Just this week, Karl Malone and Charles Oakley were on the radio, slapping today's NBA players around for being too soft.

They can do that. They can pretty much do whatever they want when it comes to basketball because they are unquestionably two of the baddest dudes to ever play the game. We're talking about two guys that don't need tickets to go to games. They just show up, park where they want, and walk into an arena like its their kitchen.

Times have changed. Up until about a decade ago, the NBA hefted some legitimate edge. There were entire teams defined year after year by playing tough, mean and nasty. And across the league, you could easily find big strong men that played the game on the edge, with a big chip on their shoulder and a forearm to the face of anyone who crossed them.

Yes, there are plenty of tough players left in the NBA. But there isn't an ass on this list they could kick.

Here are the 10 toughest players in NBA history.

10. Anthony Mason

"Mase" played high school ball in Queens, New York, before traveling tough roads to make it to the NBA, where he was force for his hometown Knicks during the 1990s. Mason was the Sixth Man of the Year in 1995 and logged more minutes than anyone else in the league for two straight years.

9. Bill Laimbeer

The starting center on the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boy" teams that made enemies around the NBA in the 1980s, the hard-fouling, flopping Laimbeer was also known as one of the league's dirtiest players. Teammate Dennis Rodman wrote that he wa a "thug," but opponents had much more colorful four-letter words for him during Laimbeer's career.

8. Charles Barkley

To haul down a rebound in the NBA requires a certain degree of toughness. During his glory years in Philadelphia and Phoenix, nobody was better at doing it than "The Round Mound of Rebound." Barkley is one of the greatest rebounders in basketball history, an identity made even more impressive by his being only 6-foot-6, which is shorter than most other players were at his position.

7. Shaquille O'Neal

While Barkley was undersized, nobody was bigger than Shaq. Standing over seven feet tall and weighing in at more than 300 pounds, O'Neal is one of the biggest and most powerful players in NBA history. When he went to the hoop, wise players got out of the way. Early in his career, Shaq jammed with enough force to destroy backboards.

6. Allen Iverson

Iverson was six feet tall but he played a lot bigger than that. Still, there was no defense Iverson was ever intimidated by, no bigger player that ever got him to back down. One of the most fearless attackers in the game, Iverson famously got burned for not practicing hard enough, but when the game was on the line, nobody competed harder.

5. Michael Jordan

Yes, he could dunk. He could soar like few players ever could and that's how he got the name Air Jordan and the sneakers to match. But in NBA lore, there may be no more cold-blooded competitor than Jordan. Need proof? Check out the film of him in the 1997 NBA Finals, when Jordan scored 38 points in "The Flu Game." Insane.

4. Willis Reed

Until last year, the most lasting impression of Reed's toughness was him limping out for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals on a torn leg muscle when nobody knew if he would play or not. The captain's presence in that game propelled the Knicks to a title. But last year, hoops fans got a glimpse of how nasty Reed really was when footage surfaced of him punching his way through the entire Lakers team.

3. Dennis Rodman

Long before he was instigating international conflicts with North Korean, "The Worm" was one of the most prickly players in basketball. A lynchpin of the Detroit "Bad Boys" teams of the 1980s, Rodman was a fierce rebounder and played with a mean streak. By the time he joined the Bulls in the 90s, Rodman wore wild hair colors, covered himself in tattoos and body piercings. Say what you want about him, but Rodman never backed down from anyone, no matter how massive they were.

2. Charles Oakley

"Oak" was a glue guy for the Knicks during the 1990s, known for his hard defense and tough rebounding. But off the court, Oakley build a reputation for terrorizing other players. His go-to move is he'll slap you in the face. Charles Barkley was reportedly on the receiving end of it several times, including at a players' association meeting during a labor dispute. The two are known to hate each other. And if you owe Oakley money? Better pay up. He was suspended in 2001 for trying to collect a card game debt from Tyrone Hill during a pregame shootaround. Oakley threw a ball at Hill's head in his attempt to collect. He also slapped Hill before a preseason game.

1. Karl Malone

Known as "The Mailman" because he delivered, Malone was a dominant power forward throughout the 1990s. Though he's retired from the game, Malone is still spitting fire. Just this week he said he would fight Kobe Bryant. Malone's tough guy tendencies include his being an avid hunter, fisherman, and his vehicle of choice at one time was an 18 wheeler.

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