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.
20
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 Maloney19
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 Botkin18
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 Botkin17
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 Quinn16
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 Maloney15
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 Maloney14
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 Wimbish13
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 Herbert12
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 Quinn11
Los Angeles Lakers C
Last year’s rank: 13. The 2023-24 season was one of acceptance for Anthony Davis. Almost 75% of his shot attempts came in the paint. That’s the highest figure of his Lakers tenure, and there were years in which he barely cleared 50%. After averaging over five mid-range attempts per game at his Lakers peak, Davis finished below three last season. He might still want to be a power forward, but he has finally seemed to embrace the fact that the Lakers need him to play like a center. Despite the physical toll the position might take on his body, the results spoke for themselves. Davis just had his best season since winning the 2020 championship, dominating the interior and singlehandedly keeping an otherwise miserable Laker defense afloat. — Sam Quinn
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are both still top-10 players entering the 2024-25 NBA season. Getty Images
10
Minnesota Timberwolves SG
Last year’s rank: 22. Edwards jumped from 22nd on this list last year to 10th this time around, which emphasizes his stunning ascension to stardom. He averaged career-highs across the board last season, made his first All-NBA appearance and led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals, upsetting the defending champion Nuggets en route. Early in the Wolves’ playoff run, there were legitimate comparisons — at least aesthetically — to Michael Jordan. Over the summer, he reiterated his status as one of the game’s best by playing a leading role in Team USA’s gold medal campaign. — Jack Maloney9
Phoenix Suns PF
Last year’s rank: 5. Durant remains pretty close to the height of his powers. Last season he averaged 27-6-5 on 41% 3-point shooting, and perhaps most importantly, he played in 75 games — by far his highest mark since leaving Golden State. The were rumors that he didn’t love the way he was being used by Frank Vogel. It will be interesting to see what kind of difference Mike Budenholzer makes in terms of Durant’s spots and shots and the way he receives the ball; i.e. in stationary positions or off more of his preferred pin-down screens. Either way, Durant was the best isolation scorer in basketball last season. — Brad Botkin8
Los Angeles Lakers SF
Last year’s rank: 12. LeBron James recently became the oldest player ever to win an MVP award in any competition featuring active NBA players when he was named the most valuable player of the 2024 Olympics. This breaks a record that he himself set during the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. Sure, it’s unreasonable to expect the impending quadragenarian to be the NBA’s best player over the course of an 82-game season anymore, but make no mistake, in a smaller sample, there still might not be a single player in all of basketball that inspires more fear in his opponents than LeBron James. It’s not clear how many MVP awards of any variety are still left in his aging body, but when he needs to, he can still summon all of the skill and ferocity that won him his first. — Sam Quinn7
Boston Celtics PF
Last year’s rank: 7. At long last, Tatum is an NBA champion. Along the way he passed his idol, Kobe Bryant, for the most playoff points before turning 27 and joined Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic as the only players to win a title while leading their team in points, rebounds and assists during the postseason. Tatum didn’t win the Eastern Conference finals or Finals MVP awards, but he was the driving force for Boston’s league-leading 18th championship. Few players, if any, are as well-rounded as the Celtics star, who is one of just three players to make All-NBA First Team in each of the last three seasons. — Jack Maloney6
Golden State Warriors PG
Last year’s rank: 3. Curry is still an offense unto himself with his inimitable movement and pure shot-making talent. At 36 years old, it’s hard to see where he’s declined at all offensively, but what we’ve seen is that even as great as an aging Curry remains, he needs better talent around him to make his way back into title contention. LeBron can relate. — Brad Botkin
Nikola Jokic was a unanimous No. 1 selection by our panel of experts. Getty Images
5
Philadelphia 76ers C
Last year’s rank: 6. Arguably the most dominant individual scorer in the league, Embiid has made great strides as a hub in Nick Nurse’s more motion-oriented offense. He’s also anticipating and passing out of double teams with greater effectiveness. The combination of Embiid’s face-up jumper and bruising post game that, at the very least, all but guarantees a trip to the free-throw line, is as close to indefensible as it gets, and he remains a super effective rim protector even is his defensive range and movement isn’t always the greatest. — Brad Botkin4
Oklahoma City Thunder SG
Last year’s rank: 11. Last year’s MVP runner-up, Gilgeous-Alexander, keeps ascending these rankings as his Thunder ascend the standings. The 26-year-old guard led the NBA in drives for the fourth straight season in 2023-24, and, with improved spacing around him, opponents had an even tougher time disrupting his funky rhythm. According to Cleaning The Glass, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 69% at the rim and 51% from midrange, both of which were career highs. And while he doesn’t draw the toughest individual assignments on defense, there are few superstars more engaged and disruptive on that end. Nobody recorded more steals than Gilgeous-Alexander last year, and only two players recorded more deflections. After adding one of those two players (Alex Caruso) and a center who will both protect the rim and operate as an offensive hub (Isaiah Hartenstein) this offseason, Oklahoma City projects to have a historically great defense and a more diverse offense, making the task in front of its franchise player extremely clear: Lead the team to the place it hasn’t been since 2012. — James Herbert3
Dallas Mavericks PG
Last year’s rank: 4. Even after six years in the league, it’s not uncommon to walk away from watching Doncic play and still think, “How is he doing this?” He plays at the pace of paint drying on a wall, and yet we saw in the Mavericks’ run to the NBA Finals that even the most elite defenders couldn’t stop him. Doncic will make you pay if you try to double team him, and if you switch a big on him out on the perimeter, he’ll likely drill a dramatic 3-pointer. He handles with finesse, bullies you in the paint and owns some of the best assists in NBA history. He’s coming off the best statistical year of his career after leading the league in scoring, and he’s still only 25 years old. — Jasmyn Wimbish2
Milwaukee Bucks PF
Last year’s rank: 2. There was a feeling of déjà vu for the Greek Freak last season, as he put together another historic campaign — he finished in the top-15 in scoring, rebounding and assists, and joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in multiple seasons — but was once again a non-factor in the playoffs due to an injury. Things may not have gone to plan for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in the last few years, but he remains one of the most dominant forces in the league on both sides of the ball. — Jack Maloney1
Denver Nuggets C
Last year’s rank: 1. The only player on earth who can virtually guarantee his team a quality shot every possession, Jokic’s dominance occurs both in plain sight and on less visible margins. There is no matchup he can’t exploit, inside or out, whether as a scorer or facilitator. His defense has made great strides. The fact that he has zero interest in being recognized as the world’s best player is, in part, what actually makes him the world’s best player. Every play he makes is free of agenda and ego. Jokic is the purest embodiment of a basketball player. — Brad Botkin
