RealGM

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/5/4/22416337/top-25-nba-player-ranking-lebron-james-nikola-jokic

Curious what people thought of this. I always enjoy reading timely basketball analysis. I was glad Holiday and Randle got some love. Embiid made a big jump from past rankings. Nothing about this list made me cringe, and overall I'm just in awe at the collection of talent currently playing in the league.

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Lebron James
3. Joel Embiid
4. Steph Curry
5. Kevin Durant
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Giannis Antetokounmpo
8. James Harden
9. Anthony Davis
10. Luka Doncic
11. Damian Lillard
12. Chris Paul
13. Zion Williamson
14. Paul George
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Kyrie Irving
17. Jayson Tatum
18. Rudy Gobert
19. Bradley Beal
20. Devin Booker
21. Julius Randle
22. Donovan Mitchell
23. Bam Adebayo
24. Jrue Holiday
25. Karl Anthony Towns

Not making the cut: Ben Simmons, Domantas Sabonis, Jamal Murray, Trae Young, Russell Westbrook, Jaylen Brown, Mike Conley, Zach Lavine, Nikola Vucevic, Brian Scalabrine (lol JK)

For context, here is the Real GM Top 25 Player Poll 2020-2021 from the beginning of the season:

1)LeBron James (LAL) - 53%
2)Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) - 47%
3)Luka Doncic (DAL) - 37%
4)Kawhi Leonard (LAC) - 34%
5)Anthony Davis (LAL) - 35%
6)James Harden (HOU) - 39%
7)Steph Curry (GSW) - 33%
8)Nikola Jokic (DEN) - 42%
9)Kevin Durant (BKN) - 46%
10)Damian Lillard (POR) - 38%
11)Jimmy Butler (MIA) - 57%
12)Jayson Tatum (BOS) - 41%
13)Joel Embiid (PHI) - 59%
14)Devin Booker (PHX) - 22%
15)Chris Paul (PHX) - 24%
16)Paul George (LAC) - 21%
17)Bradley Beal (WAS) - 22%
18)Donovan Mitchell (UTA) - 22%
19)Ben Simmons (PHI) - 26%
20)Kyle Lowry (TOR) - 28%
21)Rudy Gobert (UTA) - 26%
22)Bam Adebayo (MIA) - 24%
23)Jamal Murray (DEN) - 29%
24)Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) - 32%
25) Kyrie Irving - 33%

Giannis seems way too low. MVP of the past 2 years shouldn't be ranked 7th.

Gobert's spot seems off and Randle might actually be getting underrated with beal and book still two guys I'm more suspect on. But yeah nothing terrible here. I doubt this was a really well thought out and put together list but it's the ringer. They're a step above espn but still mostly fluff.

this looks more like a mvp candidates list to me.

any list of 'best nba players' that have some really unexpected "hot-takes" like Jokic over LeBron or Embiid over Durant just look attention seeking to me tbh. but if this is what the writer really believes in then it's totally fine.

btw my top 5 would be LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Harden, Curry.

Jokic over LeBron is overvaluing the regular season.

I'd probably have Harden/Giannis over Kawhi. A lot of these players were injured this year, but you essentially know at this point that Kawhi will be missing games and taking it easy during the regular season.

I'd have Luka over AD, esp. this year.

On both those changes, it really depends a lot on how much you value this season and past regular seasons vs. past playoffs.

Augusto61 wrote:this looks more like a mvp candidates list to me.

any list of 'best nba players' that have some really unexpected "hot-takes" like Jokic over LeBron or Embiid over Durant just look attention seeking to me tbh. but if this is what the writer really believes in then it's totally fine.

btw my top 5 would be LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Harden, Curry.

Depends on whether you are asking who is the best moving-forward/at-the-height-of-their-powers, or who has been the best this season. Form vs Class, and all that *shrug*

Jimmy should be TOP 10. Underrated as usual.

As much as I like Jokic he's going to have to win a chip before he ranks 1 in my opinion. Even then I'm not sure he's good enough defensively to rank first.

rate_ wrote:Jimmy should be TOP 10. Underrated as usual.

Over who exactly?

Luka and LeBron should be higher
Lillard and kawai should be lower
How did adebayo get on this?

Good to see the eventual MVP at #1

not bad, I'd still have LeBron #1, KD #2 and Steph #3, but nothing crazy here, like where Luka and Zion are at, Cp3 still being top15 is good

Paul George over Jimmy Butler should be punishable by law.

There’s so many good players right. Feels like players in that 15-30 range are very similar is just depends on whose around them.

Throw a guy like Sabonis on a team where he isn’t a #1 guy and he shoots up the rankings. I just don’t think there’s much of a difference between #21 Randle, on the bubble Sabonis, or not mentioned Siakam.

So so hard to get it down to 25 guys nowadays

Beal should be bumped all the way up to 14, Tatum definitely over Kyrie.

KAT and Jrue should be higher. Just in front of Booker.

YogurtProducer wrote:There’s so many good players right. Feels like players in that 15-30 range are very similar is just depends on whose around them.

Throw a guy like Sabonis on a team where he isn’t a #1 guy and he shoots up the rankings. I just don’t think there’s much of a difference between #21 Randle, on the bubble Sabonis, or not mentioned Siakam.

So so hard to get it down to 25 guys nowadays

Sounds like you're just under-rating how good Julius has been this season *shrug*

Freighttrain wrote:Jokic over LeBron is overvaluing the regular season.

Maybe you’re overvaluing the past. LeBron’s 36 with unprecedented mileage and he’s been plagued by injuries this season. I wouldn’t take him over Jokic right now. If anyone’s underrated on this list it’s Giannis. He’s been slowly improving his jumper and even in a “down year”, he’s a clear #2 on my MVP ballot. I’d probably put him #1 actually.

Also don’t forget that Jokic has been absolutely fantastic in his 2 postseasons. There’s nothing to suggest that he’s a better regular season player than postseason player in any way.

I learned today that Julius Randle is rated higher than Donovan Mitchell.
I also learned Booker is better even though he avgs less across the board than Donny as well.