NBA Rank 2026: League execs examine top 100 countdown, race for No. 1

Nothing in the NBA world inspires heated debate like ESPN's annual ranking of the 100 players for the upcoming season.

After NBA Rank 2026 came out earlier this week, New York Knicks guard Josh Hart unleashed a little sarcasm in response to landing at No. 89.

"They [are] always wrong," Hart wrote on social media. "I should be at least No. 88."

The newly minted champion was hardly the only person in the league to raise objections with the results during a year that lacked consensus.

With help from an informal survey of a dozen NBA executives and league personnel, let's run through some of the biggest ranking arguments and critiques that emerged this week to set the table for the 2026-27 season and clear up misconceptions.

NBA Rank 2026:
Top 10 players | Nos. 11-50 | Nos. 51-100
Roundtable: Was LeBron ranked too low?
Top 100 audit: What NBA Rank got wrong
10 players already on the radar for 2027

The battle for No. 1

ESPN's seven-person voting panel was split between three players for the No. 1 spot: Nikola Jokic prevailed with 694 points in the vote, narrowly topping Victor Wembanyama (693) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (691).

Similarly, the survey of front office executives returned passionate arguments for all three players to be considered the best in the world.

Jokic's supporters highlighted his statistical production and offensive orchestration, while Wembanyama's fans pointed to his two-way impact and San Antonio's 62-win season in 2025-26, and Gilgeous-Alexander's backers focused on his back-to-back MVP awards and leadership.

"Jokic makes his whole team better than anyone else," one general manager said. "If you gave him and Wemby the same teammates, Denver would be better. Wemby being young doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that he made young mistakes in the playoffs."

Still, plenty of league executives agreed with ESPN's insiders that the 22-year-old Wembanyama's time is now.

"Look at how fast he is improving," one general manager said. "If you're looking ahead to where we'll be [after the 2027 playoffs], he's got to be No. 1. He could be No. 1 for the next five years."

With Jokic posting triple-doubles and Wembanyama leading the NBA in several defensive metrics, a Gilgeous-Alexander backer argued that the conversation should be about more individual numbers.

"He's the most complete player in the world," the executive said. "Production, leadership, emotional intelligence. List all the boxes that a star should check, and he checks the most."

Two more No. 1 candidates

After Jokic, Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander, ESPN's voting panel had a noticeable gap before the second tier, which included Luka Doncic at No. 4 and Giannis Antetokounmpo at No. 5.

Though most of the informal survey respondents agreed with the main three candidates, one league executive argued that Doncic should be included in the top tier and will end the season at No. 1.

"With LeBron [James] gone, the weight and expectations of the [Los Angeles] Lakers will push Luka to reach his full potential," he said. "He will take the MVP trophy home to Slovenia next summer."

Another respondent expected Antetokounmpo to regain his MVP status after an offseason trade sent him from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat.

"Revenge mission," he said. "People took him for granted in Milwaukee. You can't ignore him in Miami."

Lottery reform impact

Multiple team executives predicted that the NBA's lottery reform will prompt a wave of reevaluations across the ESPN list.

With teams no longer incentivized to lose games in volume to improve their draft positioning, executives expect player participation to increase across the board. In turn, they expect more competitive games and more parity in the standings.

The Jazz, Pacers and Wizards were mentioned as teams with players whose perceived value could improve substantially in a post-tanking reality.

"No one talks about you if you don't play or if you play and lose by 20 every night," one executive said. "But that can change overnight."

Addressing NBA Rank's critics

Let's shift gears to run through some hot-button topics that emerged on social media following NBA Rank's release. (Note: The posts have been lightly edited for clarity.)

OG Anunoby and the Knicks

"Worst of all is OG Anunoby at No. 34. Behind Jalen Johnson and James Harden of all people who were overwhelmed no-shows in the [Knicks] series."

Without a doubt, Anunoby's stock is at an all-time high after he helped the Knicks clinch the NBA championship with one of the most iconic shots in league history. The veteran forward had a phenomenal run through the playoffs, emerging as New York's second-highest scorer while shooting 48.9% on 3-pointers and providing excellent defense across multiple positions.

ESPN's voters base their rankings on a variety of factors such as overall production, team success, health, age, role and consistency rather than head-to-head performance in a single playoff series.

Anunoby's ranking appeared to reflect skepticism among some voters over how well his team would perform if he had to handle a larger role on offense as a playmaker or distributor. With Jalen Brunson in place as an elite high-usage engine and Karl-Anthony Towns spacing the court as a dependable secondary scorer, Anunoby is free to live his best life.

If Anunoby switched spots with Atlanta's Jalen Johnson, would he be able to scale his production to match Johnson's impressive numbers? Anunoby's prior stint with the Toronto Raptors suggests there's a hard ceiling to what you can expect from him on offense.

Walker Kessler and the Lakers

"Walker Kessler at No. 73 is a textbook example of the 'Prestige Zone' effect: Literally hasn't played basketball in a year, but he still jumped 25 spots in the rankings because he was traded to the Lakers."

This was a very popular complaint: How did Kessler improve so much from last year's rankings after playing only five games during the 2025-26 season due to shoulder surgery? Surely, this must be evidence of ESPN's pro-Lakers agenda.

First, remember that this is a forward-looking list for the 2026-27 season rather than a recap of last year. Second, it must be noted that Kessler was traded from a Jazz team that ranked below average in offensive efficiency in each of the past three years to a Lakers team led by Doncic, one of the NBA's best playmakers.

Kessler's offensive game is derivative: 67% of his baskets during his first four seasons were assisted by his teammates. It's reasonable to expect him to perform substantially better as an offensive player with Doncic in Los Angeles than he did before his shoulder injury when Collin Sexton and an unproven Keyonte George were Utah's lead guards.

Back in his Dallas Mavericks days, Doncic brought the best out of derivative centers such as Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. Assuming Kessler stays healthy, there's a decent chance he'll outperform his No. 73 ranking.

Jayson Tatum and the Celtics

"Jayson Tatum is fresh off an Achilles tear, stunk when he returned to the court, and choked a 3-1 lead against the 76ers but doesn't get moved down at all. Joel Embiid single-handedly led the 3-1 comeback against Tatum, but he gets ranked 30 spots lower because injuries only matter when it's convenient."

Tatum was indeed one of the trickiest players to rank: The Celtics forward landed at No. 9, a noticeable drop from his No. 5 ranking in his last healthy season two years ago. To be clear, the version of Tatum that returned to the court in March wasn't close to a top-10 player.

ESPN's voters appeared willing to look past his bumpy return because it came so quickly after his original injury in May 2025. By the time the 2026-27 season starts, Tatum will have had almost 18 months to recover. If post-Achilles Tatum performs like post-Achilles Kevin Durant, his inclusion in the top 10 will be proved correct. But that's no guarantee.

The comparison to Embiid falls short because of their disparate health track records: Tatum is recovering from the first major injury of his career and has logged at least 70 games in six of his nine seasons, while Embiid is chronically hurt and has never appeared in 70 games in the 12 seasons since he was drafted. Tyrese Maxey also might have something to say about Embiid "single-handedly" leading Philadelphia's playoff comeback.

Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers

"Are we sure Mitchell is still a top-10 player in the league?"

Mitchell's inclusion at No. 10 seemed to receive more pushback online than any of the other rankings for the NBA's top-tier stars. But why? Mitchell was selected to the All-NBA second team, he finished seventh in MVP voting, and he was one of only six players to average at least 27 points, four rebounds and five assists per game while appearing in at least 60 games last season.

What's more, Mitchell's career reached a new peak when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to his first conference finals appearance. Cleveland was one of only nine teams to win 50 games last season, and Mitchell was the steadying presence with Jarrett Allen battling injuries and Darius Garland traded for Harden during the season.

The arguments against Mitchell tend to focus on his lack of size and limited playoff success, though it's worth pointing out that he's led playoff teams in each of the past nine seasons. Two key differentiators between Mitchell and some prominent names who finished behind him on the list were his age and availability: Stephen Curry (No. 12), Kevin Durant (No. 13) and LeBron James (No. 18) are all much more famous and accomplished than Mitchell, but they combined to appear in four playoff wins last season.

Meanwhile, Curry (age 38) and James (age 41) missed far more time due to injuries than Mitchell (age 30).

Finally, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown both had strong cases to make the top 10, but ESPN's voting panel likely favored Mitchell because Cleveland advanced further in the 2026 playoffs than Maxey's 76ers and Brown's Celtics. Maxey and Brown could also see their individual statistics take a hit in 2026-27 now that they're teammates with James and Embiid on the souped-up 76ers.

Four rookies in the top 100

"Stop [including] rookies who haven't played a single second of regular season basketball in top-100 players in the league lists."

There's a lot of merit to this viewpoint. Comparing stats from college or international basketball to NBA production is an inexact science, and having an equitable baseline is essential to comparative analysis.

However, recent rookies such as Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg have left no doubt that they belong in the top 100. For years, smart list makers were careful not to be overly bullish on young players because they were bound to endure some struggles early in their NBA transitions. Now, pundits must caution against being too pessimistic because plenty of prospects -- including Wembanyama, Flagg, Kon Knueppel and VJ Edgecombe -- have hit the ground running in their first seasons.

The top four players from the 2026 class -- AJ Dybantsa (No. 78), Darryn Peterson (No. 83), Cameron Boozer (No. 85) and Caleb Wilson (No. 97) -- were included in this year's NBA Rank. Realistically, having four rookies on the list seems aggressive.

Fast forward to April, though, and there's a very good chance that at least two of those four will be regarded as no-brainer top 100 talents. Would banning all of them from this conversation be fair?