On one hand, we have NBA Players that change the course of the league with their excellence and legacy.
On the other, there are some who forced the hand of the nBA to make some rule changes that changed the way they had to play on the offense or defense.
Come take a look!
Thanks to Zaza trying to sly his way into the All-Star game with the help of his Georgia fans, the league reduced the viewer's votes by 50% and put the league back in the power on who deserves to make it to the All-Star team. However, that wasn't it. He forced the NBA to add a 'Zaza Pachulia rule' after he injured Kawhi Leonard that could have ended his career. This role enables jump shooters to get more space when they land, if not, a flagrant foul can be called.
Guarding Shaq was no piece of cake until the rivals came up with 'Hack-a-Shaq'. This meant fouling Shaq even without the ball by hugging him and locking him from moving. Shaq was a terrible FT shooter so when he went to the FT line, he wouldn't get the bucket. This worked for a while but then Shaq barged into the commissioner's office to ban players from fouling without the ball.
One sneaky move of KD's in his early years made him a target for the NBA. He got many free throws by drawing in fouls through a move called 'rip through' in which the shooter throws his arms into the defender to draw contact. Durant was already unguardable and then this. So, the league had to change this from a shooting foul to a common foul.
A lot of NBA players had trouble with Adam Morrison's hygiene because he smelled pathetic. Apparently, he hardly showered, chewed tobacco and used to spit it everywhere. It was also rumored that he would wear the same three polo's for an entire season. Gross much? This forced the NBA to make stricter rules regarding athlete's hygienes.
Harden's ppg drastically rose when he moved from the OKC to the Rockets. The league got suspicious and started keeping a close eye on him then they realized how much Harden drew fouls to go on the FT line. Harden was using an overpowered move that nobody could defend. When a defender contested, Harden would lock arms with them to force a foul call. So the Harden rule was added by the league to put a stop to end.
The centre position completely changed thanks to Michael Jordan. Initially, in the olden days of MJ, a player who was guarding a perimeter player could extend his hand and put it on the player to "check" him. But that rule came to an end. In fact, the rule made plenty of changes that surround the GOAT spanning from the 1997-98 season to the 2004-05 season.