ESPN has released their top 100 NBA players with their annual #NBArank list. For the ninth consecutive year, the leader in sports has created a countdown of the best players for this upcoming 2019-20 season by asking their panel of basketball experts “Which NBA players are the best in 2019-20?” and then vote.

There are certainly locks for the top ten including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, but how and where will they fall on this particular list is the question?

The NBA’s Top 100 Players of 2019

ESPN’s cadre of voters considered the quality and the quantity of a player’s contributions to his team’s ability to win games this upcoming season. To kick things off, ESPN first released their the players from 100 to 51, 50-31, 30-11, then 10-3, leaving the last two players – Giannis or Kawhi — for dramatic effect. As of the publication of this post, ESPN has yet to release the top two slots, so keep an eye on this post as we’ll be updating it when those rankings are released.

So who had the biggest rise from their 2018 ranking to their 2019 ranking? According to ATS.io, that goes to Pascal Siakam who rose from not ranked in 2018, to #22 on this year’s list. There were three other players that weren’t ranked that made the top 30 this year. Those three players seeing significant increase in their stocks were De’Aaron Fox (25), D’Angelo Russell (#26), and Trae Young at #28.

Top 100 Snubs, Drops, and Surprises

If you’ve ever seen a list on the internet, you know that no matter how scientific or objective the rationale is, there’s always disagreements that stir up in the comment sections. And the more data that lists includes, the more inherently controversial it is. The same goes with this list, there’s a lot of questionable rankings. Such as PJ Tucker at #82 – is he really a player that would be selected over Jusef Nurkic (#83), Josh Richardson (#86), Fred VanVleet (#88) and Julius Randle (#92)?

You can hear the ESPN Talking Heads discuss those underrated players, overrated, and those players left off the list.

With the inclusion of rookies like Ja Morant and Zion Williamson, this isn’t all about how these players played last season, but the prospect of their performance for the upcoming season. Obviously a lot of discussion to be had, but as for now, we’ll let you scan the list for your favorite team’s players and get to hating.

Love lists? Check out Sports Illustrated top 100 players from 2019 or check out more basketball lists here.