NBA Top 100 players, ranked: How LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards stack up ahead of 2024-25 season

20 Paul George Philadelphia 76ers SF
Last year’s rank: 17. George was finally healthy last season, when he reached the 70-game mark for the first time since 2019. Once again, though, the Clippers’ hopes were dashed by an injury in the playoffs, this time to Kawhi Leonard. And so, five years after returning home to Los Angeles, George packed his bags and signed with Philadelphia in free agency. He’s not the player he was at his peak, and injuries will always be a concern, but he remains a terrific two-way wing who should be a perfect fit alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. — Jack Maloney
19 Donovan Mitchell Cleveland Cavaliers SG
Last year’s rank: 16. A perennial top-10 scorer in the league. Mitchell registered career highs in assists, rebounds and steals last season. He was sensational when Darius Garland was out and he assumed total control of the offense as the lone playmaker. He is virtually unstoppable when he gets going downhill as a pull-up shooter given his force, but his pull-up shooting percentages (35% overall and 30% from 3) dipped considerably last season. — Brad Botkin
18 Kawhi Leonard Los Angeles Clippers SF
Last year’s rank: 15. Though he was once again unable to stay healthy in the playoffs, it’s easy to forget that Leonard was able to play in 68 games last season. For most of that time, he looked every bit like one of the best players in the league again at 23 PPG and better than a 62% true-shooting clip. He’s still one of the deadliest pull-up shooters with his ability to separate late, as evidenced by his 1.2 points per possession in isolation — the league’s most efficient mark among all players with better than a 15% isolation frequency. Over a two-month stretch from the turn of the calendar to the end of February, Leonard made 46% of his 3-pointers on almost five attempts per game. — Brad Botkin
17 Tyrese Haliburton Indiana Pacers PG
Last year’s rank: 23. When Tyrese Haliburton got hurt on Jan. 9, he was averaging 23.6 points per game and another 32.3 points created off of assists per game. That’s a total of 55.9 points of offense generated, which would be the highest combined total of the tracking era by a comfortable margin. The vision of Haliburton most have in their head right now is of the compromised version of him we largely saw in the second half of the season and in the postseason. He’s become a bit of a meme for his Olympic role as bench vibes captain. But remember… he was chosen to be a member of the most talented Olympic team of the 21st century for a reason. He’s a human fast break, a singular stylistic force that empowers the Pacers to play the only way that ever could have gotten their relatively meager collection of talent to the Eastern Conference finals. — Sam Quinn
16 Ja Morant Memphis Grizzlies PG
Last year’s rank: 14. At his best, Morant is one of the most exciting guards in the league thanks to his dazzling skills and daring creativity, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen him show that on the court. Between suspensions and injuries, the high-flier has only played 70 total games in the last two seasons. Whether or not Morant can return to an All-NBA level is one of the biggest storylines to watch this year. If he does, the Grizzlies could be a real threat in the Western Conference. — Jack Maloney
15 Jaylen Brown Boston Celtics SF
Last year’s rank: 24. Nearly a decade ago, Brown was welcomed to the league with boos from Celtics fans upset that he was their selection at No. 3 in the 2016 NBA Draft. Now, he’s a franchise icon and one of the most beloved athletes in Boston. He stamped his status with a spectacular playoff run, in which he hit the two biggest shots — the game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and the game-sealing jumper in Game 3 of the Finals — and was named Eastern Conference finals MVP and Finals MVP. There aren’t so many jokes these days about Brown’s left hand or $300 million contract. — Jack Maloney
14 Devin Booker Phoenix Suns SG
Last year’s rank: 8. Booker has arguably become one of the most underrated players in the league and among the most efficient. He’s a killer in the mid-range, and if he gets hot, he’s liable to drop 40+ points on you, and he wouldn’t even have to take very many 3s. He’s the type of plug-and-play guy any championship-contending team would love to have, and last season, we finally saw Booker’s versatility after primarily playing point guard for a Suns team lacking in that department. It resulted in a career-high year in assists for Booker, showing that not only is he one of the best shooting guards in the league, but you can also put him among the best point guards, too. — Jasmyn Wimbish
13 Jalen Brunson New York Knicks PG
Last year’s rank: 27. In May, Brunson became the fourth player in NBA history — and first since Michael Jordan in 1993 — to score 40 points or more in four consecutive playoff games. He had a total of 16 40-point games in 2023-24, postseason included; his former teammate Luka Doncic was the only player to have more than 10 such games. Not bad for a 6-foot-2 guy with a 6-foot-4 wingspan who went undrafted six years ago and, heading into his fourth season, couldn’t command a four-year, $55 million extension from the Mavericks. Now a full-fledged superstar, Brunson agreed to a four-year, $156.5 million extension this summer, which was seen as an enormous sacrifice. The deal will allow the Knicks to continue building a contender in Brunson’s image, with three of his college teammates alongside him for the long haul. Ideally, the addition of Mikal Bridges and the return of Julius Randle will mean that Brunson won’t have to drop 40 all that often in 2024-25, as New York was far too dependent on Brunson’s scoring last season. That iteration of the team scored like the Celtics with him on the court and like the Blazers with him on the bench. The only player whose presence on the court made a bigger difference to his team’s offensive efficiency is the three-time MVP ranked No. 1 on this list. — James Herbert
12 Victor Wembanyama San Antonio Spurs C
Last year’s rank: 58. After the All-Star break, Victor Wembanyama averaged 23.5 points, 12 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 4.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. I can’t imagine you’ll be surprised to hear no one has ever done that for a full season. No one has even come close. If you trim every one of those numbers by 10%, it’s still only been done once… by peak Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As a reminder, Wembanyama was a rookie. He was playing on a team that was built to lose. We’re not just talking about the next great NBA player here. We’re talking about the sort of player this sport has never seen, the next step in its evolution. He is the ultimate marriage of size and skill, the culmination of everything this sport has been building toward for the past decade. What’s scariest about that absurd post-break stat line isn’t how great it is, but how underwhelming it’s going to look in comparison. In all likelihood, that’s the worst he’s going to be for a long, long time. It might be 15 years before we post another one of these lists that has him outside of the top 10. — Sam Quinn
11 Anthony Davis Los Angeles Lakers C