His numbers are eerily identical to what he posted last season without Mitchell. Then, he won the Defensive Player of the Year award and was a key player in the Celtics run to the NBA Finals. 50 Greatest Players in NBA History Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Nate Archibald Paul Arizin Charles Barkley Rick Barry Elgin Baylor Dave Bing Larry Bird Wilt Chamberlain Bob Cousy Dave Cowens Billy. More than ever Dallas' success lies on Doncic's shoulders, as evidenced from the 3-7 record the Mavericks have when the Slovenian guard is out of the lineup. He's likely the Defensive Player of the Year favorite. Randle doesn't have to do everything on offense for the Knicks, and as a result his efficiency bounced back from a season ago. He's remained a steady offensive force for Chicago, especially when Zach LaVine is having an off night. His defense compliments Young perfectly, and the Hawks should be very fun to watch this season. We based that ranking on who we believed was in store for the best season. His pick . 7 spot may be a little low for Embiid, and the postseason might have something to do with that. His 2020-21 3-point-shooting bump (38.6%) appears to have been an outlier rather than the new norm, as Mitchells 2021-22 mark of 35.5% was more in-line with his career average of 36.1%. They have done a fairly poor job stacking talent around him, and because of that, he hasnt been able to win much with the franchise. The main change in his game has been his shooting range, which has been expanding since his rookie season. When he has played, the Duke product is still shooting north of 60 percent on the season while averaging over 25 points a game, a feat accomplished by only two other players in league history: Charles Barkley and Kevin McHale. Excluding a cameo against Cleveland, Davis averaged roughly 35 points and 16 rebounds per game between Nov. 13 and Dec. 13 while making a compelling case for Defensive Player of the Year. 50 Greatest Players | Top 10 Teams | Top 10 Coaches. It does not store any personal data. The man is shooting 46 percent on non-corner 3s (41 percent overall) and 73 percent at the rim, per CTG. We know exactly who Donovan Mitchell is at this point, as evidenced by his consistency in our rankings year over year. As a result, his Nets were swept by the Boston Celtics. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. He will stuff the stat sheet and make an infinite number of highlight plays, but his weaknesses place a glass ceiling on Atlantas title hopes. 9. His status as the greatest 38-year-old in NBA history is a given, but the numbers James is putting up rival even what his 28-year-old self was achieving at his peak. He spaces the floor and rebounds the basketball very well. The next step is winning it all. His recovery mobility, from high to low and laterally, allows him to contest a ton of shots and protect the rim at an elite level without planting himself in the paint. Against the Pelicans, CP3 put the team on his back and went absolutely nuclear to close New Orleans out. Zach LaVine is an interesting player and the best player on the Bulls moving forward, if that was in question. But so long as he's included, it doesn't make much sense to drop anyone who soared as high as Leonard recently did out of the top 10. He played just 31 games in the regular season, but he did average 24.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in those outings. There is no denying, though, that when he is available he is one of the 10 best players in the NBA, especially when the postseason lights shine. He also recently made some major news in Philadelphia by reaching 10,000 career points in the fewest number of games in franchise history. Last season, Ball improved in all areas of his game, finishing the season with 20.1 points, 7.6 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game. Edit the label text in each row. Though his efficiency hasn't been there due to an increased workload in Khris Middleton's two extended absences, he's been as productive as ever. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. In his 21 games in Philadelphia last season after the 76ers acquired him from Brooklyn, Harden averaged 21 points, 7.1 rebounds and 10.5 assists. Is he good enough to carry the Kings to the playoffs? Anthony Davis didnt make an All-Star team in 2021-22 for the first time since his rookie year in the NBA back in 2021-13. He is averaging the fourth-most rebounds and fourth-fewest turnovers of his career. This year, the rankings were determined holistically by a panel of NBA writers Chris Herring, Rohan. He's averaging a career-high 5.8 assists, which is a difficult thing to do when you're playing alongside Nikola Jokic who regularly averages 10 assists a night. He has done an excellent job of blending his scoring and playmaking abilities for Philadelphia, and as a result he's one of just three players to average 20 points and 10 assists per game on the season. Press the labels to change the label text. Still, Middleton is a fantastic player and an integral cog in one of the NBAs best teams. -- James Herbert, Pretend for a moment that Nikola Jokic didn't exist. His scoring is on par with what we've come to expect, but what stands out more is his continual improvement as a facilitator. We just hope SGA is there by the time OKC builds the next great version of its team. Prior to last season, Karl-Anthony Towns struggled with injuries, and the team wasnt winning. He is a career 43.3% 3-point shooter and shot 48.2% from the field last season. Bad Traes shot selection and flat-out indifference on the defensive end can make the Hawks extremely exploitable. James is having a down year from deep. This is the healthiest he's been -- by both availability and mobility -- since he tore his ACL in his third NBA season. He posted a career-high 14.7 rebounds last season and had his best shooting season of his NBA lifetime, making 71.3% of his shot attempts. Last season, the Miami Heat were robbed from any representation in the All-Star and All-NBA teams because of injuries to their star players. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. He is scoring exactly as many points per game (21.7) as he did a season ago, and he's only lost 0.6 assists per game in the process. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. After winning MVP in 2020-21, Jokic was able to repeat the award win by playing even better last season. Superstar: Sidekick: Alfred: Elite: The Cavaliers have had a top defense in the league throughout the season, and Allen is a main part of the reason why. 1 overall pick has been limited to just 29 games, but those performances been special. Despite that, he is the enforcer of a team that has won four NBA Championship with him on the roster. While it has worked fairly well for the Toronto Raptors, there needs to be more evidence. -- Sam Quinn, Holiday has long owned the title of the most underrated player in the league, but that may have to be passed to someone else now that he's finally earned a second All-Star nod, 10 years after his first one in 2013. If you are having difficulty accessing any content on this website, please visit our Accessibility page. Dylan H. A peloton membership could be the only thing keeping Luka from winning his first career MVP trophy. -- Brad Botkin, James Harden may not have been named an All-Star this season, but he certainly had a strong case. The deficiencies in his game are well-noted at this point. He's putting up the best numbers of his career, and the only reason that he hasn't received more attention coast to coast is because the Thunder aren't a contending team, so they aren't on national television or discussed in the media as much as some other teams and stars are. If you play him straight up, hell blow by slower defenders, punish smaller defenders and get his stepback 3 off against anyone. 2 ranked unit. Murray had two 50-point performances in a series against the Utah Jazz and set a Nuggets franchise record for most 40-point games in a post-season run. Finally, Dejounte Murray is in a system that will allow him to play a more free style of offense. While his scoring average has remained steady, he's grabbing more rebounds and dropping more dimes on a nightly basis, and he again has the Grizzlies near the top of the Western Conference standings as a result. He's shooting 59.6 percent on 2-pointers, a higher percentage than he did in any of the first seven seasons in Cleveland. When healthy, he is one of the top guards in the league, just behind Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic. He could also be in line for All-NBA consideration if he continues to play at such a high level. So it's incredible now, at 34, that he is playing more minutes than he has in seven years and having the best defensive season of his career. He can also credibly guard wings that are taller than him. James could still arguably be the top player in the NBA. Here is the 2022 NBA player tier list. After a torn ACL at the worst possible time, a whole season on the sideline and a couple of false starts, Leonard finally looks like himself again. Nearly one million points scored. -- Brad Botkin, Wagner has emerged as the best young player on a supremely fun and talented Orlando roster. Ball also will need to improve on his defense and his somewhat-erratic shot selection to stamp in this optimistic ranking. 9 feels like the perfect spot for Morant. Without Zion Williamson, the Pelicans and Ingram struggled at the start of the season until the addition of CJ McCollum gave them the boost they needed to make the playoffs. The Thunder are building something special. Edwards still is looking for his first All-Star appearance after being passed over during his sophomore season. His offensive feel for the game is extraordinary and he's a good defender. Is Washington a playoff team this season? Appearing in only 40 of 82 games last season, Davis averaged 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. There is not a long list of 6-foot-1 guys who can finish like Mitchell. -- James Herbert, If we'd voted on this list in December, you could have been reading about Davis last. Edwards still isnt a finished project but like his draft class-mate LaMelo Ball is progressing in all the right ways. 11 Devin Booker. -- Colin Ward-Henninger, They say that change can be a good thing, and that's certainly been the case for Markkanen in Utah this season. On the court, Edwards is continuing to ascend into one of the leagues premier players. He's averaging 23.1 points, 5.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds per performance while shooting 52 percent from the floor (the highest mark of his career) and 37 percent from long range -- all respectable numbers for the three-time All-Star. Ingram now ranks third in the pecking order of the team, which can help him improve offensively, taking pressure off him; he wont be the focus of the defense like he has been in other seasons. He's devoting 17.5 percent of his possessions to pick-and-roll compared to 13.5 a season ago. As a result, the Clippers score 10 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. He does all this while taking on the burdensome task of guarding the other team's best perimeter player, making him one of the league's finest two-way stars and a perfect complementary piece to Kawhi Leonard. His poor shooting hasn't seemed to affect the Hawks, however, who still put up 115 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, compared to 108 when he's off. AndIrving's role in how a Nets team that had gone 18-2 for a six-week stretch through the holidays wound up selecting the nuclear option just a month after that run won't be forgotten in Brooklyn anytime soon. Consent plugin 1 overall pick has been expanding since his rookie season supremely fun and Orlando! 17.5 percent of his career selection and flat-out indifference on the roster, punish smaller defenders get! The NBAs best teams percent of his career looking for his first career MVP trophy slower defenders punish... 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