that we collectively get from the Bad Boy Pistons, the easier they become to love. But if you watched those teams play now, most people would find the way they acted on the court absolutely outrageous.

Unless you’re a child of the ’90s like myself, you’ve likely never heard of Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball. It was a game for the Super Nintendo, that takes place in a dystopian future where Bill Laimbeer is commissioner of the NBA, and has fired all referees and made the sport "anything goes", including outright murder.

You don’t get to be the lead figure in a game like that without a well-earned reputation for gratuitous on-court violence. Laimbeer may not be the most intimidating on this list, but he makes up for it with his pure vicious streak and willingness to play dirty to a degree that would simply not fly in today's NBA.

4. MAURICE LUCAS

Maurice "the Enforcer" Lucas has a well-earned nom de guerre. Lucas’s claim to fame is quite literally putting his dukes up against Darryl Dawkins when the Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers were playing in the NBA Finals in 1977.

In Game 2 "The Brawl" as it is affectionately known in Rip City, cemented Lucas’s reputation as one of the all-time NBA tough guys. The Blazers were down 0-2 at the time of the incident and ripped off four straight victories to win their first, and to date only, NBA championship.

3. RON ARTEST

Ron Artest, or Metta World Peace as he is now known, is known to have struggled with anger issues, and his inclusion on this list isn’t to make light of his extremely admirable journey toward better mental health. But in his Ron Artest days, there were fewer more intimidating figures in the sport. In addition to his physical prowess, there was an edge to Artest that many opponents found unnerving.

That edge eventually boiled over into the infamous Malice at the Palace, when Artest ran into the stands and began fighting fans after they pelted him with cups and debris while he was on the court. It was a black mark for the league, and also ensured Artest’s spot on this list.

2. JERRY STACKHOUSE

This one might surprise you, but lowkey Jerry Stackhouse is one of the scariest players in NBA history. "Stack" is known for his hardnose style of basketball, and these days for his cerebral coaching style as head coach of Vanderbilt, but he’s equally infamous for his fights.

And he fought a lot. In games, in practices, with opponents, with coaches, with rookies, with veterans, even with his friends. And the one commonality from all these fights? Stackhouse walked away the winner. 

The most terrifying sight in the NBA? Stackhouse waiting for you in the tunnel after the game.

1. CHARLES OAKLEY 

The word bully is used pretty loosely in NBA nomenclature, but if anyone has earned the moniker, it’s Charles Oakley. Oakley began his career with the Chicago Bulls and was tasked with protecting a then light-in-his-shorts Michael Jordan, before being traded to the New York Knicks. If you touched Jordan, Oak touched you back - soon enough there were very few people willing to put hands anywhere near MJ.

For Pat Riley’s Knicks, he was the heart and soul of one of the most physical defenses of all time, the level of violence that Oakley and those ‘90s Knicks teams unleashed eventually led to substantial rule changes that contributed to the offense-dominated league we see today. 

All of the guys on this list are scary in their own right, but few were feared enough that the NBA had to change the way the game was played as a result. That’s Oak.