Top Five NBA Players Heading Into the 2024-25 Season
It’s that time of year all basketball fans dread. Most fans won’t be able to watch their favorite NBA teams/players until October, which is more than three months away. Until then, I think it is a good time to give my opinion on who the top five players in the NBA are heading into the 2024-25 season. Before I list my top five players, let me give you my thought process when considering these players. For starters, I am judging these players based on how they look when they are healthy. Something I am not doing is ranking these players based on their careers. Yes, I understand Stephen Curry and LeBron James are historically great players but I will not be forcing them into my top five because of that. This list is based on the 2023-24 season and a bit of projection. With all this said, let's get into it.
At number five, I have Anthony Edwards. Of all the players on my list, his ranking is the most based on projection rather than the totality of the 2023-24 season. The 22-year-old guard is coming off one of the best postseason runs we have seen. Before Game Six against the Denver Nuggets, where he hurt his back, Edwards averaged 30 points per game, while shooting 54% from the field. Edwards was also knocking down 42% of his threes. My reasoning for being so high on Edwards is his ability to turn it up when it matters most. The Minnesota Timberwolves were underdogs in all three of their playoff matchups. Led by Edwards, they were able to sweep the Kevin Durant Phoenix Suns, and they were able to beat the defending champion Denver Nuggets in Denver while trailing 20 points at halftime. Beating teams led by Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokić at only 22 years old is a great indicator of just how good Edwards can be.
My number four-ranked player is Giannis Antetokounmpo. When healthy, Giannis is the most dominant player in the league, causing matchup problems for every team in the league. In 73 games played, he averaged 30 points per game, 11 rebounds, and six assists. He finished the season second in points per game, only three points behind Luka Dončić. Some people might think I am not ranking Giannis high enough on my list and I can understand why. My “issue” with Giannis is his lack of jump shooting. Giannis shot 65% from the free-throw line and 27% from the three-point line. Those numbers are extremely low and it makes it hard to rank him higher with such an obvious flaw. I also don’t believe Giannis is the type of defender the NBA media pretends he is. Giannis rarely ever takes the other team's best matchup, instead, he prefers to roam around and play help defense. There is nothing wrong with this but I think it’s worth noting.
At number three, I have Luka Dončić. This one might also be controversial for NBA fans but let’s not let an NBA Finals run cloud our judgment. Luka led the league in scoring with 33 points per game and also added nine rebounds and nine assists. The 25-year-old guard averaged a borderline triple-double and was in the MVP conversation for most of the year. In the playoffs, Luka was great but did see a decrease in points, assists, field goal %, and three-point %. I understand that Luka made the NBA Finals and that's an impressive feat in itself but he wasn’t the sole reason why. Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, and Derrick Jones Jr. were huge in this run and sometimes even carried Luka to a win. Luka's defense was also horrible during the playoffs. I understand he has a huge workload on offense and it makes him lazy on defense, but his effort was bad. There were plenty of situations where Luka would let the offensive player blow by him, giving up point after point. If Luka can show more effort on the defensive end, he would easily jump into the top two.
My number-two-ranked player is Joel Embiid. Whenever Embiid is healthy, he provides his team with high-level offense and defense. In just 39 games played this season, Embiid averaged 34 points and 11 rebounds per game. He did this while anchoring a top-20 defense in the NBA without having an All-NBA caliber defender alongside him. Embiid provided us with historic games this year, the most notable one being his 70-point performance against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Embiid is one of the only players in the NBA with no flaws. Heading into the 2024-25 season, if he can just stay healthy, he will be in the MVP conversation.
Is it even a surprise? At number one, I have Nikola Jokić. The three-time MVP is one of the best analytical players ever. It is hard to find an offensive analytic stat that Jokić isn’t at the top of the list for. During the 2023-24 season, Jokić averaged 24 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. His playoff run ended early, losing to Minnesota in the second round but that isn’t going to hurt his ranking. Jokić was incredible during this series but had little to no help. His teammates weren’t hitting shots at the same rate they were previously and his co-star Jamal Murray was battling an injury. When healthy, the Nuggets will most likely be the favorites to come out of the Western Conference purely because of how dominant Jokić is.
