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The offseason is a gruelling exercise in patience for the average basketball fan. It's that time of the year when we're over and done with the previous season, and even the novelty of the barrage of free agent signings has passed us by.
Chris Paul remains a Rocket, Paul George stays back (to everyone's surprise) in Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant signs another flexible deal with the Golden State Warriors while LeBron James surprised few people, if any, with a move to the Los Angeles Lakers.
But what changes, with each passing moment, is the kind of skill all of these hallowed players have worked on. The offseason is the time when everyone tries to work on new aspects of their game, reduce their weaknesses and focus on making their go-to moves more and more unstoppable.
With that being said, deciding the 10 best NBA players right now remains by far an exercise in watching and rewinding the past couple of seasons, and ranking players based on form (except in one well-deserved exceptional case). Thus, here's my list of top 10 NBA players right now in the world as of today (barring injury concerns):
#10 Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler has one of the most amazing zero-to-hero stories in all of basketball. It is his work ethic, dedication to improving his fundamentals and his zeal to add to his skillset every offseason that has driven him to four All-Star games, three All-NBA selections and three All-Defensive Team selections. Aged 28 now, Jimmy has entered what is essentially a win-now mode, and is slated to be a free agent next summer if he opts out of the final year of his deal.
Ever since he was traded to the Timberwolves last summer, he has gone on to become the centerpiece of the Minnesota franchise. Averaging 22.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game on a field goal percentage of 47.3%, Butler powered the franchise to third place in the Western Conference standings before going down with a meniscus injury in late February, virtually ensuring their first postseason appearance since 2004.
Butler guarded the best opposition player every night this season and led the Timberwolves in defensive win shares per game. Without his presence, the Wolves would probably be worse off than the 26th place they hold in defensive efficiency this year.
His performances fell off in the first round of the playoffs against Houston, as he shot poorly and was unable to contain Harden on the defensive end. But a year of maturing for co-star Karl-Anthony Towns, a more reliable bench and improved fitness might be enough for the Wolves' franchise player to do justice to the talent the team has this season.
#9 Kyrie Irving
This might be the most controversial ranking on this list, but there's a reason why every player, present and past, speaks so highly of Uncle Drew. After all, Allen Iverson himself has commended him for having handles better than his own.
Through the decades, the NBA has become more and more of a platform where point guards can dominate games in an equivalent magnitude as big men did in the years past.
Kyrie Irving is the most skilled isolation player in the game today. There is not one defender in the world who can avoid getting spun around or his ankles taken by this guy. There is something unfathomably brilliant about how routinely he drives to the rim in the wake of an embarrassed defender and finishes through contact from big men planted in the paint precisely to stop those moves.
The real reason why Irving makes this cut is that he's as effective, if not more so, in the playoffs - something really rare for a player at his size. As a pure scorer, Irving is truly second to none, and that alone should be enough to justify his position as a top 10 player in the league.
#8 Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis Antetokounmpo is probably the most unstoppable player in basketball not named LeBron James.
The man, standing at 6'11", is second only to Westbrook in points scored off fast breaks. Routinely, he pulls off the kind of dunks and blocks which get basketball fans wondering if they've ever seen the like of it from a player who's supposed to be a big man given his size. I mean, how does a 6'11" guy Eurostep his way from the 3-point line to a power dunk? How do the mechanics of that work out?
Antetokounmpo is the life and soul of the Bucks franchise. His season averages of 26.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game on 52.9% shooting from the field marked the 4th successive season for the Greek Freak with an increase in scoring volume and efficiency.
Given that he attempts less than 19 shots per game, and could easily bump that average up to 21 on a per-game basis, he could end up with the first season of his career averaging 30 points a game next year. Which might just make our placement on this list too low by this time next year.
#7 Anthony Davis
If Giannis is a freak athlete for his size, Anthony Davis is a complete package on both ends of the floor who can play both big man positions. As the best big man in the league for the past couple of seasons, AD has been carrying the Pelicans franchise on his back from as far back as the 2014-15 season.
AD combines guard-like handles and a fluent jump shot reliable from all 3 ranges with the rim protection of all the great conventional big men you can think of, from David Robinson to Patrick Ewing.
He outdid himself in the first round series against the Blazers in the playoffs this summer, averaging north of 30 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks in a sweep of the Portland franchise. He was outmatched in pure star power by the Warriors, who were still unable to do anything to stop him in his tracks short of fouling him hard.
Davis should wind up as the best player in the league in a couple of years after the #1 player on our list has outlasted his prime.
#6 Russell Westbrook
The league may or may not have seen athletic specimens of his ability and size in the past, but it might damn near be impossible to find a more competitive baller than the Brody. Russell just finished his second successive regular season campaign with a triple-double average, but continues to fall short of expectations in the postseason - one of the reasons why he's ranked only 6th on our list.
Hell hath no fury like an angry Russell Westbrook going downhill in the lane. Or a Russell Westbrook guarding the opposition's best swingman and shutting him down while throwing down thundering dunks in transition.
Westbrook has grown into an offensive player elite at every skill save for 3-point shooting, and he might just stop jacking up those 3s now that he has enough shooting help on his roster. If only he chose to defend the perimeter more often and did any off-ball work on offense, he would be higher than a couple of players yet to come on this list.
#5 James Harden
If you didn't fear the beard yet, its high time you started doing so. For a player who has consistently produced MVP-caliber seasons over the last 4 years, his speech was surprisingly unprepared and half-baked when he did get the award for his performances in the 2017-18 season.
Harden is the most valuable offensive player in the league today if we combine playmaking and scoring responsibilities on a per-minute basis. He averages more assists per 36 minutes than LeBron James or Chris Paul over the last 4 years and more points than Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry or Kevin Durant at the same time.
Ever since getting enough scoring and playmaking help on the Rockets roster in the form of the still-Godly Chris Paul, Harden has effectively become a plus defender. He was always a good on-ball defender, but now he has the energy to get past ball screens, while coach Mike D'Antoni has recast him into a weak-side post defender, a job at which he excels because of his excellent lower-body strength and technique.
The next, logical step in Harden's NBA career would be to win a championship and probably a Finals MVP trophy to go with it. The latter half of this challenge is something the next player on this list has to accomplish, too.
#4 Stephen Curry
If you don't appreciate or understand the concept of gravity within basketball, chances are that you are not nearly as enamored by Steph Curry's (pardon my French) SkyF*****-worthy displays as I am.
Curry is the first player in the history of the game to combine limitless range with exquisite ballhandling, making him a nightmare matchup for any defender in the league. He is an extremely guily customer off the dribble who can create separation for a shot within a jiffy, or drive past his befuddled defender after putting him on skates. As a passer, he truly is second to none, though his assists total doesn't begin to describe his playmaking ability.
Since Curry is such an immense threat as a walking bucket from anywhere on the floor, opponents have to account disproportionately for his presence on the floor, always keeping a defender running after him. The problem is that Curry works harder off the ball than any superstar in any age of NBA basketball, setting pindown screens for the likes of Klay and KD and constantly moving off the ball to manufacture looks for himself.
Steph is probably the weakest defensive player in the top 10, but there's a reason he's the only unanimous MVP in league history. He can light up opponents and put games beyond their reach in a matter of minutes - the season that he averaged 30 points per game, he did that in less than 33 minutes per game.
#3 Kawhi Leonard
Unlike most other sportswriters, I am willing to give Kawhi the benefit of doubt. Over the course of the first 6 years of his career, he has earned that amount of respect. The Klaw is the best perimeter defender since the turn of this century, rivaling or even surpassing the prowess attained by the Black Mamba on that end of the floor. 2 Defensive Player of the Year titles should suffice for it.
On offense, he improved his scoring every single season for 5 straight years, and being liberated from a Spurs offense that affords touches to every player, he could logically end up posting career highs as a scorer and a playmaker - one particular skill that he's worked on for a great deal in the past couple of years.
Simply put, Kawhi is the man for the job in clutch periods at his best - he can get you defensive stops on one end of the floor by locking up the likes of LeBron James (as he did in the 2014 Finals) or Kevin Durant (2014 Western Conference Finals), while nailing the game-winning fadeaway jumpshot over them on the other end. He is truly a player valuable way beyond the ordinary and advanced statistics.
#2 Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant plays like a character straight out of a PlayStation game. At a height of 7 feet in shoes, Durant combines the tight ballhandling skills of an elite point guard with the driving ability of a 2-guard, the shooting volume of an old-school power forward from the post and has the length to be a rim protector in the line of several great centers.
As players go, Kevin Durant is the most complete of all today. There is not a single thing Durant doesn't do at an elite level on the court - not one. He can score from 30 feet out, but he can also fly out as a transition threat, or supply the block that created the same threat. He can defend players on the ball about as well as any player ever has at his height, and his off-ball awareness, foot speed and IQ makes him an elite team defender as well.
If haters want to find some way to make Durant look weak, they can't point to his game, for it is as complete as anyone's in history. If only he had some kind of bulk on his frame, he would be more unstoppable than the #1 player on this list. With that being said, Durant makes nearly 50% of his shots from the midrange - an area which sports analytics deems to be the least efficient anywhere on the court. He consistently takes and makes the toughest and least valuable shot in basketball up to a point at which it is more valuable than many players' efficiency in transition situations.
He is the greatest scorer in the 20th century after Kobe. He might just be better than him at some point.
#1 LeBron James
LeBron has had this throne, in my mind, for nearly 7 years now. The amazing thing about this once-in-a-lifetime player is that he was already too good for the league back then, but he comes back from every offseason now with some other skill added to his already Swiss Knife-like offensive skillset. These tools should stand him in good stead once Father Time finally catches up with him.
For now, there is still a sliver of a separation between him and the rest of the field, though his slack attitude on defense ensures that this separation has decreased considerably in the last 2 years. James has already lost a couple of inches on his vertical and no longer poses the same shot-blocking threat as he did during the Cavs' championship run in 2015-16.
Nevertheless, there is literally no sight in basketball more terrifying for fans of a team than to see LeBron James driving downhill, attacking the rim. Soon to emerge at the Staples Center in the fabled purple and gold, LeBron has taken over the Lakers franchise for 4 years now and is bound to turn its fortunes on the field around.
