We started with a pool of more than 65 names and cut it down one player at a time.
That meant stars got cut. Former All-Stars got cut. Elite defenders got cut. Young players with huge upside got cut.
Because this isn’t about who has the best career. It’s about who 4DK believes is best entering the 2026–27 season.
Current ability matters most. We also weighed recent performance, postseason impact, availability, two-way value, consistency and what we expect this season. Résumé can provide context, but it cannot carry a player by itself.
That is why Kyrie can land in the 40s, why LeBron can sit outside the Top 20, why Brunson can come off a championship and Finals MVP and still barely miss the Top 4 — and why a 22-year-old can take the crown.
Aaron Gordon
Maybe the toughest cut. His screening, cutting, physicality and defensive versatility are central to what Denver does.
Desmond Bane
A high-level shooter and secondary creator who easily belongs in the conversation.
Mikal Bridges
Two-way wing value travels, but the final 50 got too crowded.
Derrick White
Winning impact everywhere, even without superstar usage.
Rudy Gobert
Still elite defensively; limited creation squeezed him out.
Brandon Ingram
The scoring talent is Top-50 caliber, but the overall field was deeper.
Jarrett Allen
Reliable two-way center play made this one uncomfortable.
Trey Murphy III
The size, shooting and upward trajectory made him one of the last names discussed.
Josh Giddey
Giddey starts the list because his size, rebounding and playmaking still make him one of the league’s most unusual guards. He can fill a box score without dominating the ball, but the shooting and defensive questions keep him right on the edge of the Top 50.
Jaren Jackson Jr.
JJJ can wreck a game defensively and still give you real scoring on the other end. The reason he sits this low is that the rebounding and offensive consistency have never quite matched the talent.
Cooper Flagg
Flagg already belongs in this conversation because the two-way tools are obvious. The upside is much higher than No. 48, but entering 2026–27 we still want to see the full NBA résumé grow before pushing him past established stars.
Kyrie Irving
This ranking has a lot more to do with availability and age than ability. At 34 and coming off a stretch without much basketball, Kyrie enters the year with more questions than most names above him — but healthy, there still aren’t many players alive with more pure offensive skill.
Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis remains an elite rebounder, passer and offensive hub who can make an entire regular-season offense function. The limitation is still what happens when playoff defenses force him to score and defend in uncomfortable matchups.
De’Aaron Fox
Fox’s speed and late-game shot creation give him the slight edge over Sabonis here. At his best he can bend a defense by himself, but the next step is turning that pressure into consistent winning deep into the postseason.
Zion Williamson
The talent is nowhere near No. 44. The trust is. Zion can still look completely unstoppable when he is on the floor, but availability has become too large a part of the evaluation to ignore.
Darius Garland
Garland remains one of the league’s smoothest pick-and-roll guards, with real shooting range and playmaking craft. The size and defensive limitations make it harder to push him into the next tier.
Julius Randle
Randle can still bully his way into big scoring and rebounding nights, and his playmaking has become a real part of his game. He lands here because the efficiency and postseason consistency can swing more than the players ahead of him.
Deni Avdija
Deni has grown into the kind of big, physical wing every team wants — someone who can handle, rebound, defend and create offense without needing the entire system built around him. The question now is how high the offensive ceiling can climb.
Ja Morant
Ja at 40 is going to make people mad. The explosiveness and star-level creation are still there, but this is an entering-the-season ranking, and availability plus consistency matter. If he strings together a full season, he can fly back up this list.
Amen Thompson
Amen’s combination of size, athleticism, defense and transition pressure is already special. The jumper is the swing skill; if that develops, No. 39 is going to look way too low very quickly.
James Harden
Harden is no longer the one-man offense who used to live in MVP races, but the brain, handle, passing and ability to manufacture good possessions are still elite. Age lowers the ceiling, not the value.
Alperen Şengün
Şengün gives you post scoring, touch, rebounding and playmaking from the center spot. He is already one of the league’s most creative offensive bigs; the defensive ceiling is what keeps him from climbing higher.
OG Anunoby
OG is one of the easiest players in the league to fit next to stars. He defends across positions, hits shots, plays with strength and rarely needs the offense built around him. His lower creation load is the only reason he isn’t higher.
Austin Reaves
Reaves has grown from a great complementary piece into a legitimate high-level creator. With Los Angeles increasingly leaning on the Luka–AR partnership, this season is about proving that his scoring and playmaking can hold up with contender-level responsibility.
Pascal Siakam
Siakam is still one of the league’s most dependable two-way forwards: size, transition offense, post scoring, playmaking and experience. He may not dominate headlines, but he rarely gives you a matchup where he has no answer.
Franz Wagner
Franz does almost everything you want from a modern wing. He can initiate offense, attack size mismatches, defend and play without the ball. A stronger perimeter shot would give him another gear.
Jalen Williams
J-Dub’s efficiency, strength and versatility make him a winning player in almost any lineup. He can score, defend and create without hijacking possessions — the kind of profile that tends to look even better in May and June.
Stephon Castle
Castle has quickly become one of the league’s most intriguing two-way guards. The defense is already real, the size travels, and the offensive confidence keeps growing. He is another young player who could make this ranking look conservative.
Evan Mobley
Mobley’s defensive impact puts him in rare company. He can protect the rim, switch, cover space and clean up mistakes behind teammates. The offensive development is what determines whether he stays around 30 or pushes toward the Top 15.
Anthony Davis
Pure talent says AD should be much higher. Availability and where he is in his career pull him down. When healthy, he is still one of the few bigs who can completely control a game defensively while giving you star-level offense.
Trae Young
Trae remains an elite offensive engine. The range, passing and pick-and-roll command can create quality offense almost by themselves. Defense and the question of how far that style can carry a contender keep him just outside the next tier.
Joel Embiid
Like AD and Kyrie, Embiid’s ranking is shaped by health more than talent. A healthy Embiid is an MVP-level force. Entering 2026–27, however, the question is no longer whether he can dominate — it’s how often he can be available to do it.
Chet Holmgren
Chet gives you elite rim protection, spacing and skill without sacrificing mobility. His frame will always create matchup questions against the league’s most physical bigs, but his two-way ceiling is enormous.
LaMelo Ball
LaMelo’s size, vision and creativity make him one of basketball’s most gifted passers. In Minnesota, the biggest question is how quickly that creativity can translate into winning next to Anthony Edwards.
Tyrese Haliburton
Haliburton can orchestrate elite offense without pounding the air out of the ball. His passing, pace and shooting make teammates better, but this ranking reflects how crowded the league’s lead-guard tier has become.
Karl-Anthony Towns
KAT remains one of the most skilled shooting bigs the league has ever seen. His size and floor spacing can change the geometry of a series; the challenge has always been sustaining his best two-way impact when every possession gets more physical.
Devin Booker
Booker is one of the cleanest three-level scorers in basketball, and his playmaking has grown with experience. He is good enough to carry stretches of offense by himself, but the players above him offer either greater two-way impact or more consistent control of the game.
LeBron James
The career résumé has nothing to do with No. 21. This is about right now. LeBron can still manipulate a defense, punish mismatches and control huge moments, but age means we can’t rank him as if every night is still 2018.
Jamal Murray
When the games get biggest, Murray has repeatedly shown another level. The shot-making with Jokić remains one of basketball’s most dangerous playoff combinations. The only question is whether that postseason version can become the standard across the full year.
Paolo Banchero
Paolo already plays with the physicality and shot-creation responsibility of a franchise scorer. If the efficiency and decision-making keep improving, he has a real path from Top 20 to the edge of the Top 10.
Scottie Barnes
Barnes impacts too many parts of the game to be ignored: defense, rebounding, playmaking, transition offense and size. The next leap comes from becoming a more dependable half-court scorer when the floor shrinks.
Bam Adebayo
Bam remains one of the NBA’s great defensive problem-solvers. Switch him, drop him, let him protect the rim or chase smaller players — he gives a coach options. The offensive ceiling keeps him outside the true superstar tier.
Jalen Johnson
Jalen Johnson has played his way into this territory with size, athleticism, rebounding and increasingly confident creation. He is one of the league’s biggest risers, and another jump could put him comfortably inside the Top 15.
Donovan Mitchell
Spida can still detonate a defense in a quarter. The pull-up shooting, downhill burst and postseason scoring history make him one of the league’s safest bets for star-level offense.
Kevin Durant
Durant is still Durant: size, touch and a jumper that almost nobody can truly contest. He may not carry the same nightly workload he once did, but asking him to score efficiently against elite defense is still one of basketball’s easiest superstar bets.
Tyrese Maxey
Maxey’s speed has always popped; now the control and shot-making have caught up. He can pressure the rim, shoot from deep and create offense at a pace few defenders are comfortable matching.
Stephen Curry
Steph’s gravity is still its own offensive system. Age matters in an entering-the-season ranking, but there is still no defender who feels comfortable when Curry crosses half court with space.
Jaylen Brown
Brown brings championship-level physicality on both ends and can carry a heavy scoring load without giving up defensive responsibility. His power game and ability to attack mismatches keep him right outside the Top 10.
Jayson Tatum
Tatum remains one of the league’s most complete high-volume wings. Size, shooting, rebounding, defense and self-creation give him almost no obvious weakness. No. 10 says more about how loaded the top of the league is than it does about Tatum.
Kawhi Leonard
When Kawhi is healthy, the game still slows down for him. He can hunt matchups, get to his spots and guard elite wings without wasting movement. Back in Toronto, the same old question follows him: how much of that version can we actually get?
Cade Cunningham
Cade has become the kind of oversized primary creator Detroit can build everything around. He sees over defenses, controls tempo and can manufacture offense late in the clock. This is the year the individual rise has to keep translating into team expectations.
Anthony Edwards
Ant has the athleticism, swagger and scoring package of the next great American perimeter superstar. The next step isn’t about highlights anymore — it’s about controlling entire playoff series from start to finish.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis is still one of the most overwhelming physical forces in basketball. Miami gives him a new ecosystem and a new set of expectations, but the equation is the same: rim pressure, transition dominance and elite defensive impact every night.
Jalen Brunson
Leaving Brunson outside the Top 4 is one of the hardest calls on the list. He is coming off a championship and Finals MVP, and he has become one of the league’s most reliable half-court shot creators. There is a real résumé-based case for No. 1 — the four players ahead of him are simply that ridiculous.
Nikola Jokić
Jokić has nothing left to prove individually. The numbers, MVP-level impact and ability to elevate teammates are all still there. The question entering 2026–27 is whether Denver can turn the rest of his prime into another championship before that window starts shrinking.
Luka Dončić
Luka is going to put up crazy numbers. That part feels almost guaranteed. The bigger question in Los Angeles is whether those numbers translate into enough winning at the highest level. With Austin Reaves established as his running mate, this season is about turning individual dominance into a real title run.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
SGA has reached the point where 30 points feels routine. He lives in the paint, gets to the line relentlessly and controls pace without ever looking rushed. Entering his prime at 28 with back-to-back MVPs on the résumé, there is a completely legitimate case that Shai should be No. 1.
Victor Wembanyama
Wemby is already a megastar, and barring health, he looks positioned to dominate the NBA for the next decade. At just 22, he is already changing what we think is possible from a big man and has a legitimate chance to become the greatest defensive big we have ever seen. The future of the league feels like it is sitting in Wemby’s hands, and as long as he is on the floor, San Antonio has the kind of franchise centerpiece that keeps the Spurs in the contender conversation every season.
THE LEAGUE BELONGS TO THE NEXT ERA.
Jokić is still Jokić. Luka is about to put up ridiculous numbers in Los Angeles. SGA has a real claim to the throne. Brunson just delivered the biggest season of his career. But entering 2026–27, 4DK is betting on the player whose ceiling could change the next decade of basketball.
VICTOR WEMBANYAMA IS No. 1.