Full List: ESPN’s 100 best NBA players for 2020-21 season #NBArank - Interbasket (2024)

Even with Covid-19, some things haven’t changed.

It’s that time of year when ESPN puts out their list of the top 100 NBA players under the hashtag #NBArank and we put out our full list so you all can get the full context of why Lonzo Ball is ranked so damn high! More on that later.

Looking for the top 100 NBA players for the 2021-22 season? Click here.

In the tenth year of the always-controversial list, ESPN went back to listing out 100 players again (sometimes they go withonly 74 players as they did last season) again putting out the survey to a select panel of NBA scribes, media and experts and asking “Who are the NBA’s top players for the upcoming 2020-21?” and then tabulating those votes.

A list never fails to generate discussion

As with every list that ESPN has put out, there’s very little drama with the top ten in terms of the players chosen. It should come as no surprise to even the most casual of fans that LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncicare in the top 10, but it’s the players that are ranked from #10 on down that fans, NBA talking heads and Twitter are taking offense too.

We think Sports Illustrated’s list is a much more accurate representation of the league’s 100 best players.

This year is a little different as ESPN has hidden some of their releases (#100-51, #10-1) behind their Insider paywall, but teasing you with free access to 50-11 rankings of the list.

We’ll get into the controversies in approximately 100 rows. Until then we scoured a bunch of disparate articles to put together ESPN’s full list of to 100 NBA players for the 2021 season for you.

We’re clearly still working on the list. Stay tuned/check back as we put the pieces together.

As always, ESPN brings the controversy

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In the short time the list has been live, the biggest controversy seems to be how high Lonzo Ball ranked on the list. The fact that the elder Ball brother was at position #54 wasn’t the issue technically, it was the fact that he was above players like PJ Tucker, Aaron Gordon, Tyler Herro, Zach LaVine, Blake Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Mike Conley Jr. andDeMar DeRozan (whom most fans thought was the most-severely underrated at 82!)

DeMar thought the same. Here’s what DeRozan had to emote online:

LOL.

Can’t get enough of righteous frustration or hurt fanboys? Then check out this tweet thread for a small sample of all the above and more emotions (that ESPN counts on every season all the way to the click bank).

ESPN 2020-2021 Player Rankings:

97. Derrick White
95. LaMarcus Aldridge
83. Dejounte Murray
82. DeMar DeRozan

77. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
72. PJ Tucker
71. Mike Conley
68. OG Anunoby
62. Bogdan Bogdanovic
61. Davis Bertans
59. Tyler Herro
54. Lonzo Ball
51. Michael Porter Jr.

— Noah Magaro-George (@N_Magaro) December 8, 2020

Of those players ranked below Lonzo, players DeRozan, Herro, LaVine, John Collins and Russell all have their own articles and Twitter discussions dedicated to their being over and underrated by ESPN’s experts. The same goes with Zion being ranked above established superstars.

We always like looking at this list and we love Duncan Robinson at #75, but is he really better thanMontrezl Harrell (#76) or Aaron Gordon (#78) much less Collins (#84) and Buddy Hield (#87)? This article fromUSA Today does a great job summarizing some of those emotions.

What about snubs?

Some of the more notable snubs include the Derrick Rose, Andre Drummond, Pelicans’ JJ Redick, Rajon Rondo, Carmelo Anthony, Alex Caruso, Golden State Warriors’Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Eric Paschall.Wendall Carter Jr. and Paul Millsap also didn’t make the cut

The list also left off rookiesCoby White, Brandon Clarke, and Kendrick Nunn.

Just be glad Lavar Ball wasn’t on the panel of experts, Lonzo would have been much higher.