It's remarkable how much more dynamic New Orleans' offense is when Williamson is healthy, as the Pelicans were near the top of the West to start the season. 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. Also, while Morants shooting numbers have improved, he is not enough of a consistent threat from outside of the paint yet to make the defenses respect him enough to not go under every screen set. We know what Kawhi Leonard is or was, the last time we saw him, anyway. Weve seen stretches of dominant play, but he has yet to put together the type of season that would cement him as a true superstar. Fred VanVleet has been a steady presence during the changeover in Toronto since the Raptors championship in 2019. NBA Top 125 players for 2022-23: Bradley Beal, Anthony Edwards and other Tier 3 stars - The Athletic NBA Top 125 players for 2022-23: Bradley Beal, Anthony Edwards and other. His shot has been a work in progress, as Barnes was never viewed as a threat in that area. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Barring any major setbacks, they should be right in the thick of things in the Western Conference. Green's offensive skills continue to be overlooked. In 2022, his shot was off, and he struggled to find ways to impact the game. That he's averaging about 25 points is mind-boggling, since he's doing it on 70-plus percent true shooting and damn near leading the league in assists. Tatum clearly ran out of gas by the NBA Finals but played well overall in the playoffs, averaging 25.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists. If Morant can shore these up, particularly the perimeter shooting, the sky is the limit for this must-see-TV 23-year-old. He's still one of the top perimeter threats in the league, and a guy who is capable of dropping 30-plus on any given night. Sometimes, Draymond Greens personality can be a bit of a punch to the face. 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Its very unlikely that Jokic three-peats as MVP, as nobody has done that since Larry Bird, and voter fatigue makes it very difficult. -- 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. Rather, these are the 50 players, in order, that we believe are having the best 2022-23 season so far. The drive-and-kicks. In his 21 games in Philadelphia last season after the 76ers acquired him from Brooklyn, Harden averaged 21 points, 7.1 rebounds and 10.5 assists. Surely reasonable minds can disagree on that front. The big man hasnt made a major leap nor has he declined, and he thus hasnt made any major movement in our rankings. Home (current) Templates; Tierlists; Categories; Login; Register; CREATE TEMPLATE; Sports / Top 50 NBA Players Top 50 NBA Players. -- Sam Quinn, It's a testament to Young's offensive ability that he's averaging 27 points and 10 assists per game despite putting up his worst shooting efficiency since his rookie season. The approach seems to be paying off, for -- when Leonard has been on the court -- the Clippers have been elite on both ends. 4. We just hope SGA is there by the time OKC builds the next great version of its team. -- James Herbert, Remember when Lopez had back surgery? Curry is still the best point guard in the NBA, and last season he reminded the league of that fact. 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. He's also had to take on an outsized offensive role in the absence of Khris Middleton for much of the season, and is putting up 19.4 points and seven assists per game -- his best marks since arriving in Milwaukee. Last season, the greatest shooter of all time averaged 25.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. His 30.6 points per game are a career-high and good for sixth in the league, and finishing with that number would also give him the highest single-season scoring average in Celtics franchise history. Now, they add back Zion Williamson and have a full offseason to jell and learn to play together. Torontos system does not feel all that sustainable. With his consistent aggression and freakish athleticism leading to countless highlight-level plays, Morant averaged 16.6 points per game in the paint, becoming the first guard in NBA history to lead the league in that category. On defense, his wingspan and ability to swat shots out of the air from the weak side make him a force on both ends of the floor. The pull-up 3s. He also recently made some major news in Philadelphia by reaching 10,000 career points in the fewest number of games in franchise history. Are there more skilled players in the league? If hes somehow the third-best player on your team, you are almost certainly an elite team. -- Jack Maloney, Once again, Jokic has been the best offensive player in basketball. His 3-point shooting was down from 38.8% in 2021 to 33.7% in 2022, but he did shoot a career-high 58.3% from the floor. View the Community Ranking for this 2022 NBA Top 50 Players Tier List & recent user lists Follow @aycanigetapizza> Create a ranking for 2022 NBA Top 50 Players 1. Garland is a scoring threat at multiple levels, even if the guard ended up not taking as many 3-point attempts as some would have liked to have seen. Ayton has been a walking double-double and a very solid center since he entered the league, and he still is. 49 after taking home Rookie of the Year honors last season. While VanVleet may stick out in the Raptors 6-foot-8-at-every-position experiment, he is still a crucial player on both ends of the floor for a scrappy Toronto team. 1 on our list, and it says a great deal about the No. Press the labels to change the label text. Oh, and since then, Doncic's Mavericks are three games under .500 at 10-13, whereas Brunson's Knicks are five games above .500 at 14-9. Hes an octopus capable of stripping ball handlers at will and making life difficult for your best offensive player. Though going from a volume scorer to an efficient one from his first to the second season was important, Edwards also has to improve defensively and cut down on turnovers the more he becomes the Timberwolves primary ball handler. Sabonis won't win MVP for his efforts, but he's more than earned his spot on this list. He'll also likely land on an All-NBA team for the first time at the end of the season. He ranks first in the NBA with 100 steals this season, and he doesn't back down from guarding some of the best players in the league on a nightly basis. If you double him, hell pick you apart with his passes. He's playing top-flight defense while averaging an extremely efficient 17 points. Williamson is an athletic freak and a walking highlight, but I had to force myself to rank him this high. On offense, hes a machine that has improved as a shooter and can get to his spots at will. When he appeared for the Nets in the court, he would consistently put up 30 points and rack up assists. He leads by example and is a terrific locker-room presence. He wasnt able to repeat his 2020-21 All-Star selection in 2021-22, but he still averaged 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. No. His defense compliments Young perfectly, and the Hawks should be very fun to watch this season. Ties were broken by guest voter Kas Facts. Fresh off of his fourth NBA Championship and his first NBA Finals MVP, Stephen Curry doesnt really have anything to prove to anyone. The next step is winning it all. -- James Herbert, It's all coming together. More than 400 hundred NBA All-Star Game selections. 2022 - Top 75 NBA Players Tier List Top 50 NBA Players 2020-2021 NBA Starting Point Guards NBA 2k games (2k-2k20) 2021 NBA All-Stars Best Players in NBA History, 33 Players NBA Players 20/21 2021 NBA Shooting Guard TOP CAMISETAS RETRO NBA 2021 NBA Small Forwards Your favorite nba players NBA Starting Small Forwards 2019-2020 But since coming back from the two-month absence following his big toe injury he's been splendid, averaging 29 points on 54/44/86 shooting splits over six games in February. 2. Injuries derailed last season for both Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers. -- Brad Botkin, It's been a disappointing season for the Bulls, but LaVine's production is still on par with his All-Star season from a year ago. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. He's devoting 17.5 percent of his possessions to pick-and-roll compared to 13.5 a season ago. Empowered to be the engine of the Pacers' offense, he has averaged 20 points and 10 assists with career-best efficiency. Without Zion Williamson, the Pelicans and Ingram struggled at the start of the season until the addition of CJ McCollum gave them the boost they needed to make the playoffs. However, the Bulls guard still is a scoring machine who can help lead his team to the playoffs. Edwards shooting numbers improved in both 2-and 3-point shooting percentages last season. Xavier S. Copyright 2022 DefPen.com. Until he can round out his game and find ways to impact the game in areas other than scoring, hell continue to leave us wanting more. His status as the greatest 38-year-old in NBA history is a given, but the numbers James is putting up rival even what his 28-year-old self was achieving at his peak. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Because of his impact on both ends of the floor, Golden State has actually suffered more when Green sits than when Curry does. He spaces the floor and rebounds the basketball very well. We saw what happened last year after the Bucks lost Khris Middleton to injury. While 71% of DeRozans shots came from the midrange, he still made 47% of those shots. Well need to see it in practice before making any conclusions, but were excited to watch this Wolves team next season. He has no one to help ease the offensive burden. However, with all the talent between LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, the Bulls haven't managed to put it together enough to find steady success this season. His connection as a slasher with Nikola Jokic is, and has been since the day he arrived in Denver, almost perfect. The definition of top or best is subjective and open-ended; each voter has their own view and opinion on that. Either way, Bam has been very good and wholly necessary for the Heat, who go from a plus-3.8 point differential per 100 possessions when he plays, per CTG, to a minus-6.7 when he sits. Butler throughout his career has logged a ton of minutes, and he shows up on the injury report quite often. That was December 2021, just 14 months ago. top 50 nba players tier list 2022. top 50 nba players tier list 2022. best sci-fi manga 2021 . Both Barkley and McHale did it once; Williamson did it in 2020-21, and he's on pace to do it again. The Warriors want to repeat as champs, and Wiggins is ready for the adventure. Excluding a cameo against Cleveland, Davis averaged roughly 35 points and 16 rebounds per game between Nov. 13 and Dec. 13 while making a compelling case for Defensive Player of the Year. Updated Aug. 10, 2022 11:18 a.m. EDT . The tier list contains the categories of Top 5 NBA players, Superstar, All. Last season, he got back into the court toward the end of the regular season to help the Warriors in their quest to win another championship. He will stuff the stat sheet and make an infinite number of highlight plays, but his weaknesses place a glass ceiling on Atlantas title hopes. For each player, youll see the overall ranking, where we had them ranked on our 2020-21 Top 50 NBA players list, the highest and lowest ranks any of our voters ranked them on their individual lists, and a brief writeup about that player. Kawhi (who was sixth. Averaging 27.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 17 postseason games last year, there are maybe only a handful of players whom you would want to have over Jimmy Buckets when the playoffs start. It's not an accident that Orlando is outscoring opponents by almost 11 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. Input your search keywords and press Enter. Randle's much-improved season earned the big man his second All-Star selection, and his numbers this season have mostly been better than the first time he earned that honor. What has truly separated Fox this season, however, are his insane clutch statistics. These numbers are obviously encouraging, but they don't capture what's so exciting about his development. He is tireless on that end, which makes his iron-man streak extra impressive. 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. 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