Which NBA Team Has the Worst Best Player in 2019?

Ranking the best stars on every NBA team — and why it actually matters in a star-driven league

IT’S TIME FOR AN ANNUAL TRADITION, RANKING THE TOP PLAYER ON EVERY NBA TEAM FROM BEST TO WORST. Some teams have Giannis or LeBron. This year, a few teams have a pair of stars. These are the guys printed on the season tickets. They’re the ones holding the ball on the final possession. But not every team has that superstar, or even a star. Some teams barely have good players at all.

I’ve ranked the top player on each team a few years now and found an interesting and surprising conclusion. It turns out that ranking the stars is pretty analogous to just ranking the teams themselves. After all, the NBA is a star-driven league, and teams only go as far as their stars take them. So who are the brightest stars in the NBA universe? And which team has the “worst” best player for the 2019–20 season?

If you’re curious, you can look back at the Worst Best Player rankings from 2018, 2017, and 2016. A lot can change in one season. Last year at this time DeAndre Jordan headlined a team, John Wall still existed, Josh Richardson was the best starter on a team instead of the worst, and the Knicks were embarrassingly awful. Fine, not everything changes.

Focus on the tiers here, more than the rankings within; we’ll argue about the stars elsewhere. We’re focusing on the NBA landscape here. The rankings are meant to look at where things are at right now as the season begins, so veterans get the nod over young players when it’s close.

Alright. Let’s do some star gazing, and don’t forget to check out the second and third banana rankings when you’re done here…

TIER I — BEST PLAYER ON A TITLE CONTENDER

1. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers 2. Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers 3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks 4. James Harden, Houston Rockets

The King stays King. Healthy LeBron is still the best player in the NBA until we’re absolutely certain he’s not. Who’s next, the reigning MVP or the reigning playoff MVP? Sorry, Giannis. We gotta see you do it at the highest level.

James Harden is clearly last in this tier, but he’s also definitely in this group. Harden finished top-two in MVP voting four of the last five years, but he obviously needs to do more in May. Maybe this will be the year.

Two names are missing from this tier: Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. At this point, we can only hope a return to full health puts both back in this tier again, though at age 32 for both next fall, that’s hardly a given.

TIER II — SUPERSTAR FRANCHISE PLAYERS

5. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers 6. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets 7. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers 8. Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves

Is Damian Lillard the best player in the NBA that isn’t also a best player on a title contender? It’s sort of a harsh moniker considering that makes Dame something like the fifth or sixth best player in the world at basketball, but lines have to be drawn somewhere.

I’ll take Dame over these uber-talented big men (and Anthony Davis too, if you’re curious). Quick question: when is the last time an NBA team made the Finals with a center as their best player?

It’s been at least since the 2013 Spurs, but they had four pretty equally valuable players and Kawhi Leonard was clearly best by the playoffs and won Finals MVP for a reason. The last clear best player center to make the NBA Finals was Dwight Howard in 2009 with the Magic (and maybe Pau Gasol that same year, if you want to be argumentative). It’s been since Tim Duncan in 03/05/07 and Shaq’s Lakers threepeat before that since a center has been the clear best player on an NBA champion.

That’s a really long time, and that’s why these centers all get second shrift until we see a big man really lead their team to that top echelon of teams.

What order should Jokic, Embiid, and KAT rank in? That’s another column entirely, but the first couple weeks of the season are starting to make me wonder if that order is backwards…

TIER III — PERENNIAL ALL-NBA CONTENDERS

9. Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz 10. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors 11. Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat 12. Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets 13. Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers

Remember, the order within these tiers isn’t so important. There are 120 permutations in which to order these five guys, and I’m not sure any of them are indefensible.

Rudy Gobert guarantees you a top-three defense but has a clear ceiling in the playoffs as a best player. That’s why Donovan Mitchell’s development is so important. Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving love to be big fish in small ponds. They’re finally where they belong: leading average teams to 45 wins and early playoff exits. I might rather have Victor Oladipo than either of them if we’re getting the version from two years ago, but let’s see how he looks after returning from injury.

Draymond Green is an absolutely elite supporting player, but he’s miscast as a team’s best player. That doesn’t make him a bad player. It just means this is not the role for him. This “worst best player” exercise really shows how far the Warriors have fallen. Last fall, the Ws ranked second on this list with Curry or Durant, and other one led the second bananas by a mile. Draymond was the #1 third, Klay Thompson was an absurdly good fourth, and Andre Iguodala was by far the best fifth.

The 2018–19 Warriors had the best or second best option as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth best player on their team. This year’s team has Dray at the top — if he even makes it through the year “healthy” — D’Angelo Russell as a decent second banana, and then an absolute train wreck after that. Life comes at you fast.

TIER IV — THE OLD GUARD

14. Blake Griffin, Detroit Pistons 15. Chris Paul, Oklahoma City Thunder 16. Kemba Walker, Boston Celtics 17. Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans

A year from now, everyone in this tier will have vacated their place on this list. Chris Paul will be on some other roster. Jayson Tatum will probably overtake Kemba as the best Celtics player. Jrue Holiday will get Zionized. Blake Griffin is the only one of the four that looks likely to remain the best player on his team a year from now, but I bet he’ll drop about 10 spots — you’ll know the tier he fits in when you get there.

The tiers are starting to get tricky here. CP3 looks washed, but I’m not ready to give up on him yet. Holiday is probably a couple spots too high but fit better in this tier than the one below. This is not an exact science, but just go with it.

TIER V — WE GOT NEXT

18. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks 19. Pascal Siakam, Toronto Raptors 20. Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards 21. De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings 22. Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

And now you see why Holiday probably belongs a few slots lower. Pascal Siakam has taken another monster step forward, and I would listen pretty attentively if you’d like to argue he should rank ahead of all of the old guys in the tier ahead of him.

As for Luka Doncic, this may already be way too low. Luka is averaging a triple-double through two weeks at 27, 10, and 10 with a 10.5 Box Plus/Minus that ranks sixth in the NBA behind only KAT, Giannis, Kawhi, Embiid, and LeBron. We always knew Luka would make The Leap, but is it really already here? I’m keeping Doncic here for now since this exercise is supposed to reflect how things look at the start of the season, but Luka is probably already in Tier III, and he might well sit atop the tier or higher by the end of the season.

Trae Young might also be better than De’Aaron Fox already, but we’ll let him prove it. That BPM ranking we just mentioned? Trae is only two spots behind Luka right now. Fox is… not in the top 100. Not even close, actually.

Bradley Beal doesn’t fit in this group but he doesn’t really fit anywhere, including Washington, so I suppose that’s apt.

TIER VI — THE ANTIQUATED BIG MEN

23. Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic 24. LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs 25. Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers

Sorry, but it’s not the 90s anymore.

Vooch was awesome last year so he gets the top spot in the tier, but he already looks like he’s regressing hard. LMA and Love are what they are. They’re not that interesting to talk about, and they’re not the best player on a team anyone is going to take seriously.

And yeah, I know, LaMarcus might not actually be the best Spurs player. Oh, you think I’m talking about DeMar DeRozan? Nah... Dejounte Murray got next.

TIER VII — THE SHAMELESS GUNNERS

26. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns 27. Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls

Hey, speaking of DeMar DeRozan!

I need a ruling here — is Booker “Gucci Zach” or is LaVine “Old Navy Book”?

Look, if you want to build a 28–54 team around a volume chucker that destroys your defense, more power to you. Just tell me one thing… if you swapped Booker and LaVine, would either team really get any better?

TIER VIII — THE WORST BEST PLAYERS IN THE NBA

28. Julius Randle, New York Knicks 29. Jonas Valanciunas, Memphis Grizzlies 30. Nicolas Batum, Charlotte Hornets

And so we come to the bottom. Woof.

I know, you might prefer some of the young guys here. Maybe Mitchell Robinson for New York, perhaps JJJ or Ja for Memphis (spoiler alert: Brandon Clarke already has their best advanced metrics), maybe even P.J. Washington in Charlotte. I prefer to let youngsters earn their spot in these rankings.

Julius Randle is an awesome sixth man. I love the dude, and he can really put up numbers, but if he’s your best player, why did anyone ever think the Knicks might be competent? Valanciunas is kinda whatever. He’s not particularly relevant since he’s just keeping a spot warm for all the young Grizzlies.

But holy cow are the Hornets a disaster.

I have no idea if Nic Batum has anything left, but he feels like the guy on that roster I’d most want to add to an NBA playoff rotation. Terry Rozier got paid. Cody Zeller is fine. Marvin Williams is a guy. P.J. Washington has played six games. Miles Bridges and Malik Monk look mostly lost. Dwayne Bacon is a chucker. I mean, you can make a serious argument that Devonte’ Graham has been the best Hornet so far. Devonte’ Graham!!

I don’t care who you pick from that mess. Pick one. Pick any.

Whatever Hornet you go with, one thing is clear: they’re the worst best player in the league for the 2019–20 NBA season. ■

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