RealGM Top 25 Player Poll 2021-22-#1

[Pelly24]

I put LeBron just because I didn't see a notable physical decline between 2019-2020 lebron and 2020-2021 lebron, and that year's lebron had the best combo of scoring, IQ and defense. I think Jokic is No. 2 or No. 3, along with Steph.

My top 10 or so is something like this:

1. LeBron
2. Jokic
3. KD
4. Steph
5. Giannis/Harden/Luka
6. Harden/Giannis/Luka
7. Kawhi
8. Embiid
9. Dame
10. AD

[Michael Lucky]

Vote: Giannis

Add: Anthony Davis

[rzzzzz]

What a difference for Giannis finally getting a really good point guard. It’s what I wish on Embiid.

[CobraCommander]

Vote Giannis

add Beal (the loyalty cornerstone)

[Saints14]

Vote Giannis
Add Zion

I wouldn’t blame anyone if gun to their head they’d take KD or LeBron in a 7 game series, or pick Luka to take another leap, but at some point you have to take real accomplishments at face value. 2 MVPs and a FMVP is an insane 3 year stretch, and Giannis completely demolished any notion that he can’t carry a team in the playoffs

[Jadoogar]

Voted = Durant, nearly beat Milwaukee by himself
Add = Tatum

[Gert42]

Voted: KD

Add: AD

[Naero]

Vote: Kevin Durant.
Add: Anthony Davis.

He’s the most skilled player in the game, and he translated that impact into this year’s postseason. No one can accuse him of having to leech off of superteams anymore; he was a literal inch away from beating the eventual champions without either of his costars healthy, engineering the highest-scoring Game 7 of all time.

I don’t mind Giannis getting the nod, however—partly out of homerism, but in larger part because he’s closed the gap enough with his own legendary run. It’s just my intellectually honest opinion that Durant is the better player, especially as there’s no conceivable defensive scheme—the Giannis wall, per se—that can curb him. Moreover, does anyone seriously doubt he would’ve also won in Giannis’s shoes?

As I said, it’s close enough that neither pick is outrageous, but I feel Giannis might be getting a bit romanticized for winning it all when he didn’t even definitively outperform KD in the process.

[ReddoverKobe]

Middelton belongs in the top 25. I would take him over anyone from 19-25 except Murray. Guys dropping 40 point games in the finals while one of the dudes on the list is afraid to dunk.

[ken6199]

I am sure some posters on this site secretly swapped their #1 between KD and Giannis tonight, because that’s how we roll.