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 ...
19. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Bucks | SF | @Giannis_An34
Last year's rank: 40
2016-17 projected RPM: 1.86
Insider profile: Already considered one of the best prospects in basketball, "The Greek Freak" experienced a remarkable evolution of his game because of injuries to then-Bucks point guards Michael Carter-Williams and Greivis Vasquez. With few other options, coach Jason Kidd decided to make Antetokounmpo his lead ball handler after the All-Star break and the team thrived. After the break, the Bucks scored 105.9 points per 100 possessions and had a 0.1 net rating with Antetokounmpo on the floor. He averaged 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in that span. Most impressively for a young player in an expanded role, "Point Giannis" managed to turn the ball over on only 10.6 percent of his possessions. Read more »
#NBArank 11-20
