NBArank reveals their top 10 players for the upcoming 2024 season.

[Hey Yo]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38633041/nbarank-2023-player-rankings-2023-24-10-1

[Xiao Yao You]

no game minimum for ESPN

[dankok8]

Very good list although I would have 8. Lebron 9. Davis 10. Butler. As good as SGA was I wouldn't put him top 10 yet.

[Real Men Wear Green]

It's a reasonable list if you ignore durability for everyone but Kawhi Leonard. I would say Jokic deserves the top spot but when you look at offensive impact as well as defensive impact and maybe ignore a little bit how overwhelming Jokic is offensively Giannis first is reasonable. I would also rather have Curry than Doncic. The way Doncic has to dominate the ball to be as statistically impactful as he is makes him less desirable than Curry, who leaves enough touches for teammates to shine.

[Dbrog]

Tatum and Embiid are jokes but ESPN will love their stats so they don't care. Agree with Dankok that SGA can't be top10 just because he hasn't really done anything yet. It was like that one season Ice-Tray had those gawdy stats but led his team to like..30 wins.

[elementally morale]

Not having Jokic at #1 is not good. Sure, defense... blahblahblah. Jokic IS the Nuggets. Having seen the playoffs and not giving him #1 is just wrong. The rest of the list is reasonable. SGA... I don't know. Everyone else is fine by me. But Jokic is clearly the best player in basketball.

[ShawkFactory]

Tatum and Embiid are jokes but ESPN will love their stats so they don't care. Agree with Dankok that SGA can't be top10 just because he hasn't really done anything yet. It was like that one season Ice-Tray had those gawdy stats but led his team to like..30 wins.

I don't disagree with the overall sentiment regarding SGA but he's very different from Trae. That OKC should NOT have been a playin team in the west this year.

[jlip]

Solid list but I simply can't understand why people continue to place Jokic behind Gianni's. The defensive gap is simply not enough for me.

[FultzNationRISE]

Joker and Lebron way too low, AD way too high, and if we’re judging best player based on when it actually matters (playoffs) you have to put Luka > Embiid. With all apologies to Mask the Embiid, you cant be a playoff pvssycat as much as Joel has and keep getting the benefit of the doubt.

I also think with equal teams Luka > Giannis if we’re talking playoff impact. G doesnt get away with the same amount of charging and traveling in the playoffs that his game requires, and if Phoenix hadnt inexplicably decided not to build the wall in 2021 he would not have the caché he currently does among ring counters. Hes a great regular season player, not as reliable when the games becomes more deliberate.

[Kblaze8855]

Joker and Lebron way too low, AD way too high, and if we’re judging best player based on when it actually matters (playoffs) you have to put Luka > Embiid. With all apologies to Mask the Embiid, you cant be a playoff pvssycat as much as Joel has and keep getting the benefit of the doubt.

I also think with equal teams Luka > Giannis if we’re talking playoff impact. G doesnt get away with the same amount of charging and traveling in the playoffs that his game requires, and if Phoenix hadnt inexplicably decided not to build the wall in 2021 he would not have the caché he currently does among ring counters. Hes a great regular season player, not as reliable when the games becomes more deliberate.


It’s always funny to me when you suggest someone isn’t effective because it takes 3-4 people building a “wall” to keep him from dropping 50 and winning the title as if the very concept doesn’t show that person is damn near unstoppable.

27/12/5 on 53% in his playoff career which includes the year he was 4th option and doing 11 a game.

He’s really the best example that fans are absolutely full of shit and don’t really care what evidence is put in front of them or about the things they criticize when it goes the way they want it to. Nobody to ever set foot on an NBA court has done anything success wise Giannis has not already done. I know it annoys people to face that fact, but it is just that. He’s already done.

And claims like if he were guarded by the entire metro population of Phoenix he might not have had a goat tier run does nothing but strengthen his case. It’s done. There is no “But he can’t…” because he already has.

You can win with Jokic and good but not superstar help. You can win with Giannis and good but not superstar help. Steph as well. Kwahi also proved it regardless of how anyone feels about the circumstances.

It isn’t up for debate. It’s just a reality that makes a lot of already dumb arguments hard to continue. Whatever you think the way he plays limits his team from doing you are factually wrong because he’s already done the only thing anybody can do and the meat of the entire case against him has already come off the bone.

I’m sure his haters in alternate dimensions are still making the same arguments about what is and isn’t possible because pure coincidence somehow made them lose in that universe. In that universe I’m sure you’re still using the results to show how smart you are. And maybe in that universe Murray twisted an ankle and Jokics haters have the extra “loser” ammo too.

if I had a window to the multi-verse, it wouldn’t be the first thing to check on but somewhere in the first few weeks I would get around to checking on the arguments haters make in universes where small changes keep people from winning or make our losers champions.

same goddamn player with the right set of circumstances either shut up a bunch of haters who don’t know half as much as they think they do or make the same ill-informed haters get credit for being right for 15 years.

across the whole multi-verse players of a certain level are capable of taking a team to that kind of success, while millions of people use the fact that it does, or does not happen to prop up their arguments. There are several in every era who can do it and never will or do it because a stroke of luck took the shot from someone else.

but the number is always more than those who actually do it. In this one you’re wrong forever and so are the anti Jokics. In another universe you’re right…or at least have results that suggest it.

In truth?

Pretty much all the truly great players can get it done and all deserve less hate than they get.

they’re all the right or wrong couple breaks from being immortals, but we will always be slave to results. And in this universe?

He made the league bend the knee. I’ll happily offer you passage to one more to your liking if we work out the technology.

Least you should be able to do in all of them is acknowledge he’s clearly great and reliable enough that if things fall the right way he can win you the title. Seems fairly hard to deny when you watched it happen.

He’s one of those guys. Each era might have five or six, and he is inarguably one of them. That’s all anyone has ever been or will be.

One of the few who can do it. From there you just hope you’re in the right dimension for it to work out.

[tpols]

SGA over Butler is wild after last year. Giannis over Jokic too. 1 lost to an 8 seed and the other ran an all time great playoff run. Can't blame help, Milwaukee had and currently has way more than Denver.

[FultzNationRISE]

You can rate him based on whatever criteria you want. My assessment comes from what I value, which is comfortability and consistency in big games/series.

Giannis had a very uneven playoff run before that Phoenix series. If they build the wall it’s entirely possible his legacy is completely different. This is not some absurd hypothetical that if Phoenix could break all the rules of the game and summon the Heavens, THEN theyd have stopped him. “Building the Wall” had been a proven way to disrupt G from playing his optimal game. Other teams had success doing it. They just didnt do it. Im not saying it shuts him down, Im saying it stops him from belligerently dominating them the way he did. And the proof is in the fact he didnt have a series like that vs anyone else. Other top guys dont really have a strategic kryptonite like that.

It’s just… what it is. It’s nothing personal. I dont dislike Giannis by any means. I just think context matters. His awards and championship are great but a favorable situation plays a part in that. If you take situational variables out of it and compare him to similar peers on a similar level, he doesnt rank as highly IMO.

[FultzNationRISE]

SGA over Butler is wild after last year. Giannis over Jokic too. 1 lost to an 8 seed and the other ran an all time great playoff run. Can't blame help, Milwaukee had and currently has way more than Denver.


Yeah, Jokic not number 1 is embarrassing, tho I think ESPN contractually requires editors not to print any ranking without some kind of a dumb/controversial take.

[tontoz]

Prior to last season Vegas predicted OKC to win 26 games. They won 40 in large part because of SGA going off. He was first team all-nba.

It is pretty rare for Vegas to get punkd that badly.

[SATAN]

The obsession with lists is extremely gay.

[dankok8]

You can rate him based on whatever criteria you want. My assessment comes from what I value, which is comfortability and consistency in big games/series.

Giannis had a very uneven playoff run before that Phoenix series. If they build the wall it’s entirely possible his legacy is completely different. This is not some absurd hypothetical that if Phoenix could break all the rules of the game and summon the Heavens, THEN theyd have stopped him. “Building the Wall” had been a proven way to disrupt G from playing his optimal game. Other teams had success doing it. They just didnt do it. Im not saying it shuts him down, Im saying it stops him from belligerently dominating them the way he did. And the proof is in the fact he didnt have a series like that vs anyone else. Other top guys dont really have a strategic kryptonite like that.

It’s just… what it is. It’s nothing personal. I dont dislike Giannis by any means. I just think context matters. His awards and championship are great but a favorable situation plays a part in that. If you take situational variables out of it and compare him to similar peers on a similar level, he doesnt rank as highly IMO.

An uneven playoff run where before the Finals he averaged 28.2/12.7/5.2 on 57.3 %TS while probably being the best defender in the league as well. The only thing you can hold against him is missing two games against the Hawks. 2021 Giannis is one of the highest peaks in NBA history by any objective measure.

I would have ranked Jokic #1 but Giannis ahead of him is not a travesty. Dood is that good.

[aj1987]

Curry at #5 is just insane. Too high.

[FultzNationRISE]

An uneven playoff run where before the Finals he averaged 28.2/12.7/5.2 on 57.3 %TS while probably being the best defender in the league as well. The only thing you can hold against him is missing two games against the Hawks. 2021 Giannis is one of the highest peaks in NBA history by any objective measure.

I would have ranked Jokic #1 but Giannis ahead of him is not a travesty. Dood is that good.


It WAS uneven if you watched it tho, which I remember doing. Thats why they needed 7 games vs Nets with no Kyrie and a gimpy Harden, and won the series by a KD toe. The Hawks also took em to six, and the Hawks havent done shit before of since. The games they lost Giannis was turning the ball over, being clumsy in big moments, and generally looking unreliable.

He’s a dominant athlete the way the game is called today but he’s very limited in basketball skill/instinct. I count this is a drawback when comparing him against the other elites. If the refs happen to be calling a tight game on a given night you cannot be sure he’s gonna find a way to win a game anyway.

[Kblaze8855]

You can rate him based on whatever criteria you want. My assessment comes from what I value, which is comfortability and consistency in big games/series.

Giannis had a very uneven playoff run before that Phoenix series. If they build the wall it’s entirely possible his legacy is completely different. This is not some absurd hypothetical that if Phoenix could break all the rules of the game and summon the Heavens, THEN theyd have stopped him. “Building the Wall” had been a proven way to disrupt G from playing his optimal game. Other teams had success doing it. They just didnt do it. Im not saying it shuts him down, Im saying it stops him from belligerently dominating them the way he did. And the proof is in the fact he didnt have a series like that vs anyone else. Other top guys dont really have a strategic kryptonite like that.

It’s just… what it is. It’s nothing personal. I dont dislike Giannis by any means. I just think context matters. His awards and championship are great but a favorable situation plays a part in that. If you take situational variables out of it and compare him to similar peers on a similar level, he doesnt rank as highly IMO.



Got it. Requiring 4 defenders(on the ball plus the “wall”) is suggestive of a negative not being unstoppable. Every other player who has ever necessitated a gimmick defense to keep them from running wild it was because they were great. Not this time though. “Just stick 4 guys on him god….he’s not good with 4 people on him!”. Excellent point.

And having lost before you won, and after you won, doesn’t prove there is some magic trick to besting the greatest players of all time. Jokić didn’t win until he won, and he’s going to not win a lot from here on. That’s how it goes. But once you prove it, it’s proven, and it can’t be taken away no matter what anybody thinks.

The whole “It’s been proven….” Thing is completely flipped on its head because once you win, it’s proven what you do can win, and the rest is just talk.

[FultzNationRISE]

Got it. Requiring 4 defenders(on the ball plus the “wall”) is suggestive of a negative not being unstoppable. Every other player who has ever necessitated a gimmick defense to keep them from running wild it was because they were great. Not this time though. “Just stick 4 guys on him god….he’s not good with 4 people on him!”. Excellent point.


Except theyre not guarding him. Theyre standing under the basket, and that basically forces him to either give the ball up or make everyone in the arena buckle up for a roller coaster ride as he attempts to hit basic jump shots.

Other all time greats just dont come with that kind of uncertainty.

[Kblaze8855]

And yet not a single one of them accomplished a single thing of note that he didn’t already. It’s great that you think somebody who has scored like 30 a game for five years can be simply made ineffective by the constant vigilance of four people, but if it were a valid tactic that wouldnt be adjusted to he wouldn’t be a 30 ppg scorer in the first place.

Teams do enough of it and his team would get so good playing 4 or 5 out they’d be bombing you like shooting drills.

The problem with the idea that because they have lost other times you simply replicate that and they lose forever shouldn’t even need explaining. Everyone loses most times. Great enough players break through eventually…sometimes. All you can do is be good enough to break through when the chances there. He obviously was and that’s all there is to it.

People have been thinking stopping all-time greats is simple because of some gimmick when they didn’t win for 100 years. No tactic is that effective. Yea just stand 3 guys in the paint vs teams with centers who shoot threes. Now add Dame who has 40 foot range. And consider the guy on the ball isn’t Kwahi Leonard and the “Wall” isn’t a DPOY and DPOY runner up.

See how that goes. There’s a reason all the simplistic tactics used against GOATs aren’t used all the time. Everything has an obvious flaw that depends on an nba team not exploiting it.

No different than Hack a Shaq. Easy stop. Stopped him all the way to 4 titles. Hell they tried that too and Giannis started hitting free throws like Mark Price and dropped 50.

If all this were simple they’d just Google solutions and not hire coaches. None of these fan tactics are as sound or as simple as they believe. Video scouts aren’t working 16 hour days in the playoffs for coaches to build a game plan without someone having the bright idea of putting the whole team in the paint to slow one guy on a team full of shooters.

That person was probably just called a moron because those things are personnel dependent and they could also pull up 38 examples of the opponent already having figured out what to do about it.

[FultzNationRISE]

Hey listen, it aint my fault Lebron set the bar so high. I have no control over that. If we were comparing Giannis to the standard set by MJ, then there might be a case. But I need more than that. I cant have a guy who has clear weaknesses being called a top 2-3 player. Top 5 is the highest I can go. Again, if you got a problem with that, put it on Lebron. Cuz he lifted the bar that high. He set the expectation for being elite in both statistics AND eye test. The eye test tells me G isnt quite there. It is what it is. Deal with it.

[Akeem34TheDream]

The obsession with lists is extremely gay.

I agree 100%. But its the same for me with all time rankings too.

[dankok8]

Kblaze dropping knowledge as usual.

While I can agree that peak Giannis is quite not a GOAT level player, he is probably a lot closer than people want to admit. The numbers that he's been putting up on top of the kind of defense he plays is a very rare occurrence in NBA history.

[Wally450]

Good top 5, I'd put Jokic at 1 and Giannis at 2 though.

[Jasper]

I do not like Tatum even being in the top 10.
horrible.

Joker deserves number #1 because he won it all last year.

Giannis and Joel are right there though.
Amazing we all thought bigs would not impact the league top three say differently.