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With another NBA season set to tip off, we asked our experts at USA TODAY Sports and For The Win to rank the top 100 players who will take the court in 2026-27 – regardless of position, regardless of experience and regardless of usage.
While we can’t know yet how rookies will adapt to professional basketball, how veterans will integrate with new teammates and how coaches will choose to employ individual players for the betterment of their teams, we can judge talent and skill.
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From former NBA champions like LeBron James, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo to current champs Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, we considered them all. Seven NBA reporters submitted their individual rankings, and a points system was used to determine the final results.
Here, we present our top 50 players ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, starting with No. 50 and concluding with our pick for the best in the league.
(For our rankings of No. 100 through No. 51, click here or visit usatoday.com/nba).
No. 50 Zion Williamson
Team: New Orleans Pelicans
2025-26 stats: 21.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.2 apg
His strength is overpowering defenders in the low block, and it’s remarkable how comfortably he gets to the rim, despite being undersized at 6-foot-6. As always, the questions with Williamson are his weight, conditioning and his availability, though in recent seasons, Williamson has made it a priority to slim down a touch. The Pelicans were in a lost season, but a career-low scoring average was nonetheless a concern.
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No. 49 Rudy Gobert
Team: Minnesota Timberwolves
2025-26 stats: 10.9 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 1.6 bpg
2025 was a return to the All-Defensive First Team for Gobert, who jumped back into the top-four of Defensive Player of the Year voting after a “down” 2024 (he was still second team All-Defense). And now he has a real chance to increase his scoring output with LaMelo Ball there to create easy opportunities as the most dynamic point guard Gobert has ever played with.
No. 48 Jaren Jackson Jr.
2025-26 stats: 19.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.4 bpg
Jackson Jr. is a dynamic two-way center that can affect both sides of the ball. He can…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/best-nba-players-ranked-top-110205879.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-13 11:02:00
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