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Best NBA Players Right Now 2025-2026

The 2025-2026 NBA Playoffs have finally begun. This is the portion of the season that separates the great players from the really good ones. Players who can impact postseason games while being the focus of an opposition’s game plan demonstrate the ability to perform at the highest levels of the sport under the most intense pressure. This is not to suggest that there aren’t great players whose teams do not qualify for the postseason regularly, but in a league where 20 of the league’s 30 franchises participate in some form of postseason play, this is less common.

When considering the Top 10 players in the National Basketball Association, the rankings will certainly vary depending on the criteria deemed most important by the ranker. Usually, scoring ability increases a player’s chances of a higher ranking, but there are many other ways a player can contribute and impact winning, and every player spends half the game on the defensive end of the floor. How much value you place on what happens at the defensive end might affect one’s rankings. And, of course, you have to be available to play more often than not. This bumps players who would otherwise make the list. Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid immediately come to mind.

There probably aren’t many real surprises regarding the players listed on anyone’s Top 10 list, but the ranked order may provide a few. As the postseason progresses, there may be some top players who fall below expectations based on consistency of regular season performances over time, but the postseason is different: slower paced, more physical, most of the teams are good and the competition gets tougher with advancement.

Taking all of the aforementioned into consideration results in this Top 10 Best NBA Players: 2025-26 Rankings:

Honorable Mention

Jalen Brunson

Team: New York Knicks

Position: GUARD

Jalen Brunson is small by NBA standards, and he doesn’t look like a professional basketball player. But he is a craftsman with a basketball in his hands, an efficient scorer and skillful at using his footwork to get defenders off-balance and himself to the free-throw line. He has spearheaded the resurgence of the New York Knicks’ franchise since joining them four years ago, averaging 26 points and 7 assists per game over that period.

Brunson’s offensive output almost overshadows his reputation as a poor on-ball defender, though he will take the occasional charge. He has recently come under fire (No New York City athlete is immune) for not getting his teammates, particularly Karl Anthony Towns, involved on the offensive end.

Nonetheless, Jalen Brunson’s offensive output and contribution to bringing the Knicks back to relevance is worthy of at least an Honorable Mention.

Lebron James

Team: Los Angeles Lakers

Position: Forward

At 41 years old, Lebron James is still performing at a high level. While he’s obviously not the player he was even five years ago, let alone 15, he still plays the complete game. Over time he has learned to pace himself, especially during the regular season where he has missed more games than he did in his prime. But a rested, engaged Lebron James can still score, rebound, and pass with the top players in the game.

And even at 41, when Lebron does play, he can still give you around 30 minutes 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists while playing any of the five positions. While he has lost a step on defense and he’s never been the greatest perimeter shooter, Lebron continues to cement his status as one of the greatest to ever play the sport every time he steps on the hardwood.

Kevin Durant

Team: Houston Rockets

Position: Forward

At 37 years old, Kevin Durant is another future first-ballot Hall of Famer still playing at a high level well into his thirties. At 6’11” and despite scoring the majority of his points from mid-range and beyond, Durant still efficiently delivers at well over a 50 percent clip and to the tune of about 26 points per game. Always an underrated passer, Durant still delivers about five assists per game when he’s not scoring and continues to be a tough cover and a closer.

A combination of age and injuries to the lower extremities have hampered KD’s lateral movement somewhat, and opponents have begun to target him on the defensive end. He’s also been susceptible to turnovers against physical defenders, particularly in postseason play. But he’s been largely durable for two of the past three seasons, missing only four games during the 2025-26 NBA regular season. Just an amazing career.

Top 10 Best NBA Players

10. Stephen Curry

Team: Golden State Warriors

Position: GUARD

Now 38 years old, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is at the point of his career where he is missing more games than usual. But when he does suit up, he is every bit the dead-eye shooter has was in his prime. In 2025-26 regular season he only suited up for 43 games, but still averaged 26.6 points per game, a mark he’s eclipsed only four times during his legendary 17-year career.

Still every bit the accurate shooter he’s always been from the floor and the free throw line (91 percent for his career), Curry almost willed his injury-depleted Golden State Warriors through the Play-In Tournament and into the 2026 NBA playoffs. Still an underrated ballhandler and passer, Curry has convinced a generation of basketball players at all levels that they, too, can shoot well over 40 percent from three-point range and have a long NBA career despite not being a world class athlete.

9. Cade Cunningham

Team: Detroit Pistons

Position: GUARD

Detroit Pistons’ guard Cade Cunningham gives his team just about everything it could want from a modern point guard. At 6’6″ he gives them positional size, he scores at about a 24 points per game average, he hands out nearly 10 assists per game, and is a ballhawk on defense. Still only 24 years old, Cunningham is the unquestioned leader of the NBA’s Eastern Conference’s top seed in 2025-26; this on a squad with several veteran players.

If there’s a slight knock on Cunningham’s game, is that he doesn’t shoot at a very high percentage from the floor, though he’s nearly automatic from the free throw stripe. His game performances are even more impressive on a Pistons’ squad without a reliable second scorer. In crunch time, everyone knows he’s getting the ball, and he delivers anyway. In just his fourth NBA season, Cade Cunningham has arrived, and he will ascend in everyone’s rankings rather quickly.

8. Jaylen Brown

Team: Boston Celtics

Position: SHOOTING GUARD/SMALL FORWARD

It’s difficult to believe Boston’s Jaylen Brown is in his tenth NBA season and will turn 30 years old at the start of the 2026-27 NBA season. Brown sometimes gets lost in the discussion of the NBA’s top players, perhaps because he shares the spotlight with Celtics’ teammate Jayson Tatum. Until the Celtics won the 2024 NBA title, there was talk of breaking up the tandem considered to be too similar. But Brown has been a consistent two-way NBA player for the last seven years, and players like that are difficult to find.

During the 2025-26 NBA regular season, Brown put up career best numbers in points (28.7), rebounds (6.9), and assists (5.1) and played his usual dogged defense. During the summer of 2025, the Celtics made several roster moves in an attempt to escape the NBA’s Second Apron. The purge of veterans, including several members of the 2024 championship squad, left the Celtics with a roster many considered below playoff standards. Somehow, the Brown led his squad to a 56-win season good enough for a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Jaylen Brown is a solid two-way player in his prime years. The Celtics will keep him.

7. Kawhi Leonard

Team: Los Angeles Clippers

Position: SMALL FORWARD/SHOOTING Guard

Kawhi Leonard?

Yes, Kawhi Leonard. But Ka-why? Because before the injuries began to mount and the games began to be missed by the chunk, Kawhi Leonard had already established himself as an efficient offensive player would would also lock you up on defense, while the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors rode those credentials to NBA titles in 2014 and 2019, respectively. Leonard was voted the Finals’ Most Valuable Player both times. In 2025-26, he reminded us of how he cemented his reputation.

In recent years the biggest knock on Kawhi Leonard has been his lack of availability. In 2025-26, he did manage to suit up for 65 of the Clippers’ 82 games. After a slow start by a Clippers’ team decimated by injuries, Leonard led a furious climb up the NBA Western Conference standings until James Harden was traded in February. Along with his usual stellar defense, Leonard celebrated his 14th NBA season by averaging 27.9 points per game (including a 55-point outburst against Detroit in December) while shooting over 50 percent from the floor and close to 90 percent from the charity stripe.

Not bad for a 34 year-old once regarded as the NBA’s best two-way player.

6. Anthony Edwards

Team: Minnesota Timberwolves

Position: SHOOTING GUARD

It is also difficult to believe it was six years ago that we watched Anthony Edwards strut across the stage in Brooklyn, New York as the top overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Edwards hit the NBA ground running with the Minnesota Timberwolves, scoring 19 points per game as a 19-year-old rookie and increasing his scoring average in each of his six years, including an impressive 28.8 in 2025-26.

One of the strongest and most athletic guards in the NBA, the former football player is more than just a scorer. He is the vocal leader on a veteran Timberwolves squad that has reached the semifinals two years in a row in the murderous Western Conference. With that, he has improved his three-point shooting to an impressive 40 percent for the past two seasons and is good for about four assists per game while hounding opponents on defense. The “wow” factor is definitely there as well, with the poster dunks and friendly trash-talk.

He’s good, he knows he’s good, and he’ll make sure you know it, too.

5. Luka Doncic

Team: Los Angeles Lakers

Position: Guard

A little over a year later, many basketball fans are still getting used to the idea of Luka Doncic in a Los Angeles Lakers’ uniform. But they are already used to his offensive production, regardless of uniform. As the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2019 he averaged 21.2 points per game, and over his next eight seasons, never averaged less that 27.7 points per game. With over 29 points and eight assists per game in his nine years in the NBA, he has a hand in a large portion of his team’s offense and he makes it look easy. In 2025-26, he won his second NBA scoring title at 26 years old.

For Doncic the common criticisms are a lack of defensive intensity, and less than optimal physical conditioning, which has led to nagging injuries. In his nine NBA seasons, Doncic has played in 70 games or more only three times, and has missed the beginning of the 2025-26 playoffs due to injury. But with his ability to score and facilitate, most will overlook any defensive shortcomings as long as he’s available most of the time.

The Thunder All-Star has also added 5.6 rebounds per game to go along with 6.4 assists. Meanwhile Gilgeous-Alexander has also been a leader on the defensive end of the floor posting 2.1 steals per game and 1 blocked shot with over his first 64 games of the season.

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Team: Milwaukee Bucks

Position: PoWER FORWARD

Over the past 13 years, basketball fans have watched Giannis Antetokounmpo transform from the skinny kid one draft expert claimed would “never set foot on an NBA court” to the chiseled perennial all-star, Defensive Player of the Year, NBA Most Valuable Player, and NBA champion we enjoy watching. The Milwaukee Bucks’ miserable 2025-26 regular season notwithstanding, Giannis is still one of the league’s top players. Should the Bucks decide to move him, he will have many teams around the league vying for his services.

6’11” players with the ability to score, rebound, pass, handle the ball, start a fastbreak, finish a fast break, and guard multiple positions don’t come along very often. Giannis has averaged around 27 points, 11 rebounds, and six dimes over the last nine seasons while shooting around 57 percent from the floor. He has somehow thrived in the three-point era without the benefit of a long-distance shot of his own. The lack of perimeter game and the injuries piling up in recent seasons are the chief criticisms. But at 31, he still has many years of productive basketball ahead of him, regardless of which team he’s playing for.

3. Nikola Jokic

Team: Denver Nuggets

Position: Center

A strong argument can be made for tabbing the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic as the NBA’s top player. Ten years ago, The Joker showed promise as a second round pick, finishing third in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting. By Year Four he was earning MVP consideration, and has since won the award three times while keeping a formerly struggling Denver franchise afloat before winning the title and Finals MVP in 2023.

The numbers speak for themselves, with eye-popping numbers across the board; with Jokic leading the NBA in rebounds (12.9) and assists (10.7) while finishing eighth in scoring (27.7). Production like this has been the norm for the past six seasons. Not bad for the second center selected by the Denver Nuggets in 2016 behind Josef Nurkic.

The one knock against Jokic is that he’s not the strongest post defender or rim protector. But he did lead the league in defensive rebounds per game, which close out the defensive possession.

The Denver Nuggets aren’t complaining.

2. Victor Wembanyama

Team: San Antonio Spurs

Position: CENTER

Victor Wembanyama, all of 22 years old, is now the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year having recently won the 2025-26 version of the award. Very few NBA opponents want to climb that mountain while attempting to score over him in the paint, and he’s equally capable of jumping out and blocking or altering a shot on the perimeter. Being the defensive anchor of a squad as good as the San Antonio Spurs at such a young age is impressive. What’s even more impressive is there’s so much more to his game.

In his just-completed third regular season of his NBA career, Wemby added 25 points per game to his defensive dominance, including five games of 40 or more points. He also tossed in 11.5 rebounds and three assists per game for good measure. Still a very slender 7’3″, he will likely improve in all areas once he gets stronger. His intense off-season workout regimen will help in the long run.

Over the first three seasons of Victor’s NBA career, he has missed an average of 22 games per season. Hopefully, he will adjust to the rigors of the NBA schedule and add to his already impressive resume.

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Team: Oklahoma City Thunder

POSITION: GUARD

It would be nearly impossible for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to surpass his 2025 NBA accomplishments. NBA Scoring Champion. NBA Most Valuable Player. NBA Champion. NBA Finals MVP. And while he finished second in the scoring race behind Luka Doncic in 2026, the other three are still up for grabs. The 26 year-old is the face of an Oklahoma City Thunder squad that has gone 132-32 over the last two NBA regular seasons, are the reigning NBA champions, and are considered favorites to repeat in 2026.

SGA has averaged in excess of 30 points per game for four consecutive seasons, but make no mistake about it: this is a two-way player who spearheads the aggressive ball pressure defense the Thunder like to play in addition to his scoring prowess. This is an efficient player who shots well over 50 percent from the floor, not a volume shooter. He’s also adept at drawing fouls, then making the defense pay by converting on nearly 90 percent of his free throws. Toss in about six assists per game and you have a player who is involved in all aspects of the game,

The main criticism of SGA is his alleged hunting for fouls. With his level of proficiency from the free throw line, he’d be crazy not to. He has the respect of his teammates as the leader and from around the league for his commitment.

The OKC Thunder hope Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, the best player in the NBA, is with them for many more years hunting fouls.

How would you rank the best NBA players so far into the 2025-2026 NBA Season? Rank below to be added in the NBA Power Rankings.

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