Anyone can name the best players in the NBA, but basketball is as much about chemistry as it is about talent. Within each of the league’s 30 teams, there is a hierarchy, and how well each of the five players on the court understands and executes their role within that hierarchy is just as important as their individual skills.
Ideally, a lineup features a superstar, a subservient co-star, a third star to play his part, a fourth option, and a fifth starter to tie it all together — clear numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In this series, we rank the top five players from each tier for a broader look at the competition. How close does your team come to an ideal lineup?
#1 options: The Leading Men
What is a No. 1? He’s the alpha of the team — often in personality, always in ability. Ideally, everyone recognizes that he’s the best on the team; teammates rally behind him, and opponents make him the primary focus of their game plans. Clutch situations usually flow through your No. 1. He calms you down when you’re on the wrong end of a run. He saves you when possessions get out of hand. He gets his due.
He comes in many guises, but you know him when you see him. King James or The Hick from French Lick. Air Jordan or The Chairman of the Boards. Magic Johnson or The Big Fundamental. Dr. J or The Mailman. In whatever guise, he’s the one who aspires to the pantheon, because you can’t be an all-timer like a No. 2.
Without further ado, your top five number 1s…
1. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Do we really need to explain why Jokic is one of the best No. 1 options in basketball? He’s won three of the past four regular-season MVP awards and should have won a fourth instead of taking home Finals MVP. If we’ve forgotten how many times over the years we’ve agreed he’s the best player in the game, he reminded us of that at the Paris Olympics, where he and a few guys you’ve probably never heard of nearly upset Team USA.
The Nuggets are +3,464 when Jokic is on the court and -1,829 when he’s on the bench in his nine-year career. You could argue he’s the game’s most efficient high-volume scorer, its best passer and one of its best rebounders. He’s practically 7-foot-3, 300 pounds and will finish this season with more career triple-doubles than Magic Johnson. We’d call him a unicorn if he weren’t so much a rhino.
Everyone who plays with Jokic has become better, and that’s not lip service. Since joining forces with Jokic, Jamal Murray, Jerami Grant, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Gary Harris, Will Barton and Bruce Brown — none of whom has ever made an All-Star appearance — have signed more than $1 billion in contracts.
I don’t know how many other ways there are to praise Jokic. He has the highest Player Efficiency Rating ever — higher than No. 2 and No. 3 Michael Jordan and LeBron James. If that’s not enough to convince you, what is? A fourth MVP award? A second title? Those will only push him higher up the all-time list.
2. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Dončić has made the All-NBA first team five years in a row. The list of players who earned so many nods to the top selection before they turned 26: Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant and Dončić. Not bad company.
Dončić is a point factory. There are few players, if any, more dangerous with the ball in his hands, and no one carries the ball more than Dončić. He has led the NBA in usage rate in three of the last four seasons, with 52 points or assists per game in that span. He has created 13,926 points — about as many as Kawhi Leonard has scored in his career — over the last four years. These are absurd numbers.
The Mavericks had no business making the NBA Finals last season. Their 6-foot-3 second-best player undermined his three previous franchises. Their best defender was a minimum-salary professional. Their rookie center played a major role in the rotation. But they had Dončić, and he was the rising tide in Dallas.
If the past season taught us anything, it’s that the gap between Jokic and the pitch isn’t as big as we once thought, because Doncic exists. Now imagine him, like so many others, arriving at training camp in the best shape of his life.
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Underestimate Antetokounmpo at your peril. Over the past two seasons, the Bucks have gone through four coaches and twice lost in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, they failed to win 50 games (or the equivalent) for the first time since 2018, when The Greek Freak was a rookie. His supporting cast members are now in their mid-30s, and Milwaukee has few other resources to upgrade its roster.
Yet Antetokounmpo still finished third in MVP voting in 2023 and fourth last season. Before that, he was an NBA champion and a two-time MVP. No matter how you slice it, he’s no worse than the third-best player in the world.
And when you really measure it, he’s 7-foot-3 inches tall, has a grooved wingspan, rips through traffic like a Lotus and scores 350 more points at the rim than anyone else last season. He’s a nightmare in transition, so much so that entire lineups of running backs build walls at the free throw line and try to slow him down.
Sure, Antetokounmpo isn’t a 3-point shooter in an era when they’re more vital than ever, but as he said, “I can’t have everything in life. I can’t make 3s. God had to keep me humble.” He’s nothing, if not everything, and normalizes the idea that one man can lead a contender in every statistical category.
4. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
If you didn’t have Jokic, Doncic, and Antetokounmpo in some order as your top three, you haven’t been watching basketball. Now here’s where it gets interesting. There shouldn’t be a unanimous top four.
You could easily make this argument for any number of players, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Jalen Brunson, or Kevin Durant, but in my opinion they’re either too young, too small, too injury-prone, or too old to outperform Tatum. He’s just not at home in that capacity.
Tatum was the best player on a team that won seven more games than any other team last season and cruised to a championship. He sacrificed statistics on a loaded roster and still averaged 27-8-5 on the best efficiency of a career that has landed him a three-straight All-NBA first-team spot.
Much will be made of Tatum’s Finals inefficiencies and his absence from the Olympics, but two things have been indisputable for years: The Celtics are incredible when he’s on the court, and he’s almost always available. Those two consistencies have helped Boston finish +755 with Tatum in a regular-season or playoff lineup, the best plus-minus of anyone in the league. Give his teammates credit for that prowess, but that would ignore the very real likelihood that Tatum is the most versatile basketball player on the planet.
5. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Curry’s Golden State Warriors failed to make the playoffs for the second time in four years, and Edwards won 56 games on a Minnesota Timberwolves team that featured two other recent All-NBA prospects in their primes. But Gilgeous-Alexander earned the West’s No. 1 seed without a single other All-Star in the rotation last season, and his Thunder gave the Mavericks more of a run than any other team in the conference.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in drives and steals last season, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous offensive points on both ends of the court. The rangy 6-foot-6 point guard repeatedly slices into the lane, where he can score over, under, around or through anyone. He uses the same instincts and footwork to succeed defensively. The ball finds Gilgeous-Alexander, and it finds the net.
We don’t need to explain further why the player who finished second in last season’s MVP race deserves to be on this list, but here goes: While other teams were looking for more stars this summer, the Thunder went after high-caliber players because they were comfortable with who they had at the top of their roster. They’re not wondering if Gilgeous-Alexander will be healthy, productive, and engaged. They’re expecting it.
Perhaps most impressive of all was Gilgeous-Alexander’s consistency in surgically finishing opponents last season. His 30.1 points, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game weren’t just averages; they were standards he met more often than not. And he’s 26 years old. There’s a chance he could come back even better.
Of course, 20-year-old San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama is coming. I seriously considered taking him here in his second season. He’s already the league’s best defensive player, and equal offensive dominance is within the realm of possibility. Then I remembered that a 40-win campaign would be a triumph for Wembanyama, while Gilgeous-Alexander could flirt with 60 wins as the lone star on a title favorite.
Honorable Mentions
6. Stephen CurryGolden State Warriors
7. Victor WembanyamaSan Antonio Spurs
8. Anthony EdwardsMinnesota Timberwolves
9. Joel Embiid,Philadelphia 76ers
10. Kevin DurantPhoenix Suns
11. Jalen BrunsonNew York Knicks
12. LeBron JamesLos Angeles Lakers
13. Yes MorantMemphis Grizzlies
The rest
14. Donovan MitchellCleveland Cavaliers; 15. Jimmy ButlerMiami Heat; 16. Zion WilliamsonPelican of New Orleans; 17. Kawhi LeonardLos Angeles Clippers; 18. Tires HaliburtonIndiana Pacers; 19. Paolo BancheroOrlando Magic; 20. De’Aaron FoxSacramento Kings; 21. Trae JongAtlanta Hawks; 22. Lauri MarkkanenUtah Jazz; 23. Scotsman BarnesToronto Raptors; 24. Cade CunninghamDetroit Pistons; 25. LaMelo BallCharlotte Hornets; 26. Zach LaVineChicago Bulls; 27. Simons’s addressPortland Trail Blazers; 28. Jalen GreenHouston Rockets; 29. Kyle KuzmaWashington Wizards; 30. Cam ThomasBrooklyn Nets.
