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 week. 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 ...
21. Jimmy Butler
Bulls | SG | @JimmyButler
Last year's rank: 17
2016-17 projected RPM: 4.64
Insider profile: For those who wondered whether Butler's nearly unprecedented offensive breakout in 2014-15 was for real, he turned in an arguably better season last year. Butler added pick-and-roll playmaking to his midpost isolation game, and "point Jimmy" put up a career-high 4.7 assists per 36 minutes. Read more »
#NBArank 21-30
