Our 2025 NBA Rank wraps up as we break down the final top 10 players in the league!
A longtime staple in our final rank, where did LeBron James fall this year ahead of his 23rd season in the NBA? Which MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokic, landed higher? Do the new faces in the top 10 deserve a higher spot in the rank, or will they fall out next year?
To get the final NBA Rank, we asked our expert panel to vote on player vs. player matchups from more than 20,000 possible pairings. Voters were asked, "Which player will be better in 2025-26?" and had to predict how each player would perform this season.
Our countdown kicked off with our ranking of players Nos. 100-51 on Tuesday alongside Kevin Pelton's predictions of which players can enter the ranks next year. They continued on Wednesday with Nos. 50-11 paired with our NBA experts debating the final results. We come to a close today with the top 10, including who our panel deemed to be the best player entering the 2025-26 NBA season and what questions loom large for the superstars.
Check out the results below.
Note: ESPN's NBA Rank panel, made up of more than 150 reporters, editors, producers and analysts, was asked to rank players based on their predicted contributions -- quality and quantity -- for the 2025-26 season only. Due to their long-term injuries, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Dejounte Murray and Fred VanVleet are not part of this season's rankings.
NBA Rank: Nos. 100-51 | 50-11 | Insiders: NBA Rank debate | Pelton: Who's next in 2026?
10. Jalen Brunson, G, New York Knicks
2024 NBA Rank: 12
Last season brought Brunson's second consecutive All-Star and All-NBA second-team selections. In just three years, Brunson has moved himself onto the short list of the best players ever to wear the blue and orange. That also included leading the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years and to a third straight year with at least one playoff series victory, which hadn't happened since the glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s. The only acceptable outcome for Brunson and the Knicks this season, though, is to fully break through and reach the NBA Finals for the first time this century.
Biggest question: How will Brunson adjust to new head coach Mike Brown?
For the past three years, Brunson's meteoric ascent to superstardom in New York has been associated with Tom Thibodeau, with whom there was a clear bond of trust and admiration. Thibodeau has had a long run of success with building offenses around small guards and Brunson took the chance to become the leader of his own team with the Knicks and ran with it.
Brunson is a tremendous player, of course, and will remain a focal point of the Knicks' offense. However, Brown has talked about both playing much faster and incorporating more ball movement into his offense in New York, much like he did with Sacramento the past few seasons. Brunson, on the other hand, has seemed to prefer playing at a slower pace, and the ball has constantly been in his hands under Thibodeau.
It will be interesting to see how this relationship manifests itself over the coming months. But make no mistake: Brunson is still the straw that stirs the drink in Gotham, and he, more than anyone else, will be the one to determine whether the Knicks can break their 26-year Finals drought next spring. -- Tim Bontemps
Signature stat: Brunson averaged a career-high 7.3 assists last season. He also became the first player to average 25 points and seven assists in a season in Knicks history.
Fantasy projection: 26.3 PTS, 3.0 REB, 7.2 AST
9. Kevin Durant, F, Houston Rockets
2024 NBA Rank: 9
The Rockets entered last postseason pondering whether they needed to acquire a go-to offensive engine and received an answer resoundingly by way of a first-round exit. Enter Durant, who heads into 2025-26 ranked eighth all time in scoring (30,571 points) just behind Wilt Chamberlain (31,419). Even at age 36, Durant remains an efficient and elite scorer who brings championship experience and I.Q. to go with a relentless work ethic, which is sure to rub off on Houston's relatively young roster.
Biggest question: Does Durant's arrival make the Rockets legitimate contenders?
Yes, but only if Houston's supporting cast does its part in helping Durant to find his fit within the group. Having worked with Durant during his tenure in Brooklyn, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka knows the 15-time All-Star isn't the type of player who wants teammates to defer to him unnecessarily. Durant wants to be integrated into the group naturally, which in turn diversifies Houston's options for attacking opponents.
So, the best way to maximize Durant's potential impact is continued growth from players such as Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun, who spent a good chunk of the summer in Istanbul, Turkey, working with Rockets developmental staffers on whittling down his post moves to focus on what's most effective.
Durant has already told teammates to be themselves, and he'll find a way to fit in that best helps the team. Durant's vast experience in a variety of systems over the years ensures he'll find his way; it's just a matter of how quickly. -- Michael C. Wright
Signature stat: Kevin Durant has averaged at least 25 points, 50% shooting and 40% on 3-pointers in three straight seasons, the longest streak in NBA history.
Fantasy projection: 24.9 PTS, 5.8 REB, 4.2 AST
8. LeBron James, F, Los Angeles Lakers
2024 NBA Rank: 7
James dropped one spot from No. 7 to No. 8 after a very strong 22nd season during which he averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds, was named to the All-NBA second team and finished sixth in MVP voting. He has already shown unprecedented late-career production and will become the first player ever to play 23 seasons when he steps on the floor this fall. His NBA Rank prominence is unprecedented, too: fellow all-time great Kobe Bryant fell to No. 93 at the start of his 20th and final season in 2015-16.
Biggest question: Is this the last we see of James in a Lakers uniform?
While James has built his career following a personal ethos to "become comfortable being uncomfortable," the tension between James and the Lakers ratcheted up to another level this summer when his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN's Shams Charania, "We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career," after the four-time MVP opted into his $52.6 million contract for next season.
The statement opened the door for a wave of speculation about whether James wanted to be in L.A., despite the contract decision -- teams such as Dallas, Cleveland and New York were tossed around as potential trade destinations. Paul clarified to ESPN that he never addressed a trade with the Lakers on James' behalf and since the 40-year-old veteran has a no-trade clause in his contract, it would require his side to initiate the dialogue. The rhetoric has died down in the months since as James posted about crack-of-dawn workouts and cheering on Luka Doncic at EuroBasket on his Instagram account.
James enters into an unprecedented NBA season with Doncic there to pass the Lakers torch to, his son, Bronny, as his teammate to relish the time with, four titles and 40,000 points already on his résumé. The better question might be if this is the last we'll see of James in the league at all, and what's left for him to accomplish? -- Dave McMenamin
Signature stat: James is heading into his 23rd season, passing Vince Carter for the most in NBA history. With 50 games played, he will pass Robert Parish for the most games played all time.
Fantasy projection: 24.9 PTS, 7.7 REB, 8.2 AST
7. Stephen Curry, G, Golden State Warriors
2024 NBA Rank: 6
Despite defenses selling out to an abnormal degree to give him zero space and keep the ball out of his hands, Curry hit 311 3s in 70 games last season. It was Curry's sixth career season with at least 300 makes from deep. Nobody else in league history has done it more than once. So he still possesses the perimeter power that has made him one of the greats in the sport's long history. He will bend coverages and be the center of every defensive game plan when he is on the floor this season. The Warriors' success also remains tied to him. When he was on the floor last season, they outscored opponents by a team-best 299 points. When he was off the floor, they were outscored by a team-high 28 points. With him, they eliminated the 52-win Rockets in the first round and took a 1-0 lead on the Timberwolves in the semis. After he injured his hamstring in Game 1 and sat out, the Warriors lost four consecutive games and were eliminated.
Biggest question: What is a potential concern for the 16-season veteran?
The hamstring strain was Curry's first soft tissue injury since an adductor strain in November 2018. After healing relatively quickly, Curry even thought he could return for Game 6 of the series, had it been extended that long. He competed in a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe two months later and reported his body feeling 100%. He is known for having a disciplined workout routine and an obsession with keeping his body in shape for the season. But Curry will also turn 38 in March, and everyone around the Warriors knows his workload must be closely monitored if they want him fresh come playoff time. However, that's always difficult when chasing every win for seeding purposes. -- Anthony Slater
Signature stat: Curry made at least 300 3-pointers in a season for the sixth time in his career in 2024-25. All other players in NBA history have four combined seasons with at least 300 3-pointers.
Fantasy projection: 25.1 PTS, 4.5 REB, 5.8 AST
6. Anthony Edwards, G, Minnesota Timberwolves
2024 NBA Rank: 10
By almost every measure, Anthony Edwards got better last season. He led the league with 320 made 3-pointers at a career-high 39.5% clip. He raised his scoring average from 26 points per game to 28. And, most importantly, he led the team back to the Western Conference finals despite the offseason trade of All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns. But he would be the first person to tell you he came up short of his goals last season. After losing in five games to the Thunder, Edwards said "no one would work harder" than him to improve this offseason. Edwards saw firsthand how Oklahoma City was a better team, with more depth, skill and tactics that were able to take him out of games. To ascend to the heights predicted for him since his star turn with USA Basketball in 2023, Edwards will need to diversify his offensive game and elevate his teammates.
Biggest question: Will his penchant for getting technical fouls and being fined by the NBA continue?
Edwards led the league with 18 technical fouls last season and was fined over $400,000 by the NBA for a variety of behaviors: obscene gestures, explicit language, and failing to leave the court after an ejection. Not exactly great for his image and candidacy as the future face of the league and the best American-born star. But also not great for his reputation with referees in the league, and sometimes a needless distraction to his team. -- Ramona Shelburne
Signature stat: Led by his league-best 320 made 3-pointers, Anthony Edwards averaged 27.6 points last season, the most in a season in Timberwolves history.
Fantasy projection: 27.8 PTS, 5.8 REB, 4.7 AST
5. Victor Wembanyama, C, San Antonio Spurs
2024 NBA Rank: 11
Wembanyama certainly looks like he's ready to roll. The San Antonio Spurs recently visited Ingram Tom Moore High School, an area hit hard by devastating floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country back in July, and Wembanyama led the team through an abbreviated workout in front of the students. Tossing the basketball off the backboard, Wembanyama jumped to catch it before putting it through his legs and slamming home a thunderous dunk that whipped the spectators into a frenzy. Wembanyama made it look easy.
Biggest question: Will Wembanyama's whirlwind summer pay dividends this season?
It should. After sitting out the final 30 games of last season because of deep vein thrombosis, Wembanyama received a clean bill of health in July during a busy summer in which the 21-year-old trained for 10 days at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, and worked with Hall of Fame big men Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. It's a safe bet that Wembanyama's work with Garnett will instill a little more aggressiveness into the Frenchman's game, while Olajuwon likely schooled the third-year Spur in the sweet footwork and post moves that made the 12-time All-Star virtually unstoppable for 18 seasons in the NBA. Wembanyama believes that some of the moves performed during his Kung Fu training in China mimic what he'll be doing on the court. -- Wright
Signature stat: Victor Wembanyama became the 3rd player with a 5x5 game, a 10-block game and a 50-point game in the same season since blocks/steals became official in 1973-74, joining 1992-93 David Robinson and 1989-90 Hakeem Olajuwon.
Fantasy projection: 24.7 PTS, 11.5 REB, 4.0 BLK
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Milwaukee Bucks
2024 NBA Rank: 3
Antetokounmpo is coming off a season in which he averaged a 30-point double-double and finished second in the league in scoring, behind only SGA. If the Bucks had finished higher in the standings, he would have gotten more MVP love, but he still secured a top-four finish in voting for the seventh consecutive season. Milwaukee's dominant big man is showing no signs of slowing down, reinventing his game by trading in 3s for more midrange jumpers, and it has made him even more efficient. Antetokounmpo remains, perhaps, the league's premier two-way threat, but he hasn't played in even the conference semifinals since 2022.
Biggest question: Still in the prime of his career, can Antetokounmpo win another championship in Milwaukee?
Antetokounmpo has been putting up even better production over the past few years than the seasons when he won back-to-back MVP awards. He has averaged 30 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists on 60% shooting in each of the past two seasons, the only player in NBA history to do so, with a combination of efficiency and dominance that rivals peak Shaquille O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain. Antetokounmpo was healthy for the 2025 playoffs for the first time in three years, and his numbers got even better (33 PPG and 14 RPG on 64% shooting). The Bucks still lost in the first round for the third consecutive season, however. Antetokounmpo has long repeated that winning another championship is the top priority for him, but despite his status as one of the most dominant players of his generation, Milwaukee has faded further away from championship contention. It brings Antetokounmpo's future into the forefront of his 2025-26 season. He will turn 31 in December, and if the Bucks can not put a contender around him, how much longer will Antetokounmpo continue to be patient? -- Jamal Collier
Signature stat: Antetokounmpo has averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 60% shooting in each of the past two seasons. No other player has done this once in NBA history.
Fantasy projection: 31.5 PTS, 12.2 REB, 6.5 AST
3. Luka Doncic, G, Los Angeles Lakers
2024 NBA Rank: 2
Doncic changed teams but barely budged from his position near the top of NBA Rank from last year, sliding from No. 2 to No. 3. The 26-year-old is coming off a successful summer during which he slimmed down, inked a three-year, $165 million contract extension with L.A. and led Slovenia all the way to the quarterfinals of EuroBasket while pouring in 34.7 points per game in the tournament. Last season was the first time since Doncic was a rookie that the 6-6 guard didn't receive any votes for MVP, as a calf injury, plus the midseason trade, limited him to a career-low 50 games. NBA Rank voters are banking on Doncic to resume his Dallas trajectory now that he's committed to the Lakers.
Biggest question: Did Doncic's dominant summer set up an MVP season?
First, he transformed his body with a rigorous workout and dietary regimen. Then he signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension with the Lakers. And he topped it all off by leading Slovenia to the quarterfinals at EuroBasket, averaging 34.7 points per game in the international competition. A year ago, Doncic was coming off a surprise run to the NBA Finals with the Mavericks and was considered the best young basketball player in the game. After a season of upheaval, marred by a lengthy calf strain injury and a shocking trade to the Lakers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took that title from him, being named MVP and Finals MVP while leading the Thunder to the championship. Is the 26-year-old Doncic -- with the third-highest regular-season scoring average and second-highest postseason scoring average in league history -- ready to continue his trajectory and earn his first MVP along the way? -- McMenamin
Signature stat: Luka Doncic led the Lakers in average points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3s after making his debut with the Lakers on Feb. 10.
Fantasy projection: 30.1 PTS, 8.5 REB, 8.2 AST
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G, Oklahoma City Thunder
2024 NBA Rank: 4
Scoring champion, MVP, Western Conference finals MVP, Finals MVP, champion. It isn't hyperbole to declare that Gilgeous-Alexander's 2024-25 season ranks among the best individual campaigns in the history of the game. And he's just entering his prime at 27.
Biggest question: How can SGA continue to improve?
He has steadily become a more efficient scorer and had a career-best 63.7% true shooting percentage last season, when he made and attempted by far the most 3s (163 of 435, 37.5%) of his career. Continuing to expand his range will make him even more difficult to defend. He has also shown steady progress as a playmaker, averaging a career-best 6.4 assists, a number that could increase again as his young supporting cast blossoms as scoring options. -- Tim MacMahon
Signature stat: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the 4th player to win the scoring title, NBA MVP and NBA title in the same season in league history, along with Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Fantasy projection: 33.2 PTS, 5.2 REB, 6.5 AST
1. Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets
2024 NBA Rank: 1
This is the second consecutive year Jokic has led ESPN's NBA Rank, and it's easy to see why. Yes, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a well-deserving winner of the league's regular-season and Finals MVP awards. And yes, he beat Jokic head-to-head in the playoffs. But even the Thunder will tell you that Jokic had some otherworldly games in that series, and they were fortunate to advance out of that fight of a second-round series.
Simply put, Jokic is at the peak of his basketball powers right now and should be regarded as an MVP favorite as long as he stays at this level. Last season, Jokic became the third player in history to average a triple-double (29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists) for the season and had the fourth-highest player efficiency rating (32.04) in league history. He finished as the runner-up to Gilgeous-Alexander largely because the Thunder were so much better as a team than the dysfunctional Nuggets, who fired their coach and general manager at the end of the regular season and underachieved with a fourth-place Western Conference finish.
Biggest question: Have the Nuggets done enough to build out the depth issues that plagued them last season?
Part of the reason Jokic's numbers were so incredible is that the Nuggets needed him to carry such a heavy load after a second straight offseason of losing key players from their championship team. This year, Denver has been more aggressive in surrounding Jokic with more talent and a deeper bench, but we won't know until we see this new group out there whether those moves will look as good as they do on paper. If Denver rebounds and challenges the Thunder as the best team in the West, Jokic has a chance to become only the sixth player in NBA history to win four MVP awards, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James. -- Shelburne
Signature stat: Last season, Jokic became the third player to average a triple-double in a season in NBA history, joining Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 and Russell Westbrook (4x).
Fantasy projection: 29.0 PTS, 12.7 REB, 10.1 AST