Which NBA Team Has the Worst Best Player for the 2018–19 Season?

Ranking the stars and second bananas on every NBA team — and why it actually matters

It’s time for an annual tradition, ranking the top player on each NBA team from best to worst. Some teams have LeBron or Giannis. Some even have a couple stars. They’re the ones on the season tickets, the guys holding the ball on the final possession. But not every team has that superstar or even a star. Some barely have good players at all.

We’ve ranked the top player on each team a few years now and found a surprising conclusion: ranking the stars turns out to be pretty analogous to just ranking the teams themselves. It’s a star-driven NBA, and teams only go as far as their superstar will take them. So who are the brightest stars in the NBA universe? And what team has the “worst” best player for the 2017–18 season?

This is an annual tradition and a piece I typically do heading into the season, so that’s the version of the rankings I’m publishing. That means Jimmy Butler is still on the Wolves and Trevor Ariza is still a Sun. I noted where things have already changed over two months of games. This is also a crib notes version (he says, publishing 3500 words) since it’s the rankings for best player, second banana, third best, and more, all in one place. It’s meant to be a big picture look at where teams stand when you look at the stars.

If you’re interested in how this year shapes up compared to the last few years, here are the 2017 worst best players and second banana rankings, and here they are for 2016. Looking for some hope, if you’re one of the teams at the bottom? Two years ago Giannis , Ben Simmons, and Nikola Jokic all ranked among the bottom seven best players, and look at those teams now.

Alright. Let’s do some star gazing…

Tier I — Best Player on a Title Contender

1. LeBron James, Lakers 2. Steph Curry, Warriors 3. James Harden, Rockets

We really need to stop with the whole “But can he be the best player on a title contender?” thing when we evaluate prospects. How many guys is that actually true of? I count four — these three and Kevin Durant. And we don’t even know for sure if it’s true for Harden or KD. This extends to NBA draft evaluation, too. No one thought Curry or Harden had the potential to be anything close to the best player on a title team early in their careers. It’s time for us to acknowledge that NBA prospect evaluation is really, really hard.

Tier II — Tier I in Waiting

4. Anthony Davis, Pelicans 5. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks 6. Kawhi Leonard, Raptors

I wouldn’t listen to any serious argument for other names in the top six, but I’d accept these three in any order and I’d be open to a fuzzier line between the top two tiers, too. Maybe Harden moves down. Maybe any of these guys move up. Maybe it’s LeBron alone at the top, then the other five.

At some point, LeBron is going to fade and the Warriors dynasty will crumble. The Rockets may already have. These are the three guys that got next. That’s why the Kawhi trade was so big, it’s why no one will shut up about a possible Brow trade and why the same will be true in a year for Giannis if the Bucks don’t show up in the playoffs. Who will be the #1 player in the NBA in three seasons? Best bet is one of these three guys.

Tier III — Superstar Playmakers

7. Russell Westbrook, Thunder 8. Jimmy Butler, Timberwolves* 9. Ben Simmons, 76ers 10. Damian Lillard, Blazers 11. Kyrie Irving, Celtics

So let’s talk about Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons. I will happily buy up all your Ben Simmons stock. I still think he’s a special player that could one day rule the NBA, but he’s unquestionably the third-best player on his team now and has regressed in his sophomore season. Part of that is because he’s sharing ball-handling duties with General Soreness. And part of that is because Joel Embiid has erased any lingering doubts that he could stay healthy and take the next step offensively. Through a third of the season, Embiid has unquestionably been the best player on the 76ers. He’d be #7 on this list today, and I’d lean toward him eking his way into the tier above.

It’s worth noting Kyrie Irving’s presence here too, just barely sneaking into the top ten now that Butler’s traded. That’s part of the problem for the Boston Celtics. This is a team built to win with coaching, defense, and depth. At times that will be enough — the Celtics just had an eight-game winning streak — but sometimes they’ll need that superstar. Kyrie can get there in moments, but he’s the only one on the team that can elevate there. The Celtics are the last “real” contender on this list. In any matchup against the league’s tip-top teams, they will not have the best player on the court. History tells us that matters. And this is another reason the Anthony Davis rumors will never stop.

Tier IV — Franchise Players…?

12. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets 13. Blake Griffin, Pistons 14. Rudy Gobert, Jazz 15. Victor Oladipo, Pacers

It’s a point guard’s league, and these guys aren’t point guards. Jokic is close with the way he handles and passes, and he’s been good enough that he’d probably move up a tier going forward —but we still need to see how teams treat him in the playoffs.

The Timberwolves don’t stumble too far, as I’d have put Karl-Anthony Towns in this tier if Butler had been traded preseason. Oladipo can still move up but needs to prove he can stay healthy and as effective as last year. Gobert may be headed in the wrong direction. I’m not saying he’s Roy Hibbert, but the player movement rules and ways teams are playing defense these days appear to hurt his value immensely. TBD. Griffin’s presence is why the Pistons are an Eastern playoff team when he’s at his best, and averaging 26 points, 9 boards, and 5 dimes through 26 games certainly qualifies.

Tier V — The Eastern Conference All-Stars

16. Kemba Walker, Hornets 17. John Wall, Wizards 18. Mike Conley, Grizzlies 19. LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs 20. Kevin Love, Cavaliers 21. DeAndre Jordan, Mavericks

These guys don’t all play in the East, but it’s where they’d need to be to make an All-Star team this year. Kemba Walker stands out. He’s finally cooling off but still averaging a career-best 25ppg. He’ll be a very interesting free agent this summer. You have to figure he’ll get the full max at this point, but is he getting all four years (or five, in Charlotte’s case)? He’ll be 29, and small guards have a history of aging very poorly. Just ask the Houston Rockets.

You know who the rest of these guys are and what you’re getting. They’re all multiple All-Stars… except poor Mike Conley. Move Conley to the East so he can finally make an All-Star team. Better yet, move Memphis to the East all together. Their style of play fits in better there anyway, and Memphis is literally east of the Mississippi River. What are we doing? Would the Conley-Gasol Grizzlies have made multiple Eastern Finals? Would they have stopped LeBron’s reign of eight consecutive trips to the Finals? We’ll never know.

Tier VI — Hope for the Future

22. Josh Richardson, Heat 23. Devin Booker, Suns 24. Aaron Gordon, Magic 25. Tobias Harris, Clippers 26. Spencer Dinwiddie, Nets

We’ve passed the All-Stars now, but these guys could get there someday.

As good as Robert Covington has been, the Timberwolves will regret missing on Josh Richardson. And yes, I had Richardson ranked ahead of Booker even before his offensive breakout. I’m still not there yet on Booker. You probably think he’s too low, but this is actually a few spots higher than I’d rank him personally so let’s call it a compromise.

The Clippers ranking this low are why they were never a real threat when they sat atop the Western standings a few weeks ago. Think of the Clippers as a poor man’s version of the Celtics, right down to the Doc Rivers thing. They win with coaching and depth, but they’ll rarely have the best player on the court. Tobias Harris is nice. So is Danilo Gallinari, so too Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. But none of them are stars. Maybe Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will get there eventually.

Tier VII — These Guys Wouldn’t Start on a Contender

27. Zach LaVine, Bulls 28. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kings 29. Taurean Waller-Prince, Hawks 30. Enes Kanter, Knicks

And so, we come to the bottom. LaVine is the right pick, I guess, but I’m still not sold. The score-first-score-only shooting guard is one of my least favorite NBA archetypes. Has anyone else noticed that LaVine is basically Devin Booker with a streakier three-point shot? You can keep both of them, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t want to build a winning team around either.

I love Bogdan Bogdanovic, but De’Aaron Fox is clearly best Kings player. That doesn’t shock me, but it definitely surprises me how quickly he’s gotten there. Young point guards are typically pretty bad, and not just for their rookie season. If the 2017 NBA Draft were held today, how high would Fox go? He’d surely go ahead of Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball, and with the way Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell have struggled this season, Fox is in the mix. I suspect he’d go third after those two. He’s the reason the Kings have made this leap to respectability. I’d rank him as high as 23 on this list now. The Kings may finally have their franchise player.

That leaves the Hawks and Knicks at the bottom. The Knicks have Kristaps Porzingis coming at some point. If KP were healthy, he’d probably rank somewhere in the 19 to 23 range, in one of those two tiers. I’m intrigued but not sold. I have no idea who the best Knicks player is in the meantime. It might be Allonzo Trier or even Emmanuel Mudiay. For the Hawks, it’s TWP, Kent Bazemore, or John Collins. You know who it’s not? Luka Doncic.

Alright, you got all that? Now let’s keep going with the second bananas…

Tier I — Always a Bridesmaid

1. Kevin Durant, Warriors

Hey look, Kevin Durant is finally #1 at something!

Tier II — Championship Second Bananas

2. Chris Paul, Rockets 3. Joel Embiid, 76ers 4. Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves*

This tier might be empty now. Towns is a best player now, and Minnesota’s second-best player (*cough* not Andrew Wiggins) sure as heck doesn’t rank this high. Covington slots in around #18 or so. That’s where the loss of Jimmy Butler kills the Wolves. The ceiling just isn’t there anymore.

Speaking of Butler, he may be the #2 second banana now. That’s why you take a chance in that deal. If everything fits, Philadelphia has top-3 second and third bananas in Butler and Simmons. Just don’t tell Butler he’s the second banana. That has not worked out well at the last two stops.

CP3 does not look the same. I couldn’t drop him past #3 on the second bananas, but both he and Butler probably belong down a tier with the next guys now until we see more. And that’s the problem with Houston. When CP3 is a good-not-great second banana moving in the wrong direction, he removes the Rockets championship ceiling. And that’s when you remember Chris Paul is 33 and just started a 4-year $160-million contract. Oy.

Tier III — More Than the Numbers

5. Paul George, Thunder 6. Al Horford, Celtics 7. Kyle Lowry, Raptors

These guys are better than the numbers, we swear. Recent history makes us think these three are actually third bananas on a championship team. That’s not fair; the Warriors and Heatles just changed the way we think about championship teams. Maybe that will change again someday soon.

Tier IV — The Twos

8. Jrue Holiday, Pelicans 9. Bradley Beal, Wizards 10. C.J. McCollum, Blazers 11. DeMar DeRozan, Spurs 12. Donovan Mitchell, Jazz

Quibble over the order, but you can’t talk me into moving any of these guys up. A shooting guard can only get you so far in today’s NBA unless it’s James Harden. This is the tier Klay Thompson would fall into on most teams and why I never understand why people insist on saying the Warriors have four top-15 players. It’s also Devin Booker’s most likely outcome. We just don’t have a lot of great teams anymore with an old-school 90s shooting guard that scores first and doesn’t do much else. Shooting guard is the spot to put a good 3-and-D guy to protect your stud point guard and let the PG and wings run the offense.

Tier V — Hey, You Who’s Underrated?

13. Paul Millsap, Nuggets 14. Khris Middleton, Bucks 15. Marc Gasol, Grizzlies 16. Goran Dragic, Heat 17. Luka Doncic, Mavericks

How many games would this five-man lineup win? They might hit 50 if they stayed healthy. Everyone on this tier feels like they’re ranked too low. Heck, you could talk me into moving this whole tier up above the entire shooting guards tier. Doncic doesn’t belong in this tier for another reason — he’s already the best player on the Mavs. It’s extremely rare for a rookie to be the best player on an NBA team, let alone a quality one. He’s special.

Tier VI — The Non-Second Bananas

18. Nic Batum, Hornets 19. Myles Turner, Pacers 20. Andre Drummond, Pistons 21. Danilo Gallinari, Clippers 22. Brandon Ingram, Lakers

Once you reach this tier, we have a problem. Second bananas here aren’t second bananas at all. They’re third or fourth bananas on a real team. That’s why no one took the Clippers seriously and it’s why the Pistons don’t scare anybody. It’s why the Indiana Pacers need to make a trade.

And it’s why this is LeBron’s biggest test yet. Brandon Ingram is just not good enough yet, not even good enough to realistically sit in this tier. I’m not even sure he’s L.A.’s second best player. Ingram’s scoring is down, his assists have disappeared, and his three-point shot has regressed to under 33% for his career. Ingram was at his best last year when Lonzo Ball was out injured, and again this season he appears to be at his best when he’s playing without another ball handler on the court. That’s kind of a problem on a LeBron team.

Tier VII —Nice Fifth Starters on a Good Team

23. Kent Bazemore, Hawks 24. Trevor Ariza, Suns* 25. George Hill, Cavs*

This tier was always full of guys that were going to get traded this season, and two of them already have. Bazemore should go soon enough, too. I guess DeAndre Ayton is the second best Suns player now, but you know how I feel about him. As for Cleveland? Yikes. With Love out and Hill gone, is Tristan Thompson their best player now? I asked diehard Cavs fan Luke Goodman and he thought Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson were Cleveland’s two best players now. A rookie point guard… and Jordan Clarkson!! Oh my.

Tier VIII — This is Why You’re Fighting for the #1 Pick

26. Nikola Vucevic, Magic 27. Jabari Parker, Bulls 28. D’Angelo Russell, Nets 29. Tim Hardaway Jr., Knicks 30. Willie Cauley-Stein, Kings

Vucevic has been a wonder, averaging a miraculous 21/11/4 with miraculous 54/40/84 shooting splits. I suppose he’d move up to the #20 range or probably even count as the best Orlando player for now. The rest of these guys… I’m not even sure they’re NBA starters. That’s why the Kings aren’t a real playoff team yet and why Doncic was a big miss. Brooklyn would probably have Caris LeVert as a top-two player now if he were healthy.

And Jabari Parker? He might be a second banana now at shoot-around in an empty gymnasium.

So What Do We Make of All This?

Real quick, let’s just take a look at the top few rankings for the third and fourth bananas too, then draw a few conclusions.

Third bananas

1. Draymond Green, Warriors (2. Ben Simmons, 76ers) 3. Gordon Hayward, Celtics 4. Steven Adams, Thunder 5. Gary Harris, Nuggets 6. Otto Porter, Wizards 7. Pascal Siakim, Raptors 8. Clint Capela, Rockets

Fourth bananas

1. Klay Thompson, Warriors 2. Jayson Tatum, Celtics 3. Jamal Murray, Nuggets 4. Eric Gordon, Rockets 5. Serge Ibaka, Raptors

1. The Warriors are not fair

We can get as excited as we want about the Eastern teams, but the Warriors are winning the title until they disband. They have the best second banana, the best third banana, and the best fourth banana, each by a wide margin. Pretty soon once Boogie Cousins is back, they’ll have the best fifth banana. Heck, they probably already do with Andre Iguodala. Oh and by the way, they might have the top banana too, the way Steph Curry has been playing… 29ppg on 50/48/95 shooting? Yeah, that’ll do the trick.

2. The 76ers are a team to fear

By talent alone, Philadelphia may have the #2 second and third bananas. Joel Embiid seems to get better each day, up to 27 points and 13 rebounds a game. The Sixers have other issues. Their fourth best player J.J. Redick isn’t a top-ten fourth banana, and it gets ugly quickly from there. This is the Markelle Fultz problem, and it’s why they might need to seriously consider moving him for a helpful piece because their top three should make them a top contender — maybe THE top contender — to make the Finals out of the East.

3. Gordon Hayward is a problem

Boston’s strength is not at the top, with Kyrie barely even among the top-ten best players. The strength of Boston was supposed to be guys three, four, five, six, seven, etc. Hayward was supposed to be a top-three third banana and should even rank ahead of Horford if healthy. Instead he’s averaging 11/5/4 and coming off the bench. He’s Evan Turner. Suddenly Tatum has to be the third banana, and Jaylen Brown moves up from second-best fifth banana to somewhere buried on the fourth banana list. Hayward is eating up almost a third of Boston’s salary cap, and Tatum and Brown aren’t producing like they did a year ago. If those guys aren’t as strong as expected, Boston’s bench unit can only take them so far. The playoffs are a high-end game.

4. Houston is still a threat, but only if their guys stop regressing

The Rockets are one of only four teams to have a top-eight first, second, third, and fourth banana… but that’s only in theory right now as CP3, Capela, and Gordon have all struggled to find their game this season. Houston is finally getting healthy, but they’ll never have a depth advantage. They’ll go as far as that trio can take them, but the ceiling is still there.

5. Toronto and Denver are for real

Those four teams with the top-eight bananas? They’re Golden State, Houston, Toronto… and Denver?

Don’t fool yourself into comparing this Raptors team to last year’s. Kawhi Leonard increases this team’s ceiling by leaps and bounds as he gives them one of those top-seven guys, and Pascal Siakim’s breakout and the addition of Danny Green have greatly improved the rotation. And you know if you kept on down the list, Toronto would be top-five at sixth, seventh, eighth, etc bananas with all that depth. They’re the real deal.

The Nuggets might be, too. Millsap, Harris, and Murray are strong second, third, and fourth banana options, whichever order you place them. Harris and Murray are still getting better, and Denver has help on the way once Will Barton, Isaiah Thomas, and Michael Porter Jr. get healthy. But Denver’s ceiling is still somewhat limited because of Nikola Jokic. He’s not one of those tip-top stars, and his presence means this team isn’t going to win with defense. Denver is the real deal and might be the second team in the West, but they need Jokic to take the next step to turn into a bona fide contender.

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