NBA: Ranking every team’s best player in 2020-21

24. DeMar DeRozan, SF, San Antonio Spurs

Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs are attempting to straddle the line. They eased their way through Tim Duncan’s career by adding a talent infusion of young players such as Kawhi Leonard. Now, with veterans such as LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan on the roster, the team is trying to develop their youthful replacements behind them.

For now, DeRozan and Aldridge are still the top players on this team. DeRozan gets the nod here because his counterpart is struggling through a late-career change into a 3-point bomber. DeRozan knows what he is and does it well, a high-usage scoring threat from anywhere inside the arc. He will be able to get to his spot and get off a mid-ranger until he is 50, even if the rest of his game is gone.

In the Mix: Aldridge got the nod last season and has a reasonable case this year as an elite mid-range shooter adding a deeper shot. Dejounte Murray and Derrick White are on the rise as late-round guards who are starting to put things together and are locked up long-term. Of the two White’s play in the NBA Bubble has him on a trajectory to be the pick here in a year’s time.