For the sixth season in a row, ESPN.com is ranking the top players in the NBA. Who will be the best player this season?
To get the final ranking, we asked our expert panel to vote on pairs of players.
LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry. Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant. Damian Lillard vs. Chris Paul.
We asked, "Which player will be better in 2016-17?" To decide, voters had to consider both the quality and the quantity of each player's contributions to his team's ability to win games.
We'll roll out the rest of our top 200 players over the next two days. If you want to get involved in the discussion or just follow along, #NBArank is the Twitter hashtag to use. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook.
On to the list ...
10. Damian Lillard
Trail Blazers | PG | @Dame_Lillard
Last year's rank: 15
2016-17 projected RPM: 2.86
Insider profile: The departure of LaMarcus Aldridge left Lillard as the face of a younger Blazers team, and his effective leadership helped set the tone for Portland exceeding expectations. That success paid off for Lillard, who was left off the All-Star team but was voted to the All-NBA second team. That made Lillard eligible for the so-called "Derrick Rose rule," bumping his five-year extension that begins this year from $127 million to $140 million. Lillard could have made even more but agreed with the Blazers beforehand to cap his salary at 27.5 percent of the cap instead of the maximum possible 30 percent. Read more »
#NBArank 6-10
