This will be the third installment of a 10-part series ranking the top 100 players in the NBA for the 2025-26 season.
A few things to note before I start.
- This is a projective list of what I think will happen this season. While I rely heavily on the past two to three seasons to evaluate them, if a younger player has shown a lot of progression, I will assume they will play even better this season. The opposite is also true. If an older player has shown signs of consistent regression, I will assume they will play worse.
- My criteria, in short, is answering the following question: “If I am building a team to win a championship, who would I rather have on my team?” In other words, I am prioritizing ceiling raisers over floor raisers on my team. For example, if Player A is better at leading bad teams to relevance, but Player B is much better at playing his role on an elite team, I will likely rank Player B higher.
- Since this is a projective list, I unfortunately have to apply an “injury tax” for players who have a history of serious injuries or already have concerns for this year.
- This is only about predicting what will happen this season. Therefore, while Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, and Damian Lillard would all be on this list when healthy, they are dealing with long-term injuries and therefore do not qualify. Hopefully, they will all be back on this list next year.
Without further ado, here are the top 80-71 players for the 2025-26 NBA season.
#80 Jabari Smith Jr.
We start off with a guy who will be in a rare situation this year. Usually, players of Smith’s age are either one of the best players on a bad team or on a good team but sitting at the end of the bench. However, Smith will likely be a key player on a very good team this year. He will be, at best, the fourth-best player, but at worst, a key rotational player on a top-four or top-six team in the West. Smith is not necessarily going to be the X-factor on this team. However, it will be fun to see him develop in this unique situation.
2024-25 Ranking: 78
#79 Nic Claxton
Claxton, opposed to Smith, is in the worst situation possible. A player of Claxton’s caliber deserves to be on a contender and have the chance to anchor a great defense while having some offensive support. However, Claxton has been put in the worst possible situation since Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving left. They have put awful offenses around him, and he has really been the only bright spot of the franchise. He signed his extension last year, but I cannot imagine him staying with Brooklyn for much longer.
2024-25 Ranking: 75
Underrated part of media day for me:
Nic Claxton said that his back feels great after “a really good offseason.”
Think he’s ready to prove some people wrong. pic.twitter.com/tqX75UyLyA
— SleeperNets (@SleeperNets) September 25, 2025
#78 Jaden McDaniels
Up next, we have one of the best young defenders in the game. McDaniels has been an awesome sidekick next to Rudy Gobert on the defensive end for two seasons now. Outside of them, they do not have many great defenders on their team. Even with this, the Timberwolves have been one of the best defenses in the league. The reason I have McDaniels slightly lower is because of his offensive game. He is a fine three-point shooter on some nights, but his lack of versatility has held his team back offensively. He is still young, so he has the potential to change this, but we have not seen it yet.
2024-25 Ranking: 77
#77 Alex Caruso
Speaking of one of the best defenders in the league, Alex Caruso comes in at No. 77. He is a very hard player to rank. Even though he can lock up just about every NBA player, there is one thing that holds him back for me. Caruso has never played over 30 minutes per game in a season. This is okay, but when we compare him to some of the other players in the league, they are usually available and playing a ton of minutes. Even though this ended up working out for the Thunder, his lack of availability and mobility would have been a hindrance if he were not on such a stacked team. So while he is an awesome piece to the Thunder now, I think he is a little more replaceable than people realize.
2024-25 Ranking: 76
#76 Lu Dort
Up next, we have Caruso’s teammate, Lu Dort. If it were up to me, I would have given him Defensive Player of the Year last season. Even though his impact numbers were not off the charts (mainly because the Thunder were stacked), eye test-wise, their defense was so much better with him on the floor. This is primarily because he was comfortable guarding just about anyone on the court. With this being said, his lack of shot creation is what keeps him a tad lower on this list.
2024-25 Ranking: 98
Trying to score on Lu Dort gotta be impossible😭 (via camp elite/IG) pic.twitter.com/UI7xPBRQlR
— Overtime (@overtime) September 11, 2025
#75 Toumani Camara
We’ll continue with our defensive theme. If I’m being honest, I was not familiar with Camara’s game at all before last season. However, he played awesome on defense last year, and he was a key piece to the Blazers being a lot better than expected. I don’t have high expectations for the Blazers at all this year, but don’t be surprised if you see Camara in DPOY discussions sooner rather than later.
2024-25 Ranking: Not Ranked
#74 Aaron Nesmith
Aaorn Nesmith is one of my favorite stories in the league. After having a pretty disappointing start to his career in Boston, he got traded to the Pacers and has been awesome for them. It’s not that he is putting up a lot of points on great efficiency, but he has been exactly who they need him to be. The Pacers will be without Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner this year. So it will be Pascal Siakam leading the way, and likely Nesmith as the No. 2 option. It will be fun to see how he plays in his extended role this season.
2024-25 Ranking: Honorable Mention
#73 Dyson Daniels
Here, we have yet another defensive specialist. Daniels was traded to Atlanta from the Pelicans last year, and it was the best possible thing for his career. He led the league in stocks (steals plus blocks) by a wide margin and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. This season, the Hawks will have, in my opinion, the best roster since they made the ECF in 2021, maybe even better. If they go far enough in the playoffs, Daniels will be a large reason why.
2024-25 Ranking: Not Ranked
Dyson Daniels Perimeter Isolation Defense by season pic.twitter.com/F0yJPy8lY3
— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) October 5, 2025
#72 Ausar Thompson
Well, look what we have here: another defensive specialist. Ausar is known to be “the worse of the two brothers,” which is true, but this should not take away from how good a basketball player Ausar is. He is a lockdown defender, and though not a good scorer, he is relatively efficient. He definitely needs to work a lot on his offensive game, but once he does, he will be an awesome player.
2024-25 Ranking: Not Ranked
#71 Jaden Ivey
We finish this part of the list with Thompson’s teammate. Ivey was looking like he was having a breakout season before suffering a season-ending injury in January. He was averaging 17.0 PPG on 41 percent three-point shooting before the injury. The Pistons also went on a big run after this. Ivey will be under a lot of pressure to make the Pistons better this year, and I have full faith in him to do so.
2024-25 Ranking: 95
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