Is Nikola Jokic the best player in the NBA? (1:20)The “NBA Today” crew discusses a preseason poll naming Nikola Jokic the best player in the NBA. (1:20)
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G, Oklahoma City Thunder
A longtime staple in our final rank, where did LeBron James fall this year ahead of his 23rd season in the NBA? Which MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokic, landed higher? Do the new faces in the top 10 deserve a higher spot in the rank, or will they fall out next year?
To get the final NBA Rank, we asked our expert panel to vote on player vs. player matchups from more than 20,000 possible pairings. Voters were asked, “Which player will be better in 2025-26?” and had to predict how each player would perform this season.
Our countdown kicked off with our ranking of players Nos. 100-51 on Tuesday alongside Kevin Pelton’s predictions of which players can enter the ranks next year. They continued on Wednesday with Nos. 50-11 paired with our NBA experts debating the final results. We come to a close today with the top 10, including who our panel deemed to be the best player entering the 2025-26 NBA season and what questions loom large for the superstars.
Note: ESPN’s NBA Rank panel, made up of more than 150 reporters, editors, producers and analysts, was asked to rank players based on their predicted contributions — quality and quantity — for the 2025-26 season only. Due to their long-term injuries, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Dejounte Murray and Fred VanVleet are not part of this season’s rankings.
For the past three years, Brunson’s meteoric ascent to superstardom in New York has been associated with Tom Thibodeau, with whom there was a clear bond of trust and admiration. Thibodeau has had a long run of success with building offenses around small guards and Brunson took the chance to become the leader of his own team with the Knicks and ran with it.
It will be interesting to see how this relationship manifests itself over the coming months. But make no mistake: Brunson is still the straw that stirs the drink in Gotham, and he, more than anyone else, will be the one to determine whether the Knicks can break their 26-year Finals drought next spring. — Tim Bontemps
Signature stat: Brunson averaged a career-high 7.3 assists last season. He also became the first player to average 25 points and seven assists in a season in Knicks history.
The Rockets entered last postseason pondering whether they needed to acquire a go-to offensive engine and received an answer resoundingly by way of a first-round exit. Enter Durant, who heads into 2025-26 ranked eighth all time in scoring (30,571 points) just behind Wilt Chamberlain (31,419). Even at age 36, Durant remains an efficient and elite scorer who brings championship experience and I.Q. to go with a relentless work ethic, which is sure to rub off on Houston’s relatively young roster.
Yes, but only if Houston’s supporting cast does its part in helping Durant to find his fit within the group. Having worked with Durant during his tenure in Brooklyn, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka knows the 15-time All-Star isn’t the type of player who wants teammates to defer to him unnecessarily. Durant wants to be integrated into the group naturally, which in turn diversifies Houston’s options for attacking opponents.
So, the best way to maximize Durant’s potential impact is continued growth from players such as Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun, who spent a good chunk of the summer in Istanbul, Turkey, working with Rockets developmental staffers on whittling down his post moves to focus on what’s most effective.
Durant has already told teammates to be themselves, and he’ll find a way to fit in that best helps the team. Durant’s vast experience in a variety of systems over the years ensures he’ll find his way; it’s just a matter of how quickly. — Michael C. Wright
Signature stat: Kevin Durant has averaged at least 25 points, 50% shooting and 40% on 3-pointers in three straight seasons, the longest streak in NBA history.
While James has built his career following a personal ethos to “become comfortable being uncomfortable,” the tension between James and the Lakers ratcheted up to another level this summer when his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN’s Shams Charania, “We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career,” after the four-time MVP opted into his $52.6 million contract for next season.
James enters into an unprecedented NBA season with Doncic there to pass the Lakers torch to, his son, Bronny, as his teammate to relish the time with, four titles and 40,000 points already on his résumé. The better question might be if this is the last we’ll see of James in the league at all, and what’s left for him to accomplish? — Dave McMenamin
Signature stat: James is heading into his 23rd season, passing Vince Carter for the most in NBA history. With 50 games played, he will pass Robert Parish for the most games played all time.
Signature stat: Curry made at least 300 3-pointers in a season for the sixth time in his career in 2024-25. All other players in NBA history have four combined seasons with at least 300 3-pointers.
Biggest question: Will his penchant for getting technical fouls and being fined by the NBA continue?
Edwards led the league with 18 technical fouls last season and was fined over $400,000 by the NBA for a variety of behaviors: obscene gestures, explicit language, and failing to leave the court after an ejection. Not exactly great for his image and candidacy as the future face of the league and the best American-born star. But also not great for his reputation with referees in the league, and sometimes a needless distraction to his team. — Ramona Shelburne
Signature stat: Led by his league-best 320 made 3-pointers, Anthony Edwards averaged 27.6 points last season, the most in a season in Timberwolves history.
Signature stat: Victor Wembanyama became the 3rd player with a 5×5 game, a 10-block game and a 50-point game in the same season since blocks/steals became official in 1973-74, joining 1992-93 David Robinson and 1989-90 Hakeem Olajuwon.
Biggest question: Still in the prime of his career, can Antetokounmpo win another championship in Milwaukee?
Signature stat: Antetokounmpo has averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 60% shooting in each of the past two seasons. No other player has done this once in NBA history.
Signature stat: Luka Doncic led the Lakers in average points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3s after making his debut with the Lakers on Feb. 10.
Scoring champion, MVP, Western Conference finals MVP, Finals MVP, champion. It isn’t hyperbole to declare that Gilgeous-Alexander’s 2024-25 season ranks among the best individual campaigns in the history of the game. And he’s just entering his prime at 27.
He has steadily become a more efficient scorer and had a career-best 63.7% true shooting percentage last season, when he made and attempted by far the most 3s (163 of 435, 37.5%) of his career. Continuing to expand his range will make him even more difficult to defend. He has also shown steady progress as a playmaker, averaging a career-best 6.4 assists, a number that could increase again as his young supporting cast blossoms as scoring options. — Tim MacMahon
Signature stat: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the 4th player to win the scoring title, NBA MVP and NBA title in the same season in league history, along with Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
This is the second consecutive year Jokic has led ESPN’s NBA Rank, and it’s easy to see why. Yes, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a well-deserving winner of the league’s regular-season and Finals MVP awards. And yes, he beat Jokic head-to-head in the playoffs. But even the Thunder will tell you that Jokic had some otherworldly games in that series, and they were fortunate to advance out of that fight of a second-round series.
Biggest question: Have the Nuggets done enough to build out the depth issues that plagued them last season?
Signature stat: Last season, Jokic became the third player to average a triple-double in a season in NBA history, joining Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 and Russell Westbrook (4x).
Last season brought Brunson’s second consecutive All-Star and All-NBA second-team selections. In just three years, Brunson has moved himself onto the short list of the best players ever to wear the blue and orange. That also included leading the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years and to a third straight year with at least one playoff series victory, which hadn’t happened since the glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s. The only acceptable outcome for Brunson and the Knicks this season, though, is to fully break through and reach the NBA Finals for the first time this century.
James dropped one spot from No. 7 to No. 8 after a very strong 22nd season during which he averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds, was named to the All-NBA second team and finished sixth in MVP voting. He has already shown unprecedented late-career production and will become the first player ever to play 23 seasons when he steps on the floor this fall. His NBA Rank prominence is unprecedented, too: fellow all-time great Kobe Bryant fell to No. 93 at the start of his 20th and final season in 2015-16.
Despite defenses selling out to an abnormal degree to give him zero space and keep the ball out of his hands, Curry hit 311 3s in 70 games last season. It was Curry’s sixth career season with at least 300 makes from deep. Nobody else in league history has done it more than once. So he still possesses the perimeter power that has made him one of the greats in the sport’s long history. He will bend coverages and be the center of every defensive game plan when he is on the floor this season. The Warriors’ success also remains tied to him. When he was on the floor last season, they outscored opponents by a team-best 299 points. When he was off the floor, they were outscored by a team-high 28 points. With him, they eliminated the 52-win Rockets in the first round and took a 1-0 lead on the Timberwolves in the semis. After he injured his hamstring in Game 1 and sat out, the Warriors lost four consecutive games and were eliminated.