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Tim Bontemps
On Thursday, ESPN’s expert panel completed its 15th annual ranking of the NBA’s best players.
In response, we reached out to scouts, coaches and executives across the league to get their feedback on our new top 100 for 2025-26, including comments on where they agreed and disagreed with our rankings.
Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest questions and points of contention from our latest edition of NBA Rank, including how long Denver Nuggets star center and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic will remain atop the heap, whether any American players could eventually supplant him in that top spot, and just how much longer active legends LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry can keep themselves among the league’s elite stars.
How long will No. 1 stay No. 1?
The consensus from conversations is that Jokic, who has been the definitive top player or at least in the conversation for the past several years, has at least two more runs at No. 1 before he’s likely to start sliding down this list. “That might seem low,” an East executive told ESPN, “but we never account for how fast things change in the league.”
But Jokic’s stay atop this list, at least according to league insiders, will be as much about how his game should age as the pack trying to catch up. And for a player who doesn’t rely on speed or leaping ability to make an MVP impact, aging gracefully into the end of his prime shouldn’t be a problem.
“There’s no reason his game will slow down,” an East scout said.
“It’s all about his motivation to stay in shape,” another said.
Which players could jump into the top 10 next season?
Some answers naturally pointed to a player who is a top-10 lock — if he was healthy: Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who is coming off a fourth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection but will miss at least the majority of the season after tearing his right Achilles in May.
Tatum had plenty of company. Multiple people tabbed Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (No. 11), Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (No. 12), Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (No. 15) and Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (No. 17) as candidates.
The case for Williams builds off him helping Oklahoma City win the NBA title this past spring, including scoring 40 points in Game 5. Cunningham, meanwhile, earned praise for his growth last season in leading Detroit to its best season in a decade, and for his ability to keep expanding his game.
“He’s got size, playmaking, shooting, he can guard,” one East executive said. “He checks a lot of boxes.”
For Mitchell and Banchero, the case was rooted in a similar logic: Both lead teams that have a chance to break through in a truly wide-open conference. A top-10 spot could be theirs if either can spark a deep playoff run or reach the NBA Finals.
“If [Banchero] comes in and plays the right way, and they do what they are supposed to do,” an East assistant coach said, “I could absolutely see him in there next year.”
What is your top five for this season?
For the second straight year, every person asked rattled off four names right away: Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.
Several players, however, earned at least one vote for fifth, including Victor Wembanyama, Curry, Anthony Edwards, Durant and Mitchell.
“[Wembanyama] was already good,” one West scout said, “and now he’s got guys around him and they’re trying to win.”
“[Edwards] just continues to grow,” another said.
“[Mitchell] doesn’t get enough credit for how he’s lifted that franchise,” an East scout said, “and for how he’s changed his game to mesh with the guys they had.”
Do LeBron, Steph and KD still belong in the top 10?
It’s remarkable that three players who will be 37 or older by the time the 2025-26 season starts — James will be the oldest player in the league for a consecutive season — remain inside the top 10 in these rankings. And, in large part, league insiders agreed with the assessment. Some argued that one or two of them is a borderline selection, but no one said this trio’s rankings were out of bounds.
“They should be there,” a West assistant coach said. “They’re just not top-five guys anymore.”
“They are for sure [top 10] as long as they are healthy,” an East scout said, “but that’s no sure thing at this point.”
“They’re moving down for sure,” an East executive said, “but they should still be there.”
Flagg or bust? Will an American player become No. 1 any time soon?
With there now being seven straight international picks as the league’s MVP, the top five guys on this list all being international players and the biggest young star in the sport being France’s Wembanyama, the most popular answer to this question, for a second straight year, was no.
But now that he has successfully made it to the NBA, there was a healthy amount of respect for No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, and his ability to eventually make a run at the spot last held by Durant in 2021.
“You don’t go to Team USA [last summer] and do what he did,” one East assistant coach said, “and not have a chance.”
Other players who received mentions: Edwards, Banchero and Tatum.
Where will Flagg rank ahead of 2026-27?
The consensus on Flagg is that he will make a solid leap up this list next season.
“Top 25,” one West assistant coach said. “He’ll be a borderline All-Star and the conversation will be about whether he should make it as a second-year guy or not.”
Several others had Flagg inside the top 30 in next year’s rankings, which was the consensus answer. The only questions posed about Flagg’s potential didn’t center around his game, but rather the Dallas Mavericks’ veteran-heavy roster, which league insiders feared could provide an awkward fit, at least initially.
“I just don’t like the role for him on that team,” said a West assistant, who had Flagg inside the top 50 next season, rather than higher.
Virtually everyone said that, when healthy, the Philadelphia 76ers’ MVP big man is a top-10 or top-15 player. But, given that NBA Rank is a combination of quantity and quality of play for the upcoming season, and that Embiid is coming off playing only 19 games last season, where could they see him landing?
A few league insiders said they couldn’t see him on the list at all. “I just don’t think he’ll play enough,” a West executive said.
Most, though, said they would rank Embiid somewhere inside the top 40, with a few elevating him into the top 25. “The upside is just too great to have him much lower than that,” an East scout said.
Which group would you rather have for this season: the Knicks (seven players in the top 100) or the Cavs (four players in the top 50)?
Given how these franchises are the two favorites in the East, and that there’s no consensus as to which is better at the moment, it wasn’t shocking that this question led to what basically amounted to a 50-50 split. Those who favored the Knicks pointed to the team’s superior depth, while those who picked the Cavaliers opted for the team’s concentration of more top-end talent.
“They’re more battle-tested,” one West scout said of the Knicks, who reached Game 7 of the conference finals last season.
“[The Cavs] are more athletic, they have better defensive potential and a higher ceiling,” an East scout said.