NBA top 100 player rankings: Giannis, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant vie for No. 1; LeBron James slips

The talent level in the NBA is at an all-time peak, and with that comes its own set of problems with regard to deciphering and determining the best of the best. How does one choose the best sentence in a literary masterpiece? Or the most delicious bite at a Michelin five-star restaurant? After a certain point it just becomes a matter of personal preference, and even then, the person making the decision could waver from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute.

Thus, we arrive at the inherent torture of ranking the top 100 players in the NBA.

Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t be more different — from body type to skill set to personality. Yet we’re somehow supposed to correctly place them in order of greatness? Analytics are helpful. Accolades can be tiebreakers. But ultimately it comes down to your gut.

That’s why, here at CBS Sports, we have gone with the consensus approach. Each of our NBA writers came up with their own list of the top 100 NBA players for the 2022-23 season, taking into account potential improvement and decline. Then, through a not-so-complex process, we arrived at one glorious list to rule them all. (Just to show you how difficult this is, no two of our writers had the top six players in the same order.)

The agony of an exercise like this is entirely the point. We love to say “so-and-so is a top-10 player in the league.” Oh yeah? Let’s see the list. You’ll drive yourself crazy for days before realizing the player you wanted to put in there isn’t even close.

Debates like this are part of the reason why we love sports. The games are entertaining and fandom is unlike any other social institution, but questions like this fuel our passion. Who is the best player in the NBA? The topic merits a lengthy and complex discussion, and hopefully we’ve done it justice with our list and analysis.

So here’s to the sport we love, and the butterflies that can only come with a fresh season.

With that in mind, let’s get to the list. (For a closer position-by-position look, CBS Sports also breaks down its rankings for point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards and centers.)