With the season slowly approaching, we at Def Pen decided to rank the top 50 NBA players based on the following criteria:
- This is a list of the best players right now, not rankings of the players we’d most like to have going forward.
- As for what “best player” means, that’s subjective; each voter has his own definition.
- No rookies, because we haven’t seen them in NBA action yet (no, Summer League doesn’t count).
This list was voted on by six of our writers: Myself (David Morrow), Austin Hutchinson, Andrew Bernucca, Saahil Pawar, Daniel Richardson and Zack Geoghegan. There were two incidences of ties in the voting, and those ties were broken by JD Shaw. Without further ado, here are the top 50 NBA Players, as voted by Def Pen.
With each player, you’ll see the total ranking, the highest and lowest ranks any of our writers voted them in at, and their positional rank.
Players Receiving at Least One Vote, Who Didn’t Make the List: Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Danilo Gallinari, Harrison Barnes, Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, Ricky Rubio, Andre Iguodala, Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague.
50. Otto Porter Jr.
Highest Ranking: 43
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 9
49. Andre Drummond
Highest Ranking: 39
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Center 11
48. Brook Lopez
Highest Ranking: 43
Lowest Ranking: 50
Positional Ranking: Center 10
47. George Hill
Highest Ranking: 43
Lowest Ranking: 47
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 14
46. Andrew Wiggins
Highest Ranking: 39
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 8
45. Jrue Holiday
Highest Ranking: 40
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 13
44. Avery Bradley
Highest Ranking: 41
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 8
43. LaMarcus Aldridge
Highest Ranking: 38
Lowest Ranking: 49
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 7
42. Goran Dragic
Highest Ranking: 36
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 12
41. Myles Turner
Highest Ranking: 40
Lowest Ranking: 45
Positional Ranking: Center 10
40. Hassan Whiteside
Highest Ranking: 37
Lowest Ranking: 50
Positional Ranking: Center 9
39. Carmelo Anthony
Highest Ranking: 21
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 7
38. Khris Middleton
Highest Ranking: 32
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 7
37. Eric Bledsoe
Highest Ranking: 34
Lowest Ranking: 46
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 11
36. Kemba Walker
Highest Ranking: 31
Lowest Ranking: Unranked
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 10
35. Kristaps Porzingis
Highest Ranking: 28
Lowest Ranking: 39
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 6
34. Al Horford
Highest Ranking: 30
Lowest Ranking: 43
Positional Ranking: Center 8
33. DeAndre Jordan
Highest Ranking: 27
Lowest Ranking: 36
Positional Ranking: Center 7
32. Kevin Love
Highest Ranking: 30
Lowest Ranking: 37
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 5
31. Bradley Beal
Highest Ranking: 29
Lowest Ranking: 44
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 6
30. Joel Embiid
Highest Ranking: 23
Lowest Ranking: 37
Positional Ranking: Center 6
29. CJ McCollum
Highest Ranking: 23
Lowest Ranking: 36
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 5
28. DeMar DeRozan
Highest Ranking: 21
Lowest Ranking: 35
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 4
27. Mike Conley
Highest Ranking: 22
Lowest Ranking: 33
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 9
26. Paul Millsap
Highest Ranking: 20
Lowest Ranking: 32
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 4
25. Blake Griffin
Highest Ranking: 18
Lowest Ranking: 28
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 3
24. Gordon Hayward
Highest Ranking: 18
Lowest Ranking: 34
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 6
23. Kyle Lowry
Highest Ranking: 17
Lowest Ranking: 28
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 8
22. Isaiah Thomas
Highest Ranking: 19
Lowest Ranking: 28
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 7
21. Marc Gasol
Highest Ranking: 16
Lowest Ranking: 26
Positional Ranking: Center 5
20. Nikola Jokic
Highest Ranking: 12
Lowest Ranking: 32
Positional Ranking: Center 4
19. Damian Lillard
Highest Ranking: 16
Lowest Ranking: 26
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 6
18. Klay Thompson
Highest Ranking: 13
Lowest Ranking: 25
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 3
17. Rudy Gobert
Highest Ranking: 15
Lowest Ranking: 22
Positional Ranking: Center 3
16. Karl-Anthony Towns
Highest Ranking: 13
Lowest Ranking: 27
Positional Ranking: Center 2
15. Kyrie Irving
Highest Ranking: 14
Lowest Ranking: 20
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 5
14. DeMarcus Cousins
Highest Ranking: 12
Lowest Ranking: 18
Positional Ranking: Center 1
13. Draymond Green
Highest Ranking: 8
Lowest Ranking: 17
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 2
12. Paul George
Highest Ranking: 10
Lowest Ranking: 16
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 5
11. Jimmy Butler
Highest Ranking: 8
Lowest Ranking: 15
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 2
10. John Wall
Highest Ranking: 8
Lowest Ranking: 12
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 4
9. Chris Paul
Highest Ranking: 6
Lowest Ranking: 14
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 3
8. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Highest Ranking: 7
Lowest Ranking: 11
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 4
7. Anthony Davis
Highest Ranking: 7
Lowest Ranking: 9
Positional Ranking: Power Forward 1
6. Russell Westbrook
Highest Ranking: 4
Lowest Ranking: 7
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 2
5. James Harden
Highest Ranking: 5
Lowest Ranking: 6
Positional Ranking: Shooting Guard 1
4. Kawhi Leonard
Highest Ranking: 2
Lowest Ranking: 5
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 3
3. Stephen Curry
Highest Ranking: 2
Lowest Ranking: 4
Positional Ranking: Point Guard 1
2. Kevin Durant
Highest Ranking: 2
Lowest Ranking: 3
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 2
1. LeBron James
Highest Ranking: 1
Lowest Ranking: 1
Positional Ranking: Small Forward 1
The only teams without a player in the top 50: Mavericks, Bulls, Nets, Hawks, Magic. Of those, only the Mavs and Bulls had a player(s) receiving a vote.
