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ESPN Ranks the NBA’s Top 100 Players: How Many Los Angeles Lakers Made it?



Every year, ESPN’s hoops department ranks the top 100 players in the NBA. Every year, it causes a little bit of controversy, because people tend to get really worked up about rankings and lists. But while they’re certainly arguable and definitely easy to overrate (does it really matter if someone is the 7th best player or the 9th, the 58th or the 62nd?) lists like these can be instructive.

Particularly in trying to figure out roster depth around the league, and how different teams compare to each other. So how do the Lakers stack up?

Well, they’re the only team with two players in the top 10 – Anthony Davis (10) and LeBron James (9). Austin Reaves comes in at 66. And that’s it. Many teams have more guys in the top 100 (Denver has four, the Knicks, surprisingly, have five). But when you start to peel back more layers, it’s pretty clear the Lakers have a high end roster with a ton of depth. How many players who are average or above (don’t poo poo average – half the league is below it) do the Lakers have in their rotation? Well, all of them. James, Davis, Hachimura, Russell, Reaves, Vincent, Wood, Prince, Vanderbilt and, if things progress, Max Christie as well. But they’re at least nine deep with average or above or well above.

If that’s your roster, your roster is good.

Speaking of Russell, after Wednesday’s win in Anaheim, he talked about his defense and acknowledged that it’s a big part of the reason he was taken off the floor in the postseason, especially against Denver. (His horrendous shooting didn’t help, either.) He knows that has to get better if he wants not only to be a four-quarter contributor in the playoffs for the Lakers this year, but also to re-establish his value across the league.

Finally, The Athletic’s John Hollinger put out a column this week highlighting players on good teams who could play important roles, but are relatively unknown to most basketball fans. On that list? Christie. When we look back on that column in the spring, how likely is it that he’ll be correct?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: NBA Rank – LeBron 9, AD 10 and Reaves 66.

SEGMENT 2: How LA’s depth stacks up.

SEGMENT 3: Is Christie a legitimate breakout candidate?

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36 Comments

  6. Wm Cuccia

    What's interesting to look at is compare the Lakers top 8 or 9 rotation players against the rest of the league, depth is becoming more of a priority in the new NBA. The Lakers can wear teams down with their rotations during the course of 48 minutes. Lakers can go 10 deep and realistically have 8 players who can score 20+ on any given night.

  8. Wm Cuccia

    DLo outplayed Fox on Wednesday and made Fox look slow. Fox is ranked pretty high in the top 100 so on any given night a Laker role player can play at or above a top 20, 30 or 50 ranked player.

  9. RJ Quick

    Luka at 4 is 🥜; I don’t see Luka as a top 10 player at all!!! SGA is able to defend better and carry his team better then him as well.. Then they got Steph ahead of LBJ and AD🤦🏾‍♂️!! To many NBA accolades are just popularity contests!! No criteria to be met except 65 games played

  10. Wm Cuccia

    Westbrook has a mind body disconnect. Amazing athlete whose mind can keep up with his athleticism. Thus all the ridiculous turnovers that make you wonder. He's been that way since he was at Ucla.

  13. the cinderella channel😊

    the difference between the Lakers 2020 champion team and the current roster is no doubt they do have better supporting cast now. Its just the two main players in AD and Bron declined their game significantly interms of health and age factor.goodluck Lakers…

  16. Aaron Whipple

    Saying Reaves is Top 100 but DLo is close to it is wild. There’s no way AR is Top 100 and DLo is not.

  18. FJBidephile

    Ahem
    I must be "nobody" then because I wasn't surprised one bit by anything Austin did last year
    In fact my friends were making fun of me for talking about how good I thought he was his rookie season
    NOT how good he was GONNA be but how good he already was.
    I don't actually believe Austin made a great leap. I think he just got a chance to show it

  22. Aaron Wimbish

    DLo is a top 50 player in the nba bro had 1 bad playoffs smh but he was an all star when he ran a team alone

  23. Greg Pollard

    We have a Nice Mix of Players:
    • All-NBA: LBJ/AD
    • All Star Potential: D'Lo/AR/Rui
    • Solid Players: Vando/Gabe/Prince
    • Young Talent: MaxC
    • Rookies w/ Potential: FINO/MaxL

    I think this is a Great Model that fits the New Salary Cap.

  24. Randal Colvin

    i doubt bill russell or any of the auerbach team members could have made this top 100. yet they won 11 titles in 13 years. the coach, the scheme, and the organization are obviously the most important factors to win rings. i'd like to see an espn rankings for chemistry and depth.

  28. Roberto Sio

    I really like the roster now. We have added toughness in Prince and Gabe. The only hole in the line up is the shooting guard position. I'm not yet convinced that Max Christie can guard Murray, Booker or even Norman Powell.

  29. Taj

    I know D'Angelo Russell had a bad series against Denver but not in the top-ranked 100 is just ridiculous and he's is better than Austin Reaves Austin breeze is a great player and deserves to be in the top 100 but he is not better than D'Angelo Russell yet but I will say this that backward is going to be the best backcourt Russell and Reeves perfect combo and it will determine if the Lakers win a championship them two players are the key

  30. Taj

    How do you like that new nickname Austin breeze I started it Austin breeze love it what do y'all think

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