This will start a 10-part series ranking the top 100 players in the NBA for the 2024-25 season.
A few things to note before I start:
- This is a projective list of what I think will happen this upcoming season.
- Does track record matter? Absolutely. Does last year matter? It matters the most. This list is based on what the players have shown they can do during the previous two or three years and how much it will carry over to this upcoming year.
- My criteria are simple: if I am building my team to win a championship, who do I want on my team? This is factoring in talent, availability, and how much I can trust you in the playoffs. It is a projective list in a vacuum, but I also tend to give a little bit of a boost to guys who have proven they can come up big in the playoffs.
- This is a ceiling-raising, not a floor-raising list. In other words, I am prioritizing players who can make a good team great, rather than a bad team good.
Click here for the rest of Driscoll’s Top 100.
Without further ado, here are the Top 100-91 players for the 2024-25 season.
Honorable Mentions
Jonas Valanciunas, Nikola Vucevic, Jusuf Nurkic, Malik Monk, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Aaron Nesmith, Tobias Harris
100. Andrew Wiggins
2023-24 Season Stats: 13.2 Points Per Game (PPG), 4.5 Rebounds Per Game (RPG), 0.6 Steals Per Game (SPG), 0.6 Blocks Per Game (BPG), 45.3% Field Goal Percentage (FG%)
Two years ago, the perception of Wiggins was completely different. He was coming off his first All-Star season and was a key contributor to the Warriors’ championship team. Today, nobody is excited about the Warriors, and the same goes for Wiggins, too. Wiggins is still a pretty solid perimeter defender but is limited on offense. I believe Wiggins has some juice left in him, but even if he surpasses expectations, it might not be good enough for the Warriors to make the playoffs.
Steve Kerr asked if there’s still time for Andrew Wiggins to earn a starting spot by opening night with 10 days to go:
“Absolutely, that’s still on the table.” pic.twitter.com/7RUwI5bFep
— KNBR (@KNBR) October 13, 2024
99. Jalen Duren
2023-24 Season Stats: 18.8 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 0.5 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 61.9% FG%, 65.3% True Shooting Percentage (TS%)
Duren is one of the more fun players in the NBA to think about. He led the league in defensive rebounding percentage at 33 percent. Duren was awesome at the beginning of the season but fell off a bit towards the end. However, it is completely understandable given how awful the Pistons were. I think the Pistons will be a much better team this year than last year, and Duren will be an X factor.
98. Luguentz Dort
2023-24 Season: 10.9 PPG, 0.9 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 39.4% Three-Point Percentage (3P%), 59.3% TS%.
Lu Dort is one of the harder players in the NBA to rank. On one hand, he is an elite defender. Last year, he finished 11th in All-Defensive Voting Shares, leaving him to be the first guy left off an All-Defensive Team. However, he is super limited on offense given he is not a great shooter and is physically limited. Dort did, however, shoot his career-high from the field and from three. Dort is going to be in a smaller role this year with the acquisition of Alex Caruso, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts.
97. Wendell Carter Jr.
2023-24 Season: 11 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 0.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 52.5% FG%, 37.4% 3P%, 62.3% TS%
The Magic were an extremely fun team to watch last year. Even though Carter only played 55 games, his presence was a large part of the reason why they overachieved. Though he is limited offensively, he does not take many bad shots and is very efficient. Carter can also defend the rim really well and is relatively switchable on that end as well. Carter’s main issue is availability, as he has only played over 60 games in his career once. However, he is only 25, so there is plenty of time to clean up some of his issues.
96. Al Horford
2023-24 Stats: 8.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 51.1% FG%, 41.9% 3P%, 65.0% TS%
A 17-year veteran, five-time All-Star, two-time NCAA Champion, and now NBA Champion, Horford comes in at No. 96. Appreciate LeBron James and Kevin Durant’s longevity all you want, but the fact that Horford has been in the league for so long and still contributed to a championship is insane. If you want to say that someone his age should be lower, that’s fine. But a guy who can still shoot the three-ball at an elite level and is very versatile on the defensive end can be plugged into any system.
NBA CHAMPION AL HORFORD 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/40F8gc2UC8
— Chris Driscoll NBA (@AmericanHooper) June 18, 2024
95. Jaden Ivey
2023-24 Stats: 15.4 PPG, 3.8 Assists Per Game (APG), 0.7 SPG, 0.5 BPG.
The second Piston on this list comes in at No. 95. Ivey was in a pretty brutal situation last year. Even though his quality of play certainly did not live up to expectations, the structure of his roster and the injuries of his teammates did him no favors. The Pistons have a new coach, and a new leader in the clubhouse, and do not have any expectations for the season. I fully expect Ivey to play much better this year than last year for those reasons.
94. Ivica Zubac
2023-24 Stats: 11.7 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.2 BPG, 64.9% FG%, 67.1% TS%
I think that Zubac has become somewhat underrated. Sure he is not a great playmaker or too big of a scoring threat, but when he does attempt to score, he is extremely efficient. In addition, Zubac is one of the better rim defenders in the NBA. The Clippers have had a ton of roster turnover since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George showed up. George is gone now, so the only two remaining from 2020 are Leonard and Zubac. I am very interested to see how this duo plays together to win a new core.
93. RJ Barrett
2023-24 Stats: 20.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 36.0 3P%, 58.0% TS%
This will be Barrett’s first full season with a brand-new team. He already seems to be used to it, but having a full season with them will be great for team chemistry. I have very low expectations for the Raptors this year. However, it will be very interesting to see how he continues to blend with teammates Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes.
92. Tyler Herro
2023-24 Stats: 20.8 PPG, 4.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 39.6% 3P%
Herro is another player who is extremely hard to rank. On one hand, he is an elite three-point shooter and a pretty decent playmaker. However, he has two glaring weaknesses that have held him from being a better-than-third-best player on some interesting Heat teams: injuries and his defense. Herro has never played over 70 games in his career and is routinely targeted at the end of games on defense. With this being said, he has been a key contributor on some solid Heat teams, so maybe this is the year some of those weaknesses become neutrals and the Heat go back to being a threat in the East.
Buzz cut Tyler Herro ready for a leap this year? pic.twitter.com/tHYcfImUyN
— Heat Clips 🎬 (@Demar305) October 14, 2024
91. Walker Kessler
2023-24 Stats: 8.1 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 65.4% FG%, 66.3% TS%
Kessler had a somewhat disappointing sophomore season. After finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, he played 10 fewer games and started less than half of the games he played. However, I am still optimistic. Kessler is still one of the best rim defenders in the NBA and is extremely efficient. Even if he is not a threat to score, he can still contribute to winning in many ways, especially when he has so much time to grow at only 22.
Conclusion
We had a relatively wide range of abilities for our Top 100-91 players in the NBA. It will definitely be the same trend for the rest of the list.
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