It’s a tradition as old as the list itself: fans of opposing teams getting upset at where their players rank on ESPN’s preseason NBA Rank list, which ranks the best players in the NBA. This reaction has been in the canon for so long that The Onion made fun of it earlier on Thursday while talking about the new Taylor Swift album. For Lakers fans this season, they can’t be very upset at all about the rankings because it reflected what many of them believe: the two best players in the NBA wear purple and gold.
ESPN released their top 10 of the 2020 NBA Rank on Thursday, featuring Anthony Davis at No. 2 and LeBron James at No. 1. Two-time defending MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was No. 3 and Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Doncic came in No. 4. Kawhi Leonard rounded out the top-five, followed by Kevin Durant (6) and Damian Lillard (7).
During the regular season, both players were dominant and both took things up to a higher level in the postseason, helping the Lakers end a drought of over 10 years between championships. LeBron re-established himself once again as the best player in the game after being ranked No. 3 in last season’s edition of the ESPN ranking.
