Thursday, December 26, 2024

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

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

Ten CBS Sports experts voted on our list of the league’s 100 best players entering the 2024-25 season

CBS Sports design

Summer is nearing its end, and we’re nearing the start of another NBA season. Training camps are right around the corner. The preseason tips off on Oct. 4, and the start of the 2024-25 season is just five weeks away. To help hold you over until then we’ve put together our annual list of the league’s top 100 players. 

Before there’s any real outrage about where everyone is ranked, we should note this list is projecting the upcoming season. This is our staff’s ranking of how we think these players will perform over the next seven-plus months. 

While we all try our best to be prognosticators, we can’t truly predict how this season will play out, so players are sure to rise and fall during the course of the season. Maybe someone like Jalen Brunson will take another step into the top 10, or perhaps this is the year we see Father Time finally catch up to LeBron James.

Looking for more analysis of CBS Sports’ Top 100 list? Listen and subscribe to the Beyond the Arc podcast for breakdowns, debates and more.

Ten CBS Sports analysts voted to compile this year’s list: Brad Botkin, James Herbert, Jack Maloney, Sam Quinn, Jasmyn Wimbish, Bill Reiter, John Gonzalez, Ashley Nicole Moss, Adam Finkelstein and Avery Johnson. Some other things of note: Every team has a representative this year, unlike last year’s ranking. Also unlike last year’s list, there are no rookies featured in our Top 100. OK, enough summarizing. Let’s get to it.

dereck-lively-ii-getty.png

Dereck Lively II was a key part of Dallas’ run to the NBA Finals last season. Getty Images

austin-reaves-getty.png

Austin Reaves averaged 15.9 PPG and played in all 82 games for the Lakers last season. Getty Images

middleton-beal-usatsi.png

Khris Middleton and Bradley Beal have both slipped in the Top 100 list this year. USATSI

draymond-getty-6.png

Draymond Green is entering his 13th season in the NBA. Getty Images

sengun-getty-1.png

Rockets forward Alperen Sengun is coming off a breakout season. Getty Images

jrue-white-getty.png

Jrue Holiday and Derrick White will try to help the Celtics win it all again in 2025. Getty Images

zion-williamson-getty-3.png

Zion Williamson played a career-high 70 games during the 2023-24 season. Getty Images

wembanyama-brunson-getty.png

Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama narrowly missed out on the top 10. Getty Images

curry-durant-getty.png

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are both still top-10 players entering the 2024-25 NBA season. Getty Images

nikola-jokic-getty-1.png

Nikola Jokic was a unanimous No. 1 selection by our panel of experts. Getty Images

Top 100 by NBA team

(Note: Every NBA team has at least one player in our Top 100)

  • Six players: Knicks, Pelicans, Thunder, Timberwolves
  • Five players: Celtics
  • Four players: Bucks, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Kings, Magic, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pacers, Rockets
  • Three players: 76ers, Hawks, Heat, Lakers, Suns, Raptors, Warriors
  • Two players: Bulls, Clippers, Hornets, Spurs, Trail Blazers
  • One player: Jazz, Nets, Pistons, Wizards

Our Latest NBA Stories

Related articles

Share article

Latest articles

Newsletter

Subscribe to stay updated.