Elgin Baylor
Elgin Baylor was the prequel to Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. He could dunk like Julius Erving and Michael Jordan, could jump nearly as high as they could, could sky like them and also could lay it up as great as they could. Back when Elgin played in the 1960s, no basketball player had done the moves he was making during games. No one. He was palming the ball and doing finger rolls ever before Julius Erving or George Gervin were in the NBA. A true legend that revolutionized the sport.
Kyrie Irving
Some fans today will say that Kyrie’s layups are the greatest of all time. Now, if you think that, we won’t argue with you because Kyrie definitely can lay it up with the best of them. Interestingly enough, when you look at all the names on this list, all of them were highflyers and could get up, the only player on this list that doesn’t sky but still has a deep bag of layups, is Kyrie. Kyrie has inspired a whole generation of new players who like to show off their handles and finish the play with a difficult layup over two or three defenders. Maybe down the road one of them will be on this list.
Vince Carter
Because Vince was such a great dunker (and a candidate for the greatest dunker ever) many have forgotten just how amazing his layup package was. Vince was the type of player that when he took off in the air, you never knew how he was going to finish the play. He could leap up to the basket, encounter a defender, maybe throw one down in his face, or spin midair and lay it up off the glass. As skilled as Vince dunk was a dunker, he was just a skilled as laying up difficult layups.
Julius Erving
So, we all know just how great a player Dr. J was, and how before Michael Jordan was seen as the greatest dunker of his time. Many of you probably don’t even know that Doc had a crazy layup game. Erving’s famous underhanded reverse layup against the Lakers in the 1980 finals is considered by many as the greatest ever. Whether or not you agree that’s it the goat layup in NBA history, you have to acknowledge that is definitely in the top three all time. Go on YouTube and go see for yourself some Julius clips from the early 80s. You will see just how creative he used to get around the rim.
Michael Jordan
You already knew that this guy would be on the list. To us he possesses the greatest layup bag of all time. There are just so many iconic ones: the hand switching in the 1991 finals, the crazy layup against the New Jersey Nets (which also happened in 1991), the one 180 against Laimbeer where he saved a ball from going out of bounds, jumped back in bounds then did a crazy layup and got the and one, as well as countless others. If you go back and look, the prime years of Jordan’s layup package were the first six or seven years of his career. Once he got older, he changed his game and played more on the perimeter and drove to the basket less than he did when he was younger. Some of those, especially in his first three years in the league, are nothing short of spectacular.