Young vaulted up this list after a magical run through his first postseason, averaging 28.8 points and 9.5 assists in leading the Hawks to within two wins of the Finals. LaVine's the type of player who can be plugged into any situation, capable of doing damage off the bounce, or cutting to the rim for a tough finish at the rim. With Kyle Lowry in Miami, Siakam should have even more offensive responsibility this season, which could lead to some impressive numbers if his 3-point shooting returns to its previous levels. -- Jasmyn Wimbish, Gordon had a strong All-Star case as the second-best player on the top team in the West. The reigning Rookie of the Year winner, Ball dazzled us all last season making the Charlotte Hornets must-watch television. We've already revealed players Nos. -- Brad Botkin, McCollum isn't having his most efficient season -- and playing long stretches without Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram might have something to do with that -- but he's still at 21 points a night on 39-percent 3-point shooting. Fox's 3-point shooting hasn't come along quite yet, but he was in the 76th percentile in offensive efficiency including assists last season, per Synergy, and the Kings offense improved by 4.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. The next step for him is to continue to develop defensively. He showed no ill-effects from the procedure, averaging 20.7 points, 4.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds with Indiana to close out the season. Keep that distinction in mind as you scroll through. -- Michael Kaskey-Blomain, Lillard is quietly having the best, or at least most efficient, season of his career: 31.4 points per game on a career-high 64.8 true-shooting percentage. Westbrook has averaged a triple-double in four of the last five seasons, a testament to his still-elite speed and athleticism as well as a motor that never quits. -- Otto Strong, Adebayo was Miami's All-Star but ranks below Jimmy Butler on this list. 2 seed in the West and a trip to the NBA Finals. Find out here with ESPN.com's NBA season leaders, ranked by ESPN player rating systems. (Yes, the defense has been rough, but we're optimistic.). And then he got hurt, missed over a month, and has averaged 22.5 points per game since returning. He and Oscar Robertson are the only non-Jokic players to match what Sabonis is doing right now. Both Tatum and the Celtics are coming off a season from hell, during which they were ravaged by COVID-19 and fell short of expectations. -- James Herbert, James is averaging 30 points per game, which is more than he did in any of his four seasons with Miami. An elite scorer and impactful defender, Tatum is one of the best two-way wings in the league. Type H2H H2H Points Roto Points His dribbling, scoring and flair for the dramatic put him on a different level than nearly everyone else. He's one of the best second options in the league, and his ability to mesh with Tatum is why the Celtics are once again title contenders. He was named to his first All-Star team and is a legitimate candidate for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award as a result. The pull-up 3s. The Hawks have not been able to figure out how to thrive in Murray's minuteswithoutYoung, though, which might be more about their depth than it is about Murray himself. He was a legitimate rim protector, knocked down shots when he got looks and was aggressive on the boards. -- Jasmyn Wimbish, Beal is having another solid season in Washington. Nurkic has battled injuries for the past couple of seasons, but his impact on the court when he plays is undeniable. He was traded this offseason to the New Orleans Pelicans, where he'll man the frontcourt next to Zion Williamson, which should be an intriguing duo to watch. He's the anchor of a defense that, by design, has made his job more difficult this time around. These numbers are obviously encouraging, but they don't capture what's so exciting about his development. In Game 7 against the Sixers in the playoffs, it was his 27 points that lifted Atlanta to a shocking win over the No. He was named to his first All-Star team as a result, and he's a legitimate candidate for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award. RANKED: the Top NBA Players Right Now - Insider The king remains the NBA's smartest player, but eventually, Father Time is going to knock him off of his throne physically. Sexton was the last. He was right in the thick of the MVP race before Solomon Hill dove into his ankle. Russell Westbrook's arrival was geared largely toward staving that moment off for just a little while longer. What is an NBA Best Bet. 100. The Grizzlies picked Bane expecting him to be a sharpshooter. The fact that defenses can't afford to leave him open on the perimeter for a single second makes him an ideal complement to Brooklyn's trio of superstars. -- 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. Voters had to predict what they expected from each player during the season. His scoring is on par with what we've come to expect, but what stands out more is his continual improvement as a facilitator. But unlike the strict confines of what we've come to expect from the 3-and-D prototype, Bridges excels in creating his own shot and scoring at all three levels. Paul George continues to be one of the best two-way wing players in the entire NBA. Bet he'd engrave "Grit&Grind" on the ring, like Gasol did. So why isn't Curry in the MVP race? There are good teams that would rather have Nance than many of the high-scoring players we've ranked above him. Now that we're coming out of the All-Star break, we don't have to project anymore. Season Leaders | Stats | NBA.com -- Brad Botkin, SGA is in the midst of a breakout campaign. Of the numerous potential franchise-changers in the 2020 draft, he is the surest thing -- the question is how long it will take Detroit to give him the reins and put the proper pieces around him. So that should tell you something about just how productive Harden has been. Portland GM Neil Olshey thinks not, as he gave Powell a five-year, $90 million contract this summer. His efficiency took a slight dip with his career-high usage last season, but if this year plays out perfectly both numbers will rise. DeRozan has almost single-handedly proven that a wing can remain efficient in the modern NBA without consistently shooting 3-pointers, and that's largely due to his improved playmaking to go along with deadly mid-range shooting. It's clear now that he's best in movement-oriented offensive systems, and last season his value was equally apparent watching him complement Phoenix's stars as it was watching Miami try to make up for his absence. Butler has shifted his focus in Miami to that of a methodical facilitator, putting up career-high assist marks since making his way to Miami. His 3-point shooting was a bright spot for a Kings team that was otherwise average from downtown, and his knack for disrupting plays on the other end of the floor showed that he has incredible promise on that end of the floor. Look at his passing, his reads in the short roll, his strong drives to the rim and his touch when he gets there. But prior to that injury, Brown was showing that he's every bit as deserving of the spotlight in Boston as Jayson Tatum is. Player of the Week awarded on Monday for the previous Monday to Sunday. So that's what we did, only this time we limited it to the top 50 players in the league. Despite the fact that Isaac missed all of last season due to tearing his ACL in the Orlando bubble, at age 22 there's still upside to the 6-11 center, which is why he landed on our list. He would fit with, and help, any contender. -- Jasmyn Wimbish, One of the silkiest offensive players in the NBA -- his 0-fer on nine 3-point attempts in the All-Star Game notwithstanding -- George has put together another quietly outstanding season with averages of 23 points, six rebounds and five assists on 38 percent 3-point shooting. If you worship at the altar of advanced acronyms, you love Jimmy Butler, who last season finished third in WS/48, fourth in BPM, fifth in WS, fifth in OWS, fifth in PER, sixth in DBPM and sixth in VORP, per Basketball-Reference.com. I agree to receive the "CBS Sports HQ Newsletter" and marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers), and other information from CBS Sports and the Paramount family of companies. -- Michael Kaskey-Blomain, After a disappointing defeat in last year's NBA Finals, a series for which he took plenty of blame, Tatum responded by making another leap. You would be forgiven for not watching much of Gilgeous-Alexander last season considering he was limited to just 35 games due to plantar fasciitis and the Thunder were actively trying to lose. Nikola Jokic PF, C (DEN) The Joker wasn't kidding around when he stepped on the court last season, averaging a monstrous 26/10/8 while nailing 1.3 triples and shooting 56.6% from the field. He averaged 23.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game for the Clippers last season, and those numbers will likely increase a bit due to a larger load stemming from the fact that Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss a large chunk of the season. A new coaching staff with the Mavericks and a fully healthy offseason may be what K.P. Expect the All-Star Game MVP, fresh off his record-setting 55-point night, to keep his foot on the pedal as he's done all season. Oh come on! Lowry just spent the bulk of his career sharing those gifts with the Raptors. -- Jasmyn Wimbish, Remember when critics worried what Brunson would look like without Luka Doncic? Now he's a dead-eye shooter who can't get to -- or finish above -- the rim the way he used to. -- James Herbert, His contributions may not be as obvious as Steph Curry's, but one could argue that Green has been just as vital to the Warriors this season. As a rookie, Porter averaged 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game. The shorthanded Suns needed him to create offense, and the new-look Nets need more of the same. Mitchell averaged a career-high 26.4 points per game last year on a very deep Jazz team. Crowder is the guy you wish your favorite team signed for the midlevel. The first 10 players can be found here. He's easily the most interesting player in Portland this season, but he has to stay healthy and prove the shot is real. Now, with Kyle Lowry gone, he'll have enough opportunity to push for 20. Whether Westbrook embraces a lower-usage existence and controls his worst shooting impulses could largely determine how far the Lakers go. He's the complete package on that end of the floor. He was in the 94th percentile in halfcourt offense including assists, per Synergy, and his 1.195 points per possession in isolation situations were the best in the league for anyone with 100 such possessions. Here's the list of players who have averaged at least 1.5 made 3-pointers per game and 3.4 blocks: 2020-21 Myles Turner. Taking the cumulative results of our seven writers' individual rankings, this is a look ahead to how these players are expected to perform in the upcoming season. This season has been Siakam's best in terms of scoring, passing and getting to the free throw line. Check out the NBA Daily Stats leaders for June 28, 2023 ESPN ranks your favorite NBA players by points, rebounds, minutes, and more! He's remained a steady offensive force for Chicago, especially when Zach LaVine is having an off night. Bogdanovic proved his versatility by landing in the 93rd percentile as a spot-up jump shooter, per Synergy, and also in the 88th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, including passes. Which player is dominating the 2022-2023 season? Allen, along with Evan Mobley, serves as the back line of Cleveland's defense, and he has a knack for making things tough for opposing offensive players, both at the rim and even out on the perimeter once in a while if needed. While Porzingis was struggling with consistency last season, Hardaway became Dallas' most effective No. 13. The numbers suggest he's heading somewhere special. He's here to do everything else, and when the roster around him was right, he looked like a star doing it. But first, a couple of. And in Cleveland, he has been a more active defender, having owned up to his previously poor approach on that end. He averaged 21 points and 9.6 rebounds per game for Houston, and he was one of the lone bright spots for the team during what was an otherwise forgettable season. Folks who follow the NBA have long awaited Murray's breakout, and it finally arrived last season. Not only has Mitchell averaged more points than he ever did in Utah, this is easily the most efficient season of his career. He has found himself on solid footing in Charlotte, though, by becoming one of the most reliable spot-up shooters in the league. Case in point -- did you know that he averaged more points per game than LeBron James last season? 100-26, Nos. He's now proven, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he's something more: a legitimate secondary shot-creator next to Ja Morant who is also capable of keeping the offense afloat when his more famous teammate sits. He's not quite as unassailable near the rim as he once was. 2 option in Celtics, as his name should be right next to Tatum in Boston's hierarchy. 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. Giannis, Luka and the Joker battle for the top spot, while Steph is the only American-born player in our top five. -- James Herbert. No, if the Lakers are going to reclaim the championship, they are going to need Anthony Davis to find his shot again. He'll need to improve as a shooter and on the defensive end, but fans in Minnesota should be excited about Edwards' sophomore season. His mid-range attempts are going down and he jumped up to over 47 percent from behind the arc last season. The approach seems to be paying off, for -- when Leonard has been on the court -- the Clippers have been elite on both ends. If the 2020 postseason is any indication, he's still got enough left in the tank to do just that. Too quickly, talented young scorers on bad teams are labeled as empty stats players. What's really down is his 36-percent mark from long midrange, where he's almost always north of 45 percent and has been known to crest to 50 percent. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham made our top 100. You can find minor nits to pick here. Both Barkley and McHale did it once; Williamson did it in 2020-21, and he's on pace to do it again. No longer was he burdened with ball-handling or saddled with a spaceless roster. No player in NBA history has ever put up at least 29 points per game in a season with a true shooting percentage above .670, which Durant is on pace to accomplish. What makes Young special is his ability to manipulate the entire floor out of pick-and-roll, getting into the paint for his virtually unstoppable floater and drawing fouls at a rate almost hard to believe for a finesse player. After entering the starting lineup on March 26, Bogdanovic averaged 21.1 points and 4.2 assists per game on absurd 50/49/90 shooting splits in the final 25 games of the season. NBA Players of the Week | Basketball-Reference.com Collins secured the bag, as they say, after another wildly efficient offensive season for the Hawks in which he ranked in the 96th percentile with 1.177 points per possession, per Synergy, while putting up 56/40/83 shooting splits. If McCollum's 43.5 shooting percentage were to hold, it would be his worst annual mark since his rookie season. Even from the comfort of your couch, it is jarring to see someone so massive barrel down the lane, elevate so high and finish so easily. The only player in the NBA to average at least 20 points and 12 rebounds last season, Sabonis is also one of the best playmaking bigs in the league. 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. Kevin Durant, LeBron James & Luka Doni ESPN. Ball knows exactly what he is at this stage of his career. He still has work to do in terms of his efficiency and limiting his turnovers, but to nearly crack the top 50 of NBA players in the league right now after just one season in the league is incredibly impressive for the young point guard. Prior to the start of the 2022-23 NBA regular season, we published our CBS Sports top 100 players list. NBA Top 100 player rankings for 2021-22: Kevin Durant edges LeBron The Cavaliers have had a top defense in the league throughout the season, and Allen is a main part of the reason why. He is among the league's best pick-and-roll practitioners because of his maturity, his vision, his creativity and his shooting. You can count on around 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists from him on a nightly basis, and if he's hot he's capable of going off for 30-plus points on any given night. He's devoting 17.5 percent of his possessions to pick-and-roll compared to 13.5 a season ago. Green isn't quite the defender he used to be, but you could still make the case that he's the best defender in the league. That was December 2021, just 14 months ago. So here it is: Our CBS Sports Top 100 player rankings for the 2021-22 season. And that's all in addition to his stingy, versatile defense. It's a well deserved recognition, given Edwards has single-handily kept the Timberwolves afloat while Karl-Anthony Towns has been sidelined for all but 21 games of the season. NBArank 2022: Ranking the best players for 2022-23, from 5 to 1 At 27, with his own team to run, can he make yet another leap? Antetokounmpo is scoring a career-high 31.8 points per game, and is the only player in the league averaging at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. There was decent evidence the trio can succeed together, relatively speaking, over a six-week sample to end last season, when the Wolves were plus-1.6 in the minutes those three played together with an 11-9 record. That's not exactly high, but it tells the story of a player slowly becoming more comfortable with the ball in his hands. -- James Herbert, If we'd voted on this list in December, you could have been reading about Davis last. -- Brad Botkin, After getting snubbed last season from the All-Star Game, and again once the initial rosters were announced, Edwards finally earned that honor as an injury replacement. The player that has made his name taking charges, diving for loose balls and outsmarting more talented opponents now plays for a team that very recently made the Finals taking charges, diving for loose balls and outsmarting more talented opponents. 1. That pick defends well as a rookie, starts making shots in Year 2 or 3, and by Year 4 or 5, he's started creating his own shots against opponents ill-equipped to handle yet another Toronto developmental masterpiece.