2019 NBA Playoffs: Player power rankings

The regular season is over and the 2019 NBA Playoffs have begun. Behold the definitive power rankings of the top 40 players in the postseason

The 2019 NBA Playoffs begin Saturday, with the Brooklyn Nets in Philadelphia to take on the 76ers. Throughout the coming weeks the very best NBA players (well, minus LeBron James) will step onto the sport’s biggest stage to prove their mettle.

Much of the discussion will center around the teams, and rightfully so. In June it will be a team to win the title, a team to raise the banner, a team logged in the NBA’s annals forever.

Yet we all know that teams are made up of players, and therefore we cannot help asking the question: in the playoffs, when the lights are brightest, which players are the very best?

Some players are great in the regular season but have a weakness or two that is spotlighted in the postseason. There are role players who thrive in a playoff setting, or aging veterans who struggle to be there for all 82 but dial it up in the playoffs (hello again LeBron).

Our criteria for analysis here will include regular season excellence as well as past playoff performance and how their game translates to the postseason.

This is also evaluating a player in their current team setting, not a hypothetical where one is starting a team from scratch or adding them to every team in the league. They will compete in the playoffs on their current team, so it’s important to look at how they fit within that team.

Who is the best player in this year’s playoff field? Who rounds out the top 10? The answers to that and more lay ahead. Starting from 40 and counting down, here the the definitive 2019 NBA Playoff power rankings.

Note: As they will not be playing in the postseason due to injury, Victor Oladipo and Jusuf Nurkic were left off this list. For reference Oladipo would have placed 19th, Nurkic 35th. All other players were assumed fully healthy.