Top 10 Current NBA Players
My top-10 players in the NBA list. This is ranking CURRENT players in the league. Some notable things that were taken into account were: stats, record, health, past performance, accolades, and dominance. Also see the bottom for notes on some notable omissions*
Nikola Jokic
The two-time league MVP and reigning champion of the NBA. Hard to rank him lower as he’s 0.8 assists away from averaging a triple double and has the Nuggets one game out of first in the West. Jokic also will commonly let his teammates cook or not play that much in blowout games which has effected his stats.
Joel Embiid
Arguably Embiid has been the most-dominant player in the league this year. Last season in the playoffs he clearly wasn’t healthy but when playing this year he has been putting up insane stats and leads the league in PPG. He’s basically unguardable which is why the 76ers are third in the East. Embiid is averaging 6.0 APG which has been a nice addition to his game. His previous career high in assists for a season was 4.20.
Luka Doncic
Luka hasn’t won anything yet (top finish was a Western Conference Finals appearance) but his stats this year are his best ever: 33.6 PPG, 9.1 APG, and 38% 3pt are all career highs. Also, he arguably has been on the least-talented teams on this list. Sure Kyrie Irving is on his team now but he hasn’t played much and their third-best player is… Tim Hardaway Jr.? Hardaway would be the 7th best player on the Celtics?
Giannis Antetokounmpo
This may seem low for Giannis but the other players ahead of him are just having ridiculous runs this past and current season. The Bucks are better than what we see on social media, they are still 2nd in the East. His stats are very slightly up but he’s playing three more minutes per game this season. If Luka cools down in the next a bit, Giannis could easily move up to 3rd.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
This guy may have barely cracked the top 10 at the end of last year but now he’s in the top 5 for me. Mostly because the Thunder are winning but also because SGA is third in the league in scoring and his assists are up from 5.5 to 6.5 this year. Take SGA off the Thunder and they are slightly more talented than the San Antonio Spurs?
Jayson Tatum
Tatum gets the sixth spot here. This team is so good overall that Tatum sometimes doesn’t get the respect he deserves. They are so much better with him. So far this year he is 8th in scoring and elevated his rebounds to almost 9 over the past two seasons and his shooting percentage to 47.9% this year, both career highs. Boston is also in 1st in the East by 3.5 games.
LeBron James
If I were writing this right after the In-Season Tournament then LeBron would be No. 1 haha just kidding but it’s hard to put anyone else above him in this spot. LeBron showed he still can win when it matters as the Lakers won the IST but recently they have been terrible. It’s insane that LeBron is averaging 25.1 points and 7.5 assists at his age. In the 2015-2016 season where he led Cleveland to a championship he averaged 25.3 points and 6.8 assists and was the best player in the league to most people.
Steph Curry
It’s almost as impressive as LeBron as to how Steph Curry has continued to be so dominant in his older age. The Warriors have been even worse than the Lakers though this year which hurts Curry on this list. Curry has been averaging the least APG of his career at 4.6 but still is 10th in scoring with 27.1 PPG. He also just scored 50 in a game 7 just this last playoffs which I haven’t forgot about even though that seems like a long time ago now.
Kawhi Leonard
Quietly Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers are just three games out from the best record in the West. Leonard has looked really good and has been playing a ton this year. He’s missed just four games so far this season. Leonard is just 22nd in the league in scoring but it’s his 5th best PPG season in his career. His efficiency is crazy for a wing superstar: 51.6% from the field, 43% from 3, and 87.1% from the line while taking just 17.2 shots per game which is the least of the top 22 scorers in the league.
Kevin Durant
Another quiet star from this year has been Kevin Durant. He’s averaged 29.6 points per game which is 5th in the NBA and I wouldn’t have thought that without looking it up. These numbers warrant a higher ranking, especially for an accomplished player like Durant, but I wonder how inflated these numbers are. He’s playing 37 minutes per game which feels unsustainable and the only other scorers on his team, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, have missed significant time. The Suns also have severely underperformed this year. They are 9th in the West when people had them locked as a top 4 team.
*Notable omissions: this is where you can find your favorite player that was close to the top 10 but didn’t make it.
Jimmy Butler would be in this top 10 if this was written in the playoffs last year but his regular season numbers are so average and he has missed so much time this season he was left off. Trae Young is averaging 27.8 points and 11 assists but the Hawks are just so bad at 14-21 he couldn’t be on here. The Kings are 5th in the West and D’Aaron Fox is 6th in the league in scoring but he hasn’t accomplished anything really to warrant being ahead of Durant or Curry. Maybe last year Devin Booker would have been 10 on this list above Durant but it’s pretty clear that this is Durant’s team now. I want Anthony Edwards to be top 10 but for a guy who hasn’t won anything and is just 11th in the league in scoring when that is the thing he does, I can’t put him top 10 yet.
Good article Anthony Edwards keeps climbing that list though!! Awesome read!