2016-17 NBA Superstar Rankings: The Top 25 Players in the Association Right Now
The NBA is flooded with talent like never before, and the circumstances of the 2016-17 season have put so much of it on brilliant display.
Russell Westbrook is making triple-doubles look commonplace while he runs the show for the Oklahoma City Thunder. James Harden is posting similarly ridiculous numbers as the engine beneath the hood of the Houston Rockets' high-octane offense. Anthony Davis has taken another leap forward for the New Orleans Pelicans, with other younger stars (including Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kyrie Irving) following suit in their respective cities.
The league is so packed, in fact, that there wasn't room enough to fit former stalwarts such as Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Al Horford, Kyle Lowry and Dwight Howard on to a list of the top 25 superstars. Nor was there space to accommodate some of the rising stars (Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Kristaps Porzingis, Andre Drummond, Rudy Gobert) who will be among the NBA's leading lights in the years to come.
Rather than reflect on fading franchise players or look forward to the next generation, let's delve in to the 25 guys who are playing the best ball right now, chosen and ranked according to individual production and team-wide impact.
25. Hassan Whiteside, Center, Miami Heat
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There's not much room here for players on 7-16 squads. The wealth of top-notch talent around the league, especially on good teams, makes it difficult to include too many guys from bad ones.
But there's also not much sense in making this list without acknowledging the most dominant interior force in the NBA today. So far, 27-year-old Hassan Whiteside is earning every penny of the four-year, $98 million deal he signed this past July. He leads the league in rebounding (14.3 per game) and has upped his scoring output to 17.3 points on 54.0 percent shooting.
Defensively, Whiteside has been one of the best rim protectors in the business. According to NBA.com, he's held opponents to 43.6 percent shooting at the rim—the ninth-lowest mark among players who've faced at least five such shots per game this season.
As ESPN.com's Zach Lowe noted, some noisy numbers suggest Whiteside doesn't always mix well with Goran Dragic:
"Miami has played opponents about dead even during those minutes, per nbawowy, and teams have destroyed them with both their stars on the floor. The "to stagger or not to stagger?" question is trickier than critics imagine. The Dragic-Whiteside pick-and-roll is the fulcrum of Miami's offense, so do you milk it by maxing out the minutes those two play together -- hoping to ride out some bench mob droughts with good defense? Or stagger them more, and see how each functions independently?
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But if Whiteside weren't there, the Heat would be even worse off than they already are without Wade and Chris Bosh.
24. Isaiah Thomas, Point Guard, Boston Celtics
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Leave it to the Boston media to blow things out of proportion.
Isaiah Thomas missed the Boston Celtics' 117-87 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, sparking speculation around town that the team might be better off without him. Thomas discussed it, per ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg:
"They gotta write something. They say the stupidest things so they get the headlines and everybody can talk about it. I can't control that. At this point, I laugh about it now. Because it's like, if you really think that, OK, that's fine. I know what I mean to my teammates, I know what I mean to this organization and to (coach) Brad Stevens. The ball moved a little better without me. I guess so.
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The reaction to Thomas' absence ignored both Orlando's middling season and Thomas' top-flight contributions. He leads the team in points (26.0) and assists (6.2) while wreaking havoc inside the arc. According to Basketball-Reference.com, he's hit well over half of his shots between 10 feet from the hoop and inside the three-point line.
That ability is mitigated a bit by Thomas' below-average long-range shot (33.1 percent from three). But in a league obsessed with three-point shooting, having someone who can create his own shot in the softer spots of modern defenses can be a nifty and relatively unique advantage to exploit for the C's going forward.
23. Kemba Walker, Point Guard, Charlotte Hornets
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Kemba Walker's steady rise to NBA stardom is a testament to both his own work ethic and the value of organizational patience.
In Year 6 with the Charlotte Hornets, he's looking as comfortable and as lethal as he did during his NCAA title run at UConn.
The former No. 9 pick is taking (18.0 field-goal attempts) and making (47.5 percent from the field, 41.4 percent from three) shots at career-high clips, sparking his team- and personal-best 23.6 points per game. And, like in college, Walker's been even better during crunch time, hitting 54.2 percent from the field in clutch situations, per NBA.com.
He hasn't guided the Hornets to a 14-9 mark so far this season as a one-man show, like some of the players to come on this list. Walker scored a season-low 15 points on Friday, though that didn't stop Charlotte from shellacking the Orlando Magic, 109-88.
The Hornets, as is their wont, did it with a balanced offense (four other players scored in double figures) and a sound defense (37.4 percent from the field for Orlando).
But every snake needs a head, and Walker has played that part well enough to put himself in position for his first All-Star berth.
22. Gordon Hayward, Small Forward, Utah Jazz
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If not for a nagging finger injury, Gordon Hayward would likely be higher on this list.
Hayward aggravated an existing issue in his left ring finger during the Utah Jazz's 112-105 win over the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 6. He had previously missed six weeks, including the first six games of the regular season, after dislocating that same finger during a preseason practice.
Upon returning, Hayward scored 20 points or more in five straight games, tying the longest such streak of his career. Two weeks later, he began another run of 20-point outings that will likely resume once his finger heals up.
The Jazz could've used his (and others') scoring talents during a 106-99 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. With Hayward, George Hill and Rodney Hood all sidelined, Utah managed to cobble together enough on both ends to avoid a blowout at the hands of a Golden State squad that had demolished the Clippers in L.A. the night prior.
Having their premier perimeter players healthy at the same time would be a boon to the Jazz's prospects for a prime postseason seed out West. But of all the bodies on which Utah is waiting, Hayward's is the best bet to elevate the team beyond first-round fodder.
21. John Wall, Point Guard, Washington Wizards
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John Wall is doing all he can to keep the Washington Wizards competitive in the early going. He's been a beast at both ends, registering career-highs in points (23.6 per game), field-goal percentage (45.1 percent), three-point percentage (36.0 percent) and steals (2.2)
So far, it hasn't been enough to save the Wizards from a 9-13 start. Even Wall's career-best 52 points weren't enough to lift Washington over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday in what wound up as a 124-116 defeat.
As the final score indicated, the Wizards' issues have come on defense, where their effort has been inconsistent at best. As Wall said after the loss, per CSN Mid-Atlantic's J. Michael Falgoust:
"Our job is to wake up and just play hard. Before you made it to the NBA or got a college scholarship, you played hard every day to get to where you wanted to. To still be talking about playing hard, that's something that you should be able to do after just waking up.
Everybody has a job and they have to go work hard. Our job is to come here and play hard and compete. That's the easiest thing that you should do without any contracts or any money, just come in and play basketball … if I had the answer we wouldn't be in this situation.
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Until Washington finds a solution, the task will fall to Wall—who had surgery on both knees this offseason—to do everything in his power to propel the Wizards forward.
And if he can get some help from Bradley Beal, who dropped a team-high 26 points during a 92-85 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, all the better.
20. Paul George, Small Forward, Indiana Pacers
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The recent bluster surrounding rumors of Paul George getting traded to the Detroit Pistons were ridiculous enough for wry response from Stan Van Gundy.
"Yeah, it's just being finalized," the Pistons coach and president of basketball operations said sarcastically, per the Detroit Free Press' Vince Ellis.
Even without Van Gundy's denial of anything like that being in the works, it would be easy enough to snuff out this latest bit of internet flotsam.
The Indiana Pacers have taken great pains to build around George, and rightfully so. This past summer, team president Larry Bird traded for Jeff Teague and Thaddeus Young, with the hope of fielding a squad that could keep up with the way George glides across the court.
The results have been mixed: According to NBA.com, Indy has cracked the top 10 in pace, but it remains mired at 20th in offensive efficiency and has slipped to 21st in defensive efficiency.
George isn't scoring or assisting at quite the same rate he did last season, when he set career benchmarks in both categories. But his 20.8 points per game are coming by way of sharper shooting splits (44.5 percent from the field, 39.0 percent from three, a personal-best 92.9 percent from the line).
The results aren't particularly pretty now, but a month-and-a-half into a new season with a different head coach (Nate McMillan) and a revamped roster would be too soon to move George.
That is, if the Pacers were keen to cut bait at all—which, suspect rumors aside, they aren't.
19. Blake Griffin, Power Forward, Los Angeles Clippers
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Rarely (if ever) has Blake Griffin played as poorly as he did during the Los Angeles Clippers' 115-98 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 7. The All-Star forward finished with 12 points on 5-of-20 shooting and had two assists against seven turnovers in just under 31 minutes.
"It's frustrating," Griffin said. "You know you're going to have games like this. You don't want to, but it's part of basketball. The biggest thing from an awful game like this is trying to do something in other areas of the game. I don't think I did that tonight."
Normally, affecting the outcome in more ways than one is Griffin's forte: He's averaging 9.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season in addition to his 20.7 points.
But Griffin's situation in L.A. has somewhat stunted the full breadth of his game. Chris Paul's presence has left Griffin as the Clippers' secondary playmaker. And as beautiful as it is to watch him toss lobs to DeAndre Jordan, Griffin often has little choice but to operate from mid-range and out when the high-flying center is on the floor, lest the lane get too crowded for comfort.
That said, Griffin's early-season success has been remarkable considering the extent to which quad and hand injuries derailed his 2015-16 season. The Clippers can only hope the latest bout of soreness in his knee won't be a deal-breaker for him in a contract year.
18. Draymond Green, Power Forward, Golden State Warriors
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Griffin got the highlight of the night with his putback dunk over Draymond Green on Wednesday. But Green had the last laugh (and then some) in the win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 2016 Olympian nearly doubled Griffin's scoring output (22-12) while helping to hold his fellow All-Star to 5-of-20 from the field and force a handful of his seven turnovers. On the other end, Griffin did little more than watch Green nail 8-of-10 from the field for his best scoring night of the season so far.
In the end, Green's ranking here might've been depressed somewhat by the three other standouts with whom he plays. For all he does on Golden State's behalf, particularly on the defensive end, his slow offensive start (10.7 points on 43.3 percent shooting, 32.4 percent from three) is difficult to ignore.
And, well, his signature unsavory tactics may have played a part in Griffin struggling to lead one last Clippers push during the fourth quarter. Effective as the move might've been, it's not something for which Green should be rewarded or praised.
Given the history between these two players and teams, though, it certainly fits a pattern or two.
17. Kevin Love, Power Forward, Cleveland Cavaliers
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What a difference a ring makes.
For two seasons, Kevin Love wandered through the wilderness, looking like the weakest link in the Cleveland Cavaliers core. His scoring and rebounding numbers dipped, as did his three-point shooting. During consecutive Finals, the Golden State Warriors made him look flat-out obsolete on both ends.
Then, he came up with 14 rebounds and "The Stop" on Stephen Curry in Game 7 to help end Cleveland's 52-year pro sports championship drought. Now, as Lowe noted, Love looks a lot more like the third superstar the Cavaliers thought they were getting from the Minnesota Timberwolves:
"Kevin Love is playing almost like Minnesota Love again -- you know, the guy most people in the league considered a top-10 player. He doesn't play as much, but the per-minute numbers this season are similar to peak Love. The Cavs work to get him post touches, and have him do lots of stuff beyond standing in the corner like a glorified James Jones.
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Love's counting stats (21.4 PTS, 10.3 REB, 1.6 AST) are still well below where they were when he last played in Minneapolis. But he's shooting the ball better than ever—with career highs in effective field-goal percentage (54.7 percent) and from three (40.7 percent)—and, more importantly, the points and rebounds he's chipping in are going to a more title-worthy cause.
16. Damian Lillard, Point Guard, Portland Trail Blazers
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Milwaukee Bucks fans are a creative bunch. When the Portland Trail Blazers came to town, some folks in the stands at the BMO Harris Bradley Center tried to distract Damian Lillard at the free-throw line with taunts of "SoundCloud rapper."
Lillard's music is more widespread than that. (His debut album, The Letter O, is available on iTunes and Spotify as well.)
And, of course, Lillard is much more than an MC who happens to play basketball. He's one of the top scorers in the league—fifth overall, at a career-high 27.6 points per game—and has expanded his repertoire well beyond the binary drives and three-pointers that have made up the bulk of his shot profile.
He's up to 45.7 percent shooting from the field (a personal best) due, in part, to marked improvement on mid-range looks. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Lillard has converted a whopping 47.4 percent of his attempts between 10 and 16 feet from the hoop and a similarly spectacular 46.9 percent between 16 feet and the three-point arc.
Lillard's assist numbers have dipped (to 5.6 per game and 26.3 percent, per NBA.com), though that has more to do with the proliferation of playmakers in Portland, with the likes of C.J. McCollum, Evan Turner and Mason Plumlee spreading the ball around.
If there's any area of serious concern in his game, it's his defense. Lillard has long been a sieve on that end and currently spearheads a squad that ranks next-to-last in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com.
15. Klay Thompson, Shooting Guard, Golden State Warriors
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Klay Thompson's 60-point explosion against the Indiana Pacers was an astonishing feat for reasons beyond the final tally.
According to USA Today's Sam Amick, Thompson became the first player in NBA history to score 60 or more points while playing fewer than 30 minutes. In terms of actual possession time, he had the ball in his hands for all of 90 seconds, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst (via ESPN's Kevin Negandhi).
His 57 touches were tied for the second-most on the team that night, trailing only Stephen Curry's 68. And on the 21 shots he drained, he dribbled the ball just 11 times, per ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh.
And he did all of that while putting in work on the other end.
"You don't understand what he brings to the defensive end," Charlie Torres, Thompson's skills trainer, said on the Hollywood Hoops podcast. "Last night, he's guarding Paul George. No one really talks about that."
Nor is anyone talking about Thompson's early-season slump; Over his last 19 games, he's averaged 23.2 points while draining 43.8 percent of his threes.
With Curry and Kevin Durant feeding him the ball, he should have little trouble keeping his hand sufficiently hot and the Warriors atop the league standings as a result.
14. Marc Gasol, Center, Memphis Grizzlies
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Marc Gasol is in the midst of a career year—and not just in the traditional sense.
Sure, he's posted personal bests in points (19.9 per game) and assists (4.1 per game), the former bolstered by a career-high 36 in an ugly 88-86 Memphis Grizzlies win over the Portland Trail Blazers. But it's how Gasol is piling up points that's been particularly pivotal.
Like so many bigs in today's NBA, the giant Spaniard has taken to shooting threes, as The Ringer's Danny Chau detailed:
"Marc Gasol’s stroke from the perimeter is weightless; the ball isn’t propelled into the basket as much as it sublimates in the air and through the hoop. The way he effortlessly hoists 3-pointers (at a rate of nearly four attempts per game), you wonder how it could be that this is the first year he’s ever made a serious attempt at shooting from beyond 16 feet. And then you wonder how, in his first year, he’s already one of the most accurate 3-point shooters in the game.
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So far, Gasol has hit 44 percent of his 3.7 three-pointers per game. That makes him the 12th-most accurate three-point shooter in the league among those who've averaged more than two attempts across at least five games, per NBA.com.
Pretty good for a guy who, through 23 games, had attempted more threes in 2016-17 (84) than he did through his first eight campaigns combined (66).
13. DeMar DeRozan, Shooting Guard, Toronto Raptors
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Despite being one of the NBA's elite scorers, DeMar DeRozan still gets guff for his aversion to the three-point line—sometimes, from his own Toronto Raptors teammates. After DeRozan recently characterized Kyle Lowry's long threes as "bad shot[s]," Lowry retorted, "Every shot you shoot is a bad shot, analytic-wise," per TSN's Josh Lewenberg.
In a vacuum, Lowry is right...sort of. According to Basketball-Reference.com, just 23.3 percent of DeRozan's shots come either within three feet of the hoop or beyond the arc.
But DeRozan has become a master of getting to the free-throw line, where he's knocked down 83.9 percent of his 9.1 attempts per game in 2016-17. And while mid-range jumpers may be bad shots for most, they're right in DeRozan's wheelhouse.
"There's still time in my career to move out to the three-point line," DeRozan told Windhorst. "Right now, that's not something I need to do."
DeRozan has a point; he's averaging a career-high 28.0 points, and the Raptors look once again like the clearest threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers' reign atop the East.
12. Kyrie Irving, Point Guard, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Wherever and whenever he's played in the NBA, LeBron James has always been the leading scorer on his team over the course of a season. That string of 13 straight seasons as his squad's top dog is tracking toward an end, courtesy of Kyrie Irving.
Through 21 games, the 24-year-old averaged a career-high 24.5 points per game—a hair more than James' 24.1 points. He's done it while shooting the ball like never before from the field (48.7 percent) and from three (42.4 percent).
And he's done it within an atmosphere in Cleveland that's more comfortable for everyone, courtesy of last season's championship run. As Irving said after the Cavs' 114-84 flattening of the Miami Heat on Friday, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin (via ABCNews.com):
"Coming off a year like we had last year ... it was a load for our confidence. Coming into this season, we knew what to expect. The trust factor is there. There are really no more questions in terms of what level we have to play at in order to be great every single night. We don't have the kind of the miscues and the unknowns. The questions are answered, and we're just straight up with one another, earnest all the time, and if there's a problem we fix it right away. It's a tell-tale sign of a maturing, great basketball team.
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It's also a shift that's come by design. Irving now takes the most shots on the team (18.9 per game), with James (9.1 assists) sliding over as the de facto point guard.
If the early results are any indication, the new formula works just fine for Irving and the Cavs, who are off to an East-best 17-5 start.
11. DeMarcus Cousins, Center, Sacramento Kings
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The Sacramento Kings' case for keeping DeMarcus Cousins, despite the team's ongoing struggles and his own uncertain future, is a strong one.
As The Vertical's Chris Mannix recounted: "At 26, he’s immersed in his finest season, averaging a career-best 28.8 points and shooting a shade under 40 percent from beyond the 3-point line. He’s due $17 million this season and $18 million the next, a relative bargain in a league of rapidly exploding salaries."
Sacramento could fetch a king's ransom for a player of Cousin's caliber, concerns and all. His talent and sheer productivity—he's averaged 10.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.5 combined steals and blocks and 9.8 free-throw attempts—might be enough to thrust the Kings into the playoff hunt as the 2016-17 season rolls on.
Wherever Boogie winds up, he'll be a force with which few (if any) can truly reckon. He's fashioned himself into a complete offensive player, combining low-post skills with a smooth outside shot and the ability to run a fast break all on his own.
And when (or if) Cousins commits himself to playing hard and smart on the defensive end, he may well climb even higher up the ladder of his most heralded peers.
10. Chris Paul, Point Guard, Los Angeles Clippers
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If not for modern technology, the five-year anniversary of the NBA nixing Chris Paul's move to the Los Angeles Lakers would've come and gone without any notice from the man in the middle of it all.
"I actually didn't realize it until you see it pop up, Bleacher Report pop up on your phone," Paul said at his Feed the Children charity event in Los Angeles. "Everybody tweeted it out. If nobody had said anything about it, I wouldn't have thought about it. It's something that me, my family, we can laugh about because it's a lot of memories from that time."
All these years later, Paul remains among the most effective two-way players at his position. He's on pace for his seventh steals title (2.5 per game) and remains among the league leaders in assists (9.0 per game), all while scoring 17.7 points per game and captaining the Clippers' elite efforts on both ends.
Paul isn't quite the same singular force now that he was when he first arrived in L.A. But at 31, he remains one of the best floor generals in the game.
And with that kind of enduring greatness, what need would Paul have to recall the wild days that brought his talents to the West Coast?
9. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Guard/Forward, Milwaukee Bucks
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Those glimpses of greatness that made Giannis Antetokounmpo a favorite of NBA Twitter during his first three seasons have expanded into full-blown Year 4 superstardom.
He currently leads the Milwaukee Bucks in nearly every major statistical category—from points (22.0), rebounds (8.9) and assists (6.1) to steals (2.2), blocks (2.3) and free-throw attempts (7.1). If not for Michael Beasley scorching the nets at a 52.2 percent clip, Antetokounmpo's field-goal percentage (51.9 percent) would be a team-best too.
Along the way, the newly minted 22-year-old has notched a pair of triple-doubles. According to Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN Stats & Info, Antetokounmpo is one of four players in that club this season (along with Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and James Harden) and already ranks second all-time among Bucks in that regard, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
How is it that Antetokounmpo, at 6'11" and 222 pounds, is able to stuff the stat sheet the way he does? Aside from Milwaukee putting the ball in his hands, much of the credit goes to the otherworldly physical attributes that earned the Greek Freak his nickname—and the core strength to tie them all together. Let ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz explain:
"Typically, in players of Antetokounmpo's length and power, sports scientists see core instability, but this is yet another area in which the big Greek resembles more compact players.
Other long players will have stability in the sagittal plane (which divides the trunk down the middle) but not in their frontal or horizontal planes. Antetokounmpo checks all boxes. The result? The aerobatic ability to dribble the length of the floor, elevate for a rebound, fly laterally through the air for an alley-oop—all complex movements that originate from the core.
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8. Jimmy Butler, Guard/Forward, Chicago Bulls
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Jimmy Butler is in a unique spot among NBA superstars in their mid-to-late 20s.
He's not stuck on his own like Westbrook and Harden. Nor did he have to leave his original digs to find a more comfortable situation, like Kevin Durant did when he ditched Oklahoma City for the Bay Area.
Instead, the help came to him, in the form of Wade, Rajon Rondo, Robin Lopez and a host of young players who've comprised the rest of the Chicago Bulls core. That base was strong enough to support Chicago's 95-91 win over the San Antonio Spurs, despite Butler struggling to score 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
"I know we got some hellafied players," Butler said, per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell. "Some great teammates. Everybody's like, 'Yo, take your shot. Do what you've been doing all year.' It won't change. They're going to fall—I think we all know that. But that's what you got teammates for, to step up and make shots, take the big ones, knock them down."
More often than not, Butler's been the one coming up big for the Bulls. He's logged career bests in points (25.4) and rebounds (6.7) while dishing 4.1 assists and shooting a respectable 35.1 percent from three-point range.
That production is all the more impressive in light of Butler's rise from 30th pick and marginal role player to all-around stud. With the way he's improved from year to year, this ascent might not be done yet.
7. Kawhi Leonard, Small Forward, San Antonio Spurs
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Kawhi Leonard has ten 30-point games under his belt in six pro seasons. Of those, six came through the first 23 games of this current campaign, including a career-high 35 points during the San Antonio Spurs' season-opening smackdown of the Golden State Warriors.
Overall, Leonard is scoring more (24.4 points) and shooting more (17.6 field-goal attempts, 4.8 three-point tries, 6.8 trips to the free-throw line) than he ever has, all while locking down on defense as tightly as ever. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had this to say after his team's recent 105-91 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, per ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright:
"By this point in his career, he's a confident player. He knows he has a green light. We call his number now and then, but he does a lot of this stuff on his own, and he's getting pretty good at pick-and-roll. So he just advances his game every year a little bit in some different fashion, and tonight he did the same thing: pulled up, knocked down a couple threes. He just has confidence that they're going to go. Special, special young man.
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Not that Leonard has been perfect this season. His shooting percentages and rebounding numbers are down from a year ago, and his turnovers are up slightly (1.8 per game). Some of those dips can be chalked up, in part, to his more frequent forays as a point-forward. Leonard said, per Wright:
"I'm still trying to get my teammates involved more. Having a green light doesn't mean you just shoot every possession. You just get the defense drawn to you, two guys, and pass it to the open man. I'm just learning through the double-teams, through people forcing me a certain way and help being there. Just still a process for me.
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But if Leonard is already this good as a scorer and facilitator, the rest of the league had better prepare for the complete dominance that lies ahead for the 25-year-old from Riverside, California.
6. Stephen Curry, Point Guard, Golden State Warriors
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No Golden State Warriors incumbent has sacrificed more to make way for Durant than has Curry. The reigning two-time NBA MVP has seen his numbers slip nearly across the board.
Not that Curry is struggling by any means. His nightly line—25.9 points on 48.9 percent shooting (40.1 percent from three), 5.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 5.5 free-throw attempts and 1.8 steals—while ho-hum for him, would be spectacular for just about anyone else in the Association.
With Durant around, Curry is free to find ways to impact the game within the flow, rather than having to initiate the action or force the issue as often as before.
If there's been any decline in Curry's game to lament, it's his accuracy from way downtown. After drilling 45.8 percent of his looks from 27 feet out and further last season, he's converted just 33.3 percent of his shots from that same range so far this season, per NBA Savant.
Then again, it would be nearly impossible for anyone, even arguably the greatest shooter of all time, to top a long-range performance like that.
5. James Harden, Guard, Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets' summer wedding of Harden and Mike D'Antoni seemed like a perfect fit at the outset—on offense, at least.
Harden, already one of the NBA's foremost scorers, had shown himself to be among the best pick-and-roll operators around. During his stint with the Phoenix Suns, D'Antoni popularized the floor-spreading style of play that dominates the league today.
But as much of a slam dunk as it appeared on paper—especially after Rockets general manager Daryl Morey snagged sharpshooters Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson in free agency—even Harden wasn't sure it would work.
"I didn't know what to expect," Harden said of D'Antoni's offense, per ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins. "Now it's free-flowing. [D'Antoni] doesn't try to control anything; if he has a play, he'll throw it at me, and if I have something better, I'll just tell him I got something better, and he's cool with it. That kind of relationship goes a long way."
Those good vibes have yielded even better results on the court. Harden ranks fourth league-wide in points (28.5) and first in assists (11.4) and free-throw attempts (10.5) while registering career highs in rebounds (7.6) and three-point tries (8.2). He's fueled Houston's 17-7 start behind the Association's fourth-most efficient offense, per NBA.com.
4. LeBron James, Small Forward, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Has LeBron James lost a step? Is he simply saving his remaining bits of burst for a seventh straight run to the NBA Finals?
Sports Illustrated's Rob Mahoney had an answer: "There is still a ton of speed in LeBron's game. It's just applied more selectively. More than a decade of reading NBA-level defenses has honed his sense of when he needs to lunge in off the dribble and when he can carry the weight all the same by hanging back."
James doesn't need to overwhelm the opposition like he used to. For one, the Cleveland Cavaliers have surrounded him with heaps of help, from Irving and Love on down.
With so much firepower in tow, the Cavs can cruise through the regular season with James averaging his second-fewest points (24.1 per game) and fewest field-goal attempts ever (17.6 per game), yet still hold strong atop the Eastern Conference.
James, for his part, can impact the outcome of a given game in just about every way imaginable. This season, he's operated as Cleveland's de facto point guard and come through with a career-high 9.1 assists.
So while James' individual production might be on a slight decline, his manipulation of everyone else on the court—friend and foe alike—has never been better.
3. Anthony Davis, Power Forward, New Orleans Pelicans
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It's been another tough season so far for Anthony Davis. The New Orleans Pelicans have rebounded somewhat from an abysmal 0-8 start, but a recurring rash of injuries at guard dragged them back to five losses in six following Sunday's matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
The Brow, though, has been phenomenal through thick and thin.
Through his 22 games of 2016-17, he led the NBA in points (31.4), blocks (2.8), minutes (38.1) and total field goals (243). Only six players have averaged more rebounds than Davis' 11.4, and only Harden and Westbrook have gotten to the free-throw line more frequently.
And he's done it all while facing everything but the kitchen sink from the opposition.
"We won games, but our ball movement is nonexistent," Pelicans wing Solomon Hill said, per ESPN.com's Justin Verrier. "We come down, pick-and-roll and throw it to AD, and you just have AD scoring over three people. We want to get him in position where it's two at [most], or one."
If Davis is doing damage like this against dedicated double- and triple-teams, just imagine what kind of mayhem he might cause when (or if) the Pelicans can finally field a healthy NBA team.
2. Kevin Durant, Small Forward, Golden State Warriors
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Kevin Durant's move from Oklahoma City to the Bay Area came with all the usual pitfalls of relocation.
Except, in Durant's case, he had a more hectic schedule (he was busy playing for Team USA this summer) to deal with and more resources to assist with the transition. Still, getting used to a new life in a new city required considerable effort on his part, as he told ESPN.com's Chris Haynes:
"When I rented my house, I didn't see it until I moved in. All I seen was pictures. And I'm so used to knowing the route to get from the airport, to my house, to the practice facility, to the arena, to grab food. Just anything. I had my routine and I had how I operated [in OKC], but the unknown of that was a little nerve-wracking because I didn't know anyone. I didn't know who to call if I needed something in the city.
"
Durant's on-court transition with the Golden State Warriors has been far more seamless. That is, at least it's looked that way.
Through 23 games, he's led the two-time defending Western Conference champions in points (26.5), rebounds (8.5) and blocks (1.7) while ranking second in three-point shooting (40.7 percent) and steals (1.4) and third in assists (4.8). All the while, Durant has shot a career-high 54.9 percent from the field—eighth-best in the NBA overall and tops among non-centers.
Say what you want about his decision to join the Warriors; Just don't try to argue that it's hurt his standing in the league.
If anything, the fact that Durant's been the best player on a team that started 20-3 this season, won a record 73 games last season and took home the title prior to that is a testament to his talent.
1. Russell Westbrook, Point Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Ask Westbrook if he cares about racking up triple-doubles, and he's likely to deflect attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder's team success.
"I’m happy that we’re winning, man," Westbrook told Bleacher Report earlier this season. "To me, all I care about is winning, regardless of what numbers look like. As long as we win, I’m happy."
His actions, though, tell a (slightly) different story. ESPN's Royce Young recounted an instance of Westbrook chasing stats:
"It was a January game last season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder led the Miami Heat by 23 points midway through the fourth quarter. Russell Westbrook, positioned where many superstar players would be near the end of blowout, was sitting on the bench.
There was one problem: Westbrook was three rebounds short of a triple-double.
To many watchers' surprise, Westbrook popped up and walked over to check back in. He quickly grabbed his three boards, and with the Thunder up 22, they took a timeout and Westbrook sat back down, a 24th career triple-double in hand.
"
Westbrook has already added 12 trip-dubs to his career tally this season. His streak of seven straight is the league's longest since Michael Jordan dropped that many in a row during the 1988-89 campaign.
Westbrook's box-score-stuffing exploits have him on track to join Oscar Robertson as one of two players to average a triple-double over the course of a campaign. The Thunder certainly don't mind; they're 42-7 all-time when he's that productive, including 9-3 in 2016-17.
Without Durant around, OKC will need all the numbers Westbrook can muster to remain a factor out West.
All stats accurate entering games on Dec. 10, 2016.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R's Lakers Lead Writer Eric Pincus.
