NBA player rankings #1: LeBron James ranked 6th
Perhaps the most surprising ranking by ESPN involves LeBron James, who dropped from third to sixth on their list despite putting up career numbers last season. Compared to the other players on this list, that’s a small drop, but it means a lot considering James has widely been considered to be the best or at least one of the top three players in the NBA for most of his 19-year career.
To be fair to ESPN, James averaged 30 points per game at age 37, and that’s not exactly normal. So assuming that he’ll drop down to, say, 22 points per game or even less, is much more in line with how top players his age fared at 38. If that’s the case, then him falling to sixth in their rankings is the right call, but it’s hard to imagine James falling off that much after posting the best season of his career.
Age can hit most players like a brick, but James isn’t most players, and he could still play like a top 3 player next season. If he does, then, obviously, six is way too low for James. ESPN took a logical approach to rating James, which is fine, but he’s arguably the greatest player ever, so it’s hard to compare him to other players entering their 20th season because he’s not really like them. ESPN should’ve known that and taken that into account more.
Overall, these top 100 rankings are only opinions, predictions really, of where each player will rank next season. Despite that, there are some real head-scratchers on this list, and they could each look to prove ESPN wrong.