The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy is a 2009 New York Times bestselling book by ESPN columnist Bill Simmons.[1] In the book, Simmons tackles a multitude of basketball topics and arguments, which culminates in his ranking of the top 96 players in NBA history. His top 5 in descending order: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, and Michael Jordan.[