ESPN NBA Rank 2025

[bballsparkin]

30: Scottie Barnes (questionable players above him: 29 Trae Young, 28 Maxey, 21 Bam Adebayo, 12 Cade Cunningham, 11 Jalen Williams). This is very debatable, but yes, I rather have Scottie than all the guys I listed as questionable.

None of those players' GM's would trade their guy for Scottie except maybe Trae. And neither would any other NBA GM

Scottie for Trae is bad. Leave him for other teams pls and thanks. I wouldn't trade him for Bam or Maxey either. But they all definitely deserve to be above Scottie for the start of this season. Only Poeltl got robbed imho.

[YogurtProducer]

IQ has shown NOTHING in this league as a starter yet. He doesnt deserve to be there until he does.

What has Stephon Castle shown to be #99? or NAW at #96? or Pritchard at 97?

We can keep going lower... Ivey at 85, Nembhard at 82, etc.

None of them are exactly proven players here.

NAW being there is ridiculous but thats just a benefit of being on a good team. Same with Pritchard.

Castle/Ivey have age on their side so youre allowed to project them highly.

And nembhard has shown enough to be ahead of IQ right now.

This team has been a joke the past several years so youre not going to see me crying about them needing to be much higher. Win on the court and these things typically follow behind.

Nembhard, coming off a 10/3/5 54TS% season, has shown enough to be the 82nd best player in the league?

Has IQ had a season as good as Pritchard’s recent season? Not even trying to be funny lol.

Payton - 14/4/4 63TS%
IQ - 18/4/6 57TS% as a Raptor

If you account for the fact Prichard gets to fire up 8 3's a night by being the 4th/5th option on the court, and come off the bench against worse players, and IQ actually gets defensive attention he has to work through. Last time IQ came off the bench he put up 15/3/3 in only 24mpg on 60TS%, on a much worse NYK team.

IQ > Pritchard IMO. Unless this is not a top 100 player list and is actually a "top 100 players in their roles" which would be fine (but it isn't).

Salaries aside, Boston would take IQ > Pritchard, and there is not a chance I would trade IQ for Pritchard.

[HumbleRen]

What has Stephon Castle shown to be #99? or NAW at #96? or Pritchard at 97?

We can keep going lower... Ivey at 85, Nembhard at 82, etc.

None of them are exactly proven players here.

NAW being there is ridiculous but thats just a benefit of being on a good team. Same with Pritchard.

Castle/Ivey have age on their side so youre allowed to project them highly.

And nembhard has shown enough to be ahead of IQ right now.

This team has been a joke the past several years so youre not going to see me crying about them needing to be much higher. Win on the court and these things typically follow behind.

Nembhard, coming off a 10/3/5 54TS% season, has shown enough to be the 82nd best player in the league?

Has IQ had a season as good as Pritchard’s recent season? Not even trying to be funny lol.

Payton - 14/4/4 63TS%
IQ - 18/4/6 57TS% as a Raptor

If you account for the fact Prichard gets to fire up 8 3's a night by being the 4th/5th option on the court, and come off the bench against worse players, and IQ actually gets defensive attention he has to work through. Last time IQ came off the bench he put up 15/3/3 in only 24mpg on 60TS%, on a much worse NYK team.

IQ > Pritchard IMO. Unless this is not a top 100 player list and is actually a "top 100 players in their roles" which would be fine (but it isn't).

Salaries aside, Boston would take IQ > Pritchard, and there is not a chance I would trade IQ for Pritchard.

Pritchard was a better 2 way player at his job than IQ ever was on the Knicks imo.

I also think Pritchard is a way more valuable player due to providing similar impact on nearly 3X cheaper contract.

Either way, if either is your lead guard, you’re probably looking for an upgrade so it doesn’t really matter that much in the big picture of things.

[Morris_Shatford]

Prove em....

[YogurtProducer]

Pritchard was a better 2 way player at his job than IQ ever was on the Knicks imo.

Is he? he is a 3+D guard who looks amazing on a team like Boston that has (had) a lot of really good pieces around him.

Important to remember, IQ was hailed as a great two-way guy before we traded for him. It is hard to play defence and run an offence simultaneously - something Pritchard has never done.

I also think Pritchard is a way more valuable player due to providing similar impact on nearly 3X cheaper contract.

Yeah, but this is not a "top 100 most valuable contracts" list.

Either way, if either is your lead guard, you’re probably looking for an upgrade so it doesn’t really matter that much in the big picture of things.

Sure, but IQ is still a better lead guard and overall player than Pritchard is.

[HumbleRen]

Pritchard was a better 2 way player at his job than IQ ever was on the Knicks imo.

Is he? he is a 3+D guard who looks amazing on a team like Boston that has (had) a lot of really good pieces around him.

Important to remember, IQ was hailed as a great two-way guy before we traded for him. It is hard to play defence and run an offence simultaneously - something Pritchard has never done.

I also think Pritchard is a way more valuable player due to providing similar impact on nearly 3X cheaper contract.

Yeah, but this is not a "top 100 most valuable contracts" list.

Either way, if either is your lead guard, you’re probably looking for an upgrade so it doesn’t really matter that much in the big picture of things.

Sure, but IQ is still a better lead guard and overall player than Pritchard is.

I think the key difference is that Pritchard is able to deliver in the playoffs, even in his limited role.
IQ became a playoff dropper.

IQ being a great 2 way player was also obviously exaggerated by the NY media. He clearly isn’t the 2 way player that we initially thought he was. He can still be a positive defender but not with RJ as his backcourt mate.

I’d give the nod to IQ because even if he hasn’t been a great lead guard, he was still able to scale up while keeping his efficiency the same, more or less.

I just don’t think it’s out of this realm for Pritchard to put up identical numbers and efficiency if he had the amount of touches. It would not surprise me at all if he put up the exact same numbers as IQ this upcoming season.

[YogurtProducer]

I think the key difference is that Pritchard is able to deliver in the playoffs, even in his limited role.
IQ became a playoff dropper.

Not sure that is fair to Pritchard or IQ really. IQ has played 13 career playoff games, Pritchard 69. If we looked at Pritchards first 13 playoff games, we would see averages of 4.0ppg, 1.9rpg, and 2.0apg on 39FG%. Not overly impressive figures, to say the least. Hell, in the finals vs DAL he had averaged 3.4/1.4/1.6 on 25% shooting. Overall, his regular season numbers surpass his playoff ones (but most role players would say the same thing).

IQ being a great 2 way player was also obviously exaggerated by the NY media. He clearly isn’t the 2 way player that we initially thought he was. He can still be a positive defender but not with RJ as his backcourt mate.

And neither would Pritchard if he was playing 30+mpg and was tasked with an increased offensive role. It is just the reality that (most) players cannot handle the same defensive responsibilities as their offensive responsibilities grow.

I’d give the nod to IQ because even if he hasn’t been a great lead guard, he was still able to scale up while keeping his efficiency the same, more or less.

The thing with IQ is so far we have seen him post-trade in 2024 in a tank environment for a handful of games, and then in 2025 in a season he played north of 30 minutes 14 times, and played more than 5 consecutive games 2 times all year (and in the longest stretch, he was a 21/5/5 guy).

Not to mention, his starting splits as a Knick were like 22/5/5. IF we are projecting growth for Pritchard, I think it is only fair to assume IQ is going to perform better in a season that is not a complete cluster ****.

I don't see Prichard EVER being able to put up 22/5/5 on 60TS%. But I do see IQ being capable of that.

I just don’t think it’s out of this realm for Pritchard to put up identical numbers and efficiency if he had the amount of touches. It would not surprise me at all if he put up the exact same numbers as IQ this upcoming season.

Sure, and I would be surprised if he could. It is one thing to put up good numbers when Tatum/Brown/White/Porzingis are all taking a ton of pressure off of you. It is another on a roster in which Queta/Boucher are arguably your starting 4+5 guys.

[ConSarnit]

30: Scottie Barnes (questionable players above him: 29 Trae Young, 28 Maxey, 21 Bam Adebayo, 12 Cade Cunningham, 11 Jalen Williams). This is very debatable, but yes, I rather have Scottie than all the guys I listed as questionable.

None of those players' GM's would trade their guy for Scottie except maybe Trae. And neither would any other NBA GM

Scottie for Trae is bad. Leave him for other teams pls and thanks. I wouldn't trade him for Bam or Maxey either. But they all definitely deserve to be above Scottie for the start of this season. Only Poeltl got robbed imho.

Anyone who has JV over Poeltl needs to have their NBA media credentials pulled. Have they seen how bad JV is defensively now?

I don’t know how Maxey is rated over Trae. They both put up extremely similar scoring numbers and efficiency. Trae creates basically double the assists Maxey does. Both suck at defense. Trae can actually drive your team to good offense. Maxey can’t come close to doing that.

Williams and Cade are both clearly above Barnes given they are the same ages/experience and both had better seasons last year than Barnes has ever had.

[Young Moosehead]

30: Scottie Barnes (questionable players above him: 29 Trae Young, 28 Maxey, 21 Bam Adebayo, 12 Cade Cunningham, 11 Jalen Williams). This is very debatable, but yes, I rather have Scottie than all the guys I listed as questionable.

None of those players' GM's would trade their guy for Scottie except maybe Trae. And neither would any other NBA GM

Yeah, and an NBA GM said no to Pascal for Bufkin. When I go back and look at lists of "untradables" over the years, I get less and less worried about GM opinions on long term value.

[HumbleRen]

I think the key difference is that Pritchard is able to deliver in the playoffs, even in his limited role.
IQ became a playoff dropper.

Not sure that is fair to Pritchard or IQ really. IQ has played 13 career playoff games, Pritchard 69. If we looked at Pritchards first 13 playoff games, we would see averages of 4.0ppg, 1.9rpg, and 2.0apg on 39FG%. Not overly impressive figures, to say the least. Hell, in the finals vs DAL he had averaged 3.4/1.4/1.6 on 25% shooting. Overall, his regular season numbers surpass his playoff ones (but most role players would say the same thing).

IQ being a great 2 way player was also obviously exaggerated by the NY media. He clearly isn’t the 2 way player that we initially thought he was. He can still be a positive defender but not with RJ as his backcourt mate.

And neither would Pritchard if he was playing 30+mpg and was tasked with an increased offensive role. It is just the reality that (most) players cannot handle the same defensive responsibilities as their offensive responsibilities grow.

I’d give the nod to IQ because even if he hasn’t been a great lead guard, he was still able to scale up while keeping his efficiency the same, more or less.

The thing with IQ is so far we have seen him post-trade in 2024 in a tank environment for a handful of games, and then in 2025 in a season he played north of 30 minutes 14 times, and played more than 5 consecutive games 2 times all year (and in the longest stretch, he was a 21/5/5 guy).

Not to mention, his starting splits as a Knick were like 22/5/5. IF we are projecting growth for Pritchard, I think it is only fair to assume IQ is going to perform better in a season that is not a complete cluster ****.

I don't see Prichard EVER being able to put up 22/5/5 on 60TS%. But I do see IQ being capable of that.

I just don’t think it’s out of this realm for Pritchard to put up identical numbers and efficiency if he had the amount of touches. It would not surprise me at all if he put up the exact same numbers as IQ this upcoming season.

Sure, and I would be surprised if he could. It is one thing to put up good numbers when Tatum/Brown/White/Porzingis are all taking a ton of pressure off of you. It is another on a roster in which Queta/Boucher are arguably your starting 4+5 guys.

I feel like you’re removing his agency by comparing the type of teammates he’s had though.

You still have to deliver in that role, not all role players can do that.

He also averaged 20/5/5 without Tatum across 20 games in the last 2 years. That’s not an insignificant amount of sample size. He 100% can attain IQ numbers with IQ’s level of touches. It’s not as hard as you think it is imo.