Longevity is massively overvalued in NBA discourse.
Its cool that players who played 18-20 years managed to stay healthy and relevant for that long. But to evaluate greatness or compare players careers, it should only be a minor factor, if one at all. Playing for 20 years where you were a great player for 10 years and good or above average for the other 10 shouldn't elevate you over someone who played 10 years and was great for all ten.
Similarly, cumulative stats are also mega over valued in NBA discourse.
I feel like he is both underappreciated and overrated.
He is unappreciated in the sense that because he wasn't a champ, or an MVP, most newer fans don't really remember him or mention his name in the conversation with all time great centers. Like whenever a Philly or a Denver fan tries to put Embiid and Jokic in the great centres convo, they go straight to Wilt, Shaq, Hakeem, Kareem, Bill Russell, etc. And just skip over guys like Moses Malone, Robinson, Ewing, who even if you think Joker or Embiid are better, should at least be in the discussion.
At the same time, I feel like he was also overrated because his college career was so great and he played in New York. He was constantly compared with his contemporaries like Hakeem, Shaq and David Robinson, but he was really a tier below them. I feel like his offense especially was overrated for the fact that he didn't have another elite scorer alongside him for his prime, and wasn't great in the clutch. But his defense was elite.