Every superstar in top 10 of ESPN's NBArank has been MVP, Finals MVP and/or first-team All-NBA. And each of our top 10 players has had his turn when he was the NBA's man of the moment.
But what would it take for each of them to rise all the way to No. 1?
Our NBA experts provide the path for our top 10, among four groups: the NBA champs (the Lakers!), the comeback artists, the players who had disappointing finishes and the rising superstars.
Let's look at how each player can get to the mountaintop.
NBArank: Top 10 players | Players 50-11 | Players 100-51
The champs
Life atop the mountain comes with the rest of the league looking up at the top team and the top superstar duo. It is the most desirable position in sports, yet it comes with the knowledge that every player on the list wants the top spot. Here's how the Lakers stars can stay 1-2.
LeBron James (No. 1)
Only at rare times in sports do we see a player who achieves the highest level of mental dominance while his physical attributes are still elite.
James has reached this golden-sunset stage of his career, akin to where Michael Jordan was during the second Bulls three-peat.
James' mastery and experience are so rich that they're almost tangible, especially as you watch him operate in playoff games. And as you see him explode to the hoop to finish dunks, dash from end to end and still display quick-twitch reactions on defense when he's engaged, it's clear he's still in the top percentile of the league's athletes.
After a brief display of mortality in 2018-19, when he missed 27 games and his Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs, James returned to the top of the sport -- with his fourth NBA championship and the top of our list this year. He's now finished No. 1 in NBArank nine times in 10 years.
Who knows how long this can go? He's reset all assumptions. Long live the king. -- Brian Windhorst
Anthony Davis (No. 2)
Davis was named first-team All-NBA in 2016-17 and 2017-18, and again last season, so he's got an established spot in this rare air.
But his disruptive final year in New Orleans, due to his trade demand combined with a shoulder injury, probably unfairly dimmed his star.
Playing alongside James, who was wholly invested in Davis' success as a Laker, has placed AD back where he belongs. Davis is now in full bloom: His defensive abilities, elite since his NBA debut, are peaking, and his offensive game has matured beautifully.
Davis' winning 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals was a defining moment and a reminder that he can be unguardable all over the floor. For two games in the NBA Finals, he looked like the favorite to win Finals MVP on his first try.
James believes Davis will be an MVP in the future. Maybe the future is now. -- Windhorst
The redeem team
You know expectations are high when the NBA's two-time reigning MVP, the three-time reigning scoring champ and, perhaps, the league's most complete player are all looking for redemption.
These three have done about all they can during the regular season. (And Kawhi Leonard has reigned supreme in the postseason before.) So what these rankings show is how little elite regular-season performance impacts the perceptions of analysts if those same players come up short in the postseason.
But their disappointing finishes in the NBA bubble set up a new opportunity: to rise again to the top of the pecking order.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (No. 3)
Antetokounmpo has deserved the Most Valuable Player award the past two seasons, in which he has led his team to the best regular-season mark while also logging the best per-minute statistics in the NBA (and earned the most win shares per 48 minutes by a landslide). By winning both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, he joined Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as just the third man to nab both in the same season.
But as dominant as Antetokounmpo is, there are big moments when you'd like to see the 26-year-old show more of a killer instinct. In each of the past two postseasons, he's been reluctant or unable at times to get all the way to the rim (though walls are often established to stop him). He still hesitates a bit more than you'd like in pulling the trigger on a wide-open 3. Milwaukee surrendered a 40-point night to Jimmy Butler in the second round, and Antetokounmpo, the DPOY, never took a crack at guarding him in the loss, saying his coach never asked him to.
To reclaim the top spot on this list, Antetokounmpo might need to win an NBA title. -- Chris Herring
Kawhi Leonard (No. 5)
Leonard made a strong push for the No. 1 spot last year when he was coming off an incredible postseason run to lead the Raptors to a championship. But the question about Leonard then, and to some extent now, was how we should think about his contributions given how frequently he sits out during the regular season to preserve his body.
In a season when you end up hoisting the trophy, that sort of trade-off will always be worth it. But what about one in which the team looks unsettled and out of sync because of the routine absences between him and Paul George? (In fairness, the Clippers' other difficulties in the bubble might not have helped, either.)
The well-rounded forward enjoyed a career year in 2019-20 as a passer. But after watching him win a title with Kyle Lowry, one can't help but wonder whether better point guard play is the missing ingredient now for Leonard, both to win another ring and to earn NBArank's top spot. -- Herring
James Harden (No. 9)
By now, after three consecutive years of leading the league in scoring, it'd be nearly impossible to argue that any one player represents a bigger one-man wrecking crew than Harden does.
Use a single defender on him, and he'll merely toy with his man until he can groove into a step-back 3. Trap him as he crosses half court, and Harden -- who led the league in assists in 2016-17 -- will almost certainly make the right read and find the open teammate. He's better than anyone at drawing fouls (and non-fouls). Harden is among the league's best post defenders at the guard position and is coming off a season in which he led the NBA in steals.
But we're at a point now where Harden's individual accolades almost certainly won't move the needle on his ranking among the NBA's greats. And given the current state of the Rockets, it is challenging to see how Harden ends up on the doorstep of a title opportunity again. Unless, of course, he's traded to a contender that helps him get there. -- Herring
The rising superstars
The Western Conference has long been the dominant one, but a trio of rising superstars suggests that the West's domination is in good hands. The three guys we've identified as "risers" each play for feisty Western squads trying to get to the top of the standings. All of these guys are capable of being the best player on a championship team; could this be their breakout year?
Luka Doncic (No. 4)
At 22, Doncic has the potential to be the best offensive player in the NBA. He's still improving -- rapidly -- and he showed glimpses of that potential with jaw-dropping moments in the bubble last season.
Earlier this week, LeBron James compared Doncic to Magic Johnson -- high praise from the King -- and as with Johnson, who won three MVP and three Finals MVP awards, any team with Doncic at the controls immediately becomes a terrifying outfit.
Not only does Doncic make everyone around him better with his unselfish playmaking skills, he's also evolving into a better scorer than Magic.
You can't teach his feel for the game or his poise in big moments -- those are gifts -- but you can expect him to improve his jump-shooting efficiency and his defense as he approaches his prime. When he does those two things, he'll have almost no weaknesses in his game. -- Kirk Goldsberry
Damian Lillard (No. 7)
Lillard was born for big moments, and no player in the league right now can match his ability to rise to the occasion with games on the line. If the revamped Portland roster can stay healthy, Lillard will get chances to prove himself and lift his team in more big games this season.
Last season, he put a limited Portland squad on his back and carried it into the postseason, where the Blazers got blown off the floor by the Lakers in the first round.
Lillard is reforming conventional wisdom in the NBA with his penchant for shooting ultra-deep 3s with surprising accuracy. When we look back at this era, we will always talk about the rise of 3-point shooting, and more than any other player in the game right now -- including Stephen Curry -- Lillard is pushing the limits of shooting range, taking and making 30-footers more reliably than any other shooter.
The combination of his crunch-time domination and his revolutionary deep 3s has already produced multiple legendary moments and the award as MVP of the seeding games. If Portland can surround him with a better supporting cast, there seems to be almost no limit to what Lillard can do. -- Goldsberry
Nikola Jokic (No. 10)
Jokic is the quirkiest superstar in the league, but he's a superstar nonetheless. At the exact time when the league favors hyperathletic guards and wings, here comes an unorthodox 25-year-old center who doesn't follow that trend, reminding everyone that centers can still dominate in the best basketball league in the world.
Jokic led the whole league in touches last season (averaging over 97 per game!), and just as the LA Clippers learned in the bubble, those who underestimate the Serbian star do so at their own peril.
Jokic was the best player on the court throughout that epic seven-game series against the Clippers that also featured Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Jamal Murray. If you think that's an exaggeration, Jokic ended up leading all players in that series in points, rebounds, assists and blocks.
That's LeBron-esque, when his team needed him most, and it provides a key data point for those who might doubt that Jokic is one of the very best players in this league. -- Goldsberry
The comeback kids
A lengthy rehab is not exactly a sabbatical, but as LeBron James illustrated last season, time off from the rigors of the NBA's lengthy calendar for elite teams can give a superstar a boost upon his return. As intense competitors, these superstars -- particularly those in the back half of their careers -- also have an extra motivation: to prove they're as dangerous as ever.
Kevin Durant (No. 6)
A serious Achilles tendon injury typically hampers a comeback, but Durant is not a typical NBA player.
A lethal threat anywhere on the floor -- both off the dribble and darting off a pindown -- Durant might lose a marginal amount of lift, but as a 6-foot-11 marksman with a quick trigger, he has plenty of margin.
In addition to wanting to demonstrate that he's every bit the superstar he was before the injury, Durant will finally get to debut for his new team with a lofty goal in an increasingly tough Eastern Conference. After hearing barbs that he stacked the deck with the Warriors, Durant -- one of the league's most hypersensitive stars -- undoubtedly wants to prove that he can be The Guy on The Team.
If the Brooklyn Nets are to be Durant's Team, he must assume the mantle of leadership, a responsibility that was more widely distributed in Golden State. -- Kevin Arnovitz
Stephen Curry (No. 8)
It's been a while since we've spoken of Curry in grandiose terms as the era's perennial 50-40-90 guy who not only dominates an NBA game but has outright changed it -- the unanimous MVP who ranked second on our list in 2016.
Coming off a broken left hand in a season the Warriors punted, Curry is now almost 33 and burdened with resuscitating a 2020-21 Warriors team that's a shell of its dynastic self. With Durant long gone, Klay Thompson out for the season and Andre Iguodala in Miami, Curry is charged with the task of performing as one of those superstars who almost single-handedly drags his team into the postseason by the scruff of its neck.
Without the polished choreography of those championship teams and the spacing provided by sharpshooting wings, Curry will have to draw more heavily upon his individual shotmaking.
That's a heavy load, but if there's one player in the league up to it, it might be Curry. -- Arnovitz