The NBA 35th Anniversary Team was announced in 30 October 1980 to celebrated 35th Anniversary of NBA. Unlike its predecessor, the NBA 25th Anniversary Team

NBA 25th Anniversary Team

The NBA 25th Anniversary Team was announced in 11 December 1971 to celebrate the 25-year existence of BAA/NBA. This team was meant to be an All-NBA Team for that period. Up that time, All-NBA Teams only consisted of 2 teams , so this Team also only consists of 2 teams/10 players...

, that followed the concept of All-NBA Team

All-NBA Team

The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. The team has been selected in every season of the...

, this team was more like an NBA All-Star Team that contains the eleven best players in the NBA's 35 years existence regardless of their position, and also had a coach. In addition, this team did not require a player to have completed his career to be eligible for this Team.

NBA 35th Anniversary Team members

Sorted by last name, players in italics were still active in 1980.>

Position	Name
C Center (basketball) The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
F	Elgin Baylor Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor is a retired Hall of Fame American basketball player and former NBA general manager who played 13 seasons as a forward for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers....
C Center (basketball) The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...	Wilt Chamberlain Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
G	Bob Cousy Bob Cousy Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy is a retired American professional basketball player. The 6'1" , 175-pound Cousy played point guard with the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics from 1951 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season...
F	Julius Erving Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
G/F Swingman A Swingman is a basketball term denoting a player who can play both the small forward and shooting guard positions, and, in essence, swing between the shooting guard and small forward positions." Swingmen males are often between 6'5" and 6'8" .John Havlicek, who played for the Boston Celtics in...	John Havlicek John Havlicek John J. "Hondo" Havlicek is a retired American professional basketball player who competed for 16 seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA titles, half of them coming in his first four seasons....
C Center (basketball) The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...	George Mikan George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan, Jr. , nicknamed Mr. Basketball, was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association...
F	Bob Pettit Bob Pettit Robert Lee "Bob" Pettit Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks . He was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970...
G	Oscar Robertson Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson , nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American NBA player with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks...
C Center (basketball) The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...	Bill Russell Bill Russell William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association...
G	Jerry West Jerry West Jerry Alan West is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His nicknames include "Mr...

• Red Auerbach
  Red Auerbach
  Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was an American basketball coach of the Washington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Boston Celtics. After he retired from coaching, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death...
  
   (former coach of Washington Capitols
  Washington Capitols
  The Washington Capitols were a charter Basketball Association of America team based in Washington, D.C. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbach....
  
  , Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and Boston Celtics
  Boston Celtics
  The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
  
  ) was selected as NBA 35th Anniversary Team's coach.
• The 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers selected as the greatest individual team.
• Bill Russell
  Bill Russell
  William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association...
  
   was selected as the greatest player.

All members of this team, including Red Auerbach, have been inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Cousy, Mikan, Pettit, and Russell had been previously selected into the NBA 25th Anniversary Team

NBA 25th Anniversary Team

The NBA 25th Anniversary Team was announced in 11 December 1971 to celebrate the 25-year existence of BAA/NBA. This team was meant to be an All-NBA Team for that period. Up that time, All-NBA Teams only consisted of 2 teams , so this Team also only consists of 2 teams/10 players...

 in 1971. All players on this team were including among the NBA 50 Greatest Players of All-Time in 1996.

Only made of 11 players, this team excludes 25th Anniversary Team players Paul Arizin, Bob Davies, Joe Fulks

Joe Fulks

Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks was an American professional basketball player, sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was one of the first players, albeit posthumously, enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978...

, Sam Jones

Sam Jones (basketball)

Samuel Jones is a retired American professional basketball player at shooting guard and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was known for his quickness and game-winning shots, especially during the NBA Playoffs...

, Dolph Schayes

Dolph Schayes

Adolph "Dolph" Schayes is a retired American professional basketball player and coach in the NBA. A top scorer and rebounder, he was a member of the 1955 NBA champion Syracuse Nationals and a 12-time All-Star....

, Bill Sharman

Bill Sharman

William Walton "Bill" Sharman is a former professional basketball player and coach. Sharman completed high school in the rural city of Porterville, California and is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what some consider the greatest...

; future 50 Greatest Players that had already established Nate Archibald

Nate Archibald

Nathaniel "Nate" Archibald is a former American professional basketball player. He spent 14 years playing in the NBA, most notably with the Kansas City Kings and Boston Celtics....

, Rick Barry

Rick Barry

Richard Francis Dennis Barry III , better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision,...

, Dave Bing

Dave Bing

David "Dave" Bing is the mayor of Detroit, Michigan, a businessman, and a retired American professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association , primarily for the Detroit Pistons...

, Dave Cowens

Dave Cowens

David William Cowens is a retired American professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center and occasionally the power forward position. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991...

, Billy Cunningham

Billy Cunningham

William John "Billy" Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.- Beginnings :...

, Dave DeBusschere

Dave DeBusschere

David Albert DeBusschere was an American NBA and major league baseball player and coach in the NBA. In 1996, DeBusschere was named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history....

, Walt Frazier

Walt Frazier

Walter "Clyde" Frazier is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association . He was blessed with a unique combination of court vision, quickness, and size for a guard...

, Hal Greer

Hal Greer

Harold Everett Greer is a retired American professional basketball player.He attended Douglass Junior and Senior High School in Huntington. He played college basketball at Marshall University and was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA in 1958...

, Elvin Hayes

Elvin Hayes

Elvin Ernest Hayes is a retired American basketball player and radio analyst for Houston Cougars men's basketball, where he played college basketball...

, Jerry Lucas

Jerry Lucas

Jerry Ray Lucas was a basketball player from the 1950s to the 1970s, and is now a memory education expert. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in National Basketball Association history...

, Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich

Peter "Pistol Pete" Press Maravich was an American professional basketball player. Born and raised in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University and played for three NBA teams until injuries induced him to retire in 1980...

, Earl Monroe

Earl Monroe

Vernon Earl Monroe is an American former professional basketball player known for his flamboyant dribbling, passing, and play-making. His nicknames is "Earl the Pearl".-Early years:...

, Willis Reed

Willis Reed

Willis Reed, Jr. is a retired American basketball player, coach and manager of basketball teams. He spent his entire professional playing career with the New York Knicks. In 1982, his outstanding record and achievements were recognized by his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall...

, Nate Thurmond

Nate Thurmond

Nathaniel "Nate" Thurmond is a retired American basketball player. Dominant at both center and power forward, he was a seven-time All-Star and the first player in NBA history to record a quadruple-double....

, Wes Unseld

Wes Unseld

Westley Sissel "Wes" Unseld is an American former basketball player. He spent his entire NBA career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life and college career:Unseld starred on a Seneca High School team...

, Bill Walton

Bill Walton

William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...

, Lenny Wilkens

Lenny Wilkens

Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA...

; and many others Hall of Famers. Arguably, this team is the most exclusive of the NBA Anniversaries Teams.