Top 50 players in the NBA for the 2019-20 season

The only thing standing in the way of Lou Williams, who finished atop the ESPN offensive real plus-minus category  among shooting guards for 2018-19, becoming the first three-peat winner of the Sixth Man of the Year Award could be teammate Montrezl Harrell. Williams led the Los Angeles Clippers in  scoring  after the club traded Tobias Harris, and both he and Harrell should again abuse second units and do the things that often go unrecognized by casual fans until end-of-season award voting. Both will be invaluable members of L.A.'s playoff roster — unless either or both are dealt for another starter before the trade deadline. 

Let the young Atlanta Hawks grow at their own pace, even if doing so means ignoring the team’s record. Twenty-two-year-old John Collins is going to  average  over 20.0 PPG and 10.0 REB in his second season playing with 2018-19 Rookie of the Year candidate Trae Young, and Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce admitted to  Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  in June that he is still installing a system that best suits his youthful roster. Having rookie De'Andre Hunter, the 2019 National Association of Basketball Coaches Defensive Player of the Year, as a teammate should only benefit Collins’ maturation as an overall player. 

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner led the NBA in  rejections per game (2.7) in 2018-19, and the 23-year-old who shot a career-best 38.8 percent from three was seventh in the league in defensive win shares , ahead of names such as Marc Gasol and Joel Embiid. Turner trailed Rudy Gobert, Embiid and seven others in  ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus, though, and he finished 15th in real plus-minus wins among centers. In October, Jack Winter of Basketball Insiders  indicated Pacers coach Nate McMillan isn’t fully sold on playing Turner and Domantas Sabonis together, but that’s the plan as of the middle of October. 

At first glance, the Toronto Raptors signing guard Kyle Lowry to a  one-year extension is a deserved reward for Lowry’s postseason performances during the team’s first title run. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, the 33-year-old remains trade eligible during the upcoming campaign, and the Raptors could now get even more in return for the one-time champion since he’s silenced critics of his prior playoff outings and is signed through 2021. Lowry and the Raptors owe each other nothing further. Toronto letting him chase another ring would be a classy gesture. 

Thirty-four-year-old Marc Gasol isn’t the center you want starting in your lineup on opening night. The veteran showed vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors last spring that he can still be the second-best defender on a championship-winning squad, however, which could make him a valuable trade asset if the Raptors are out of the title race by the middle of January. During the preseason,  Michael Grange of Sportsnet wrote he believes Toronto may need Gasol to attempt 12 shots a game. That’s a far cry from his 7.19 attempts  (187 in 26 appearances) following the trade from the Memphis Grizzlies to Toronto. 

As is often the case with a 22-year-old player, the teases have never been as good as the finished product for Chicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen produced superstar-quality numbers and the best month of his career last February when he  averaged 26.0 PPG and 12.2 REB and shot 48.6 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from three. The Bulls now need him to show he can remain healthy and available an entire season. He also must improve his defense. According to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, Markkanen added strength this offseason to help with his defending. The last time he did that, he missed a month-and-a-half of games due to an elbow injury. 

New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram enters the 2019-20 season flying under the radar and playing for a team many expect won’t make the playoffs. Zion Williamson is the Association’s most-hyped rookie since LeBron James’ debut. Jrue Holiday is already a star. Lonzo Ball generates headlines because, well,  you know. Ingram should see plenty of open looks if he wants to take them. Two seasons ago, the 22-year-old shot 39 percent (41-105) from three. He’ll be a sleeper Most Improved Player candidate if he nears that mark with the Pelicans. 

Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic checks in this low on the list for two reasons: We’re not convinced he can match his  2018-19 numbers , and he looked not ready for prime time in the playoff series vs. the Toronto Raptors. Only Nikola Jokic, seen by many as a 2019-20 MVP candidate, finished last season higher in  ESPN’s real plus-minus wins category among centers other than Vucevic. Toronto exposed the 28-year-old at both ends of the court, though, and Vucevic was held to 11.2 PPG and a woeful 14.7 three-point shooting percentage. 

Defending LeBron James  during the 2018 postseason seemingly did wonders for forward Bojan Bogdanovic at that end of the court, as the 30-year-old grew into a solid and reliable defensive player his last season with the Indiana Pacers. Over the summer, the sharpshooter who hit  a career-best 42.5 percent of his three-point attempts last season signed with the Utah Jazz, where Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell will share much of the lineup’s offensive responsibilities. Rudy Gobert is there to cover if Bogdanovic slips back to his prior woeful defensive ways. 

Last May, Michael DePrisco of NBC Sports Boston  proposed that Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum didn’t regress in 2018-19 after he  averaged  17.9 PPG and shot 49.7 percent from the field in the 2018 postseason series against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. DePrisco believes Tatum merely didn’t live up to advertisements and didn’t reach his full potential playing with Kyrie Irving. We may never know how bad things were for the Celtics during  Irving’s last days with the club . Tatum deserves a redo, this time with Kemba Walker in Boston’s leading role. 

Can Portland Trail Blazers guards CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard become a truly dynamic duo that guides the team to the NBA Finals, or is McCollum a weak link and a reason why Portland will never again get as close to the postseason’s final series with the two in the starting lineup? Last July,  Dane Delgado of NBC Sports Northwest explained how McCollum’s defense hindered Portland in the playoffs: “Opponents in the postseason abused McCollum, and he finished the postseason ranked in the bottom fifth of defenders against the (pick-and-roll) with regard to points per possession.”  The Los Angeles Clippers added a pair of MVPs. Anthony Davis joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Portland lost depth in the offseason, and Jusuf Nurkic isn’t returning until 2020. McCollum and Lillard can only do so much without a third star in the mix. 

As James Herbert of CBS Sports  wrote, both the San Antonio Spurs and DeMar DeRozan have soul searching to complete before they decide if they want their relationship to continue beyond the  spring of 2020. The 30-year-old averaged 21.2 PPG, 6.2 AST and 6.0 REB while playing in 77 regular-season games last season, but the Toronto Raptors were correct when they assessed he wasn't a key figure in a title-winning lineup. Per Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz, the Spurs were 25.8 points per 100 possessions better when DeRozan sat during playoff contests. 

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond begins the season as the  Association’s top rebounder who may become the greatest rebounder in NBA history when all is said and done. Nevertheless, his limited offensive skills and inability to spread the floor make him the wrong big man for Detroit’s lineup. The 26-year-old would flourish with a team such as the Utah Jazz, where he wouldn’t have to contribute any more on offense than what he currently gives the Pistons. Utah has Rudy Gobert, though, so that’s not happening. There are, however, other potential destinations where Drummond wouldn’t have to worry about launching outside jumpers. 

Twenty-eight-year-old Khris Middleton will never be the Association's top 3-and-d specialist, which makes him the perfect sidekick for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Middleton’s 38.8 percent  career three-point shooting spreads the floor and provides the Greek Freak room to create opportunities, and the forward has shown that he’s willing to play anywhere on the court for the Bucks. Middleton also grew as a distributor who averaged a career-high 4.3 AST last season. Perhaps best of all for Milwaukee, he’s signed for years to come, and he’s never hinted he minds being the No. 2 guy on a championship team, unlike certain others. 

The waiting is the hardest part, Tom Petty once famously sang. Orlando Magic fans who’ve watched forward Aaron Gordon since 2014 know all about that. Gordon shot better from behind the arc in 2018-19 than ever before, but a 34.9 three-point shot coupled with 16.0 PPG, 7.4 REB, 3.7 AST and some troublesome defensive stats  suggest he’s no closer to becoming the next Blake Griffin, if his ceiling is that high, than he was last October. He turned 24 years old in September. He’s signed through 2022 on a relatively inexpensive  contract. A separation could benefit both Gordon and the Magic next summer if he doesn’t become an All-Star this season. 

Don’t assume New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday peaked in 2018-19 just because he’ll turn 30 years old next June. Holiday averaged  career highs in scoring (21.2 PPG) and rebounding (5.0) last season, and he also contributed 7.7 AST. Gone are Anthony Davis and the drama he brought to the locker room, and in his place are Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, a pair of young potential stars with chips on their shoulders. New Orleans also has a promising rookie you’ve probably heard of named Zion Williamson, who should attract attention from defenders and help Holiday get back to shooting at least 35 percent from deep. 

Ahead of the regular season, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love sat down with Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com and made a case to remain in Cleveland during the club’s rebuild. Love will forever be tied to the Cavs for his role in the team’s 2016 championship run, but the franchise cannot let emotions and fan responses stand in the way of smart business decisions. Love is a five-time All-Star on the wrong side of 30 years old. At this rate, he may never play another playoff game with the Cavs. He’s still a difference-maker for a team that’s potentially one player away from greatness. As Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz wrote, Love’s injury history is another reason the Cavs should sell him at a high price. 

Were the Oklahoma City Thunder sending a message when the team started Chris Paul  alongside two other point guards during a preseason game? The former “Point God” turns 35 years old next May, and the Thunder will be shopping the veteran and his burdensome contract throughout the campaign unless OKC surprisingly punches above its weight in the loaded Western Conference. Speculation about Paul’s future home continued through the middle of October. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley linked him with the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves , Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards. 

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young should feel no shame finishing  second in Rookie of the Year voting to Luka Doncic. Young led all  rookies in assists (653), assists per game (8.1) and total points (1,549), and he ended the campaign with 30 double-doubles. The ominous cloud hovering over Young’s game is his abysmal defense. Per ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus, Young was the league’s worst player in that aspect. He did have three steals in Atlanta’s second preseason game of 2019, so maybe there is some light breaking through the darkness there. 

If Tim Duncan was “The Big Fundamental,” LaMarcus Aldridge has been “The Big Consistent” for the San Antonio Spurs the past two years. Aldridge averaged  21.3 PPG and 9.2 REB while appearing in 81 games for the Spurs last season, and the fact that he turned 34 years old over the summer shouldn’t lead you to believe he won’t be available for head coach Gregg Popovich whenever Pop calls his number. Assuming Jakob Poeltl improves offensively in his third season, Aldridge may not have to lead the Spurs in  scoring. Poeltl should also see an uptick in minutes and give Aldridge additional breathers and rest for his weary legs. 

Will D'Angelo Russell become a superstar with the Golden State Warriors as he and Stephen Curry  both quarterback attacks, or will the Warriors be looking to trade Russell before Klay Thompson returns from his injury? We know Russell isn’t a “Splash Brother” — 36.9 percent from three could be his ceiling — and we also know Curry turns 32 years old next March and is running out of opportunities to win a fourth title as a scoring champion. Ideally, the Warriors want to see Russell, Curry and Thompson on the court at the same time during the playoffs, or at least that’s the buzz coming from within the organization, per The Athletic (h/t Yahoo Sports). As Michael Shapiro of SI.com explained, Russell’s performances when Curry is sitting could be the biggest factor in where the 23-year-old plays home games on March 1, 2020. 

Will the Denver Nuggets regret not trading up-and-coming point guard  Jamal Murray for Anthony Davis? Murray twice dropped 34 points on the Portland Trail Blazers during the playoffs, but his three-point shooting fell against better competition (36.7 percent in the regular season to 33.7 percent in the playoffs), and he’s a below-average defender who was his team’s biggest weakness at the end of the floor during Denver’s most important games. Denver decided that one shot at winning a championship with no guarantee of Davis remaining with the club wasn’t worth losing Murray. Murray now has to prove the team right. 

In case you were wondering, Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox heard those  “MVP” chants during an exhibition game in India. We’re years away from even thinking about those discussions, but it shows where some see the 21-year-old headed after he averaged  17.3 PPG and 7.3 AST while bolstering his three-point shooting to 37.1 percent from 30.7 percent as a rookie. Fox, Marvin Bagley III, and Buddy Hield continue to grow as pros together, which makes predicting their ceilings nearly impossible. With that said, we can close our eyes and envision Fox slicing through defenses and playing elite perimeter defense in a championship lineup well before his 25th birthday. Imagine Fox starting with LeBron James and Anthony Davis this fall. He’d be a perfect fit. 

Where do you rate a 22-year-old shooting guard who fills box scores for a 25-win team but who doesn’t make those around him better and who isn’t elite at any noteworthy aspect of playing winning basketball? Devin Booker shot under 33 percent from three last season. He’s a liability on defense. If Charles Curtis and Nick Schwartz of For The Win  are right, the Phoenix Suns are going to be awful once more. Both Booker and the Suns could improve their futures via a mutual split next summer. 

As Al Horford goes, so, too, will go the title hopes of the Philadelphia 76ers. Horford and Joel Embiid could make for the best defensive duo in the Eastern Conference if both are healthy during the playoffs, and the 33-year-old won’t mind doing the dirty work while Embiid and Ben Simmons make flashy, highlight-reel plays. Perhaps more importantly, the veteran can give Embiid breathers and even allow the Sixers to sit the often-injured center to keep him fresh for the postseason. Horford  averaged 29 minutes in 68 regular-season appearances last season. 

Eliminate Donovan Mitchell from the equation, and Rudy Gobert (15.9 PPG) and Ricky Rubio (12.7 PPG) were the  leading scorers for the Utah Jazz during the 2018-19 campaign. It’s no wonder Mitchell’s postseason numbers  dipped vs. playoff competition. Mitchell now has offensive help in Mike Conley (more on him later) and Bojan Bogdanovic, and  Forbes’ Ben Dowsett offered stats and information to prove Mitchell was a better defensive player last season than some suggested. "Spider" needs to make the leap to All-Stardom over the first half of the upcoming season. 

The Utah Jazz adding Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic to play with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert made the Jazz a win-now team. After injuries threatened Conley’s career, the 32-year-old returned to the Memphis Grizzlies in the fall of 2018 and averaged a career-best 21.1 PPG to go along with 6.4 AST and 33.5 MIN in 70 appearances. He also posted the second-highest player efficiency rating  (21.4) of his career. If Utah can count on Emmanuel Mudiay to produce when Conley isn’t on the court, the veteran could be a difference-maker come the postseason. The last time Conley played in the playoffs, he  averaged over 24 PPG, and he shot 44.7 percent from beyond the arc. 

Word to the wise: If you have to tell people that you’re “not an a******” (NSFW), you just might be one. Once ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski  reported Jimmy Butler clashed with Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown two months after Butler forced his departure from the Minnesota Timberwolves, everyone should’ve seen the writing on the wall and realized his relationship with the Sixers would end after the team was bounced from the playoffs. Miami isn't one signing or trade away from winning a title as Butler’s prime approaches its end, and the  wear and tear on his body could make the final year of his contract an albatross. 

Twenty-six-year-old Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal must be honest about what he wants from the next stage of his basketball existence. Does Beal want to be the leading scorer and an All-Star on a rebuilding side with a developmental league depth chart, or does he want to push to leave Washington and join a playoff team via a trade  that could include teammate John Wall? Beal averaging 26 PPG and leading the Association in  minutes played while with the Wizards may do wonders for his stats, but most of us outside of the Washington market would forget about him by winter’s end. 

The Golden State Warriors could probably get away with Draymond Green (allegedly) going through the motions and just getting by during the regular season if the team lost only Kevin Durant this past summer. Klay Thompson is sidelined because of a torn ACL until at  least the All-Star break, and the Warriors need Green to be Playoff Draymond to help All-Star guard D'Angelo Russell assimilate and prevent the team from blowing things up by the middle of February. According to Mark Medina of USA Today, Green is beginning the season with an “on my playoff diet” mentality. 

It’s often repeated how Luka Doncic equaled  Oscar Robertson as the only rookies in history to average at least 20 PPG, 7.0 REB and 5.0 AST across a season. Doncic’s  per 100 numbers  from his debut campaign are possibly more ridiculous. His PPG (31.9) was higher than numbers belonging to Nikola Jokic, LaMarcus Aldridge, Klay Thompson and Russell Westbrook. Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis looked like old teammates during their  first preseason appearance. If Lordzingis stays healthy, Doncic could be more than just an All-Star in year two. 

Tobias Harris is a volume scorer who led the Los Angeles Clippers in PPG and who was second on the Philadelphia 76ers in scoring after L.A. shipped the 27-year-old east. It was clear that Jimmy Butler was Philly’s closer and his team’s go-to crunch-time weapon by springtime, however, and the Toronto Raptors held Harris to 14 PPG in the postseason. As Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire  wrote, the Sixers may ask either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons to embrace Butler’s role now that he’s with the Miami Heat. 

Blake Griffin transitioned from a phenomenal athlete talented at basketball to an all-around great player and one capable of averaging 24.5 PPG, 7.5 REB and 5.4 AST while shooting 36.2 percent from three (189-522) as a 30-year-old. Griffin’s prime is already a memory due to injuries, and he deserves to be with a team that can adequately manage his minutes and that accomplishes more than winning one playoff series. That’s why fans and observers are linking Griffin with potential blockbuster trades to real contenders. 

Only Nikola Jokic finished higher in ESPN’s offensive real plus-minus among centers for the 2018-19 campaign than Karl-Anthony Towns. Offense hasn’t been an issue for KAT, who averaged 24.4 PPG and 12.4 REB during his best season. We’re still waiting to see evidence he drastically improves teammates on defense. Minnesota trading Andrew Wiggins to get Towns needed assistance may be necessary to help the 23-year-old take the next steps toward superstardom. 

New Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker told Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer  that a big difference between his current employer and the Charlotte Hornets is that “everything is about winning” for the Celtics. After  averaging  25.6 PPG, 5.9 AST and 4.4 REB with the 39-win Hornets, Walker will be tasked with making Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart better pros, helping Gordon Hayward get back to whatever is left of his pre-injury form and being the type of on-court and behind-the-scenes leader Kyrie Irving wasn’t by the time he realized he was ditching Boston. The 29-year-old has yet to  win a single playoff series. 

We were nervous about being too harsh or too friendly to Pascal Siakam, the league’s Most Improved Player who increased his PPG more than any other player from 2017-18 to 2018-19 (7.3 to 16.9), per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com . Siakam accomplished that with Kawhi Leonard on the Toronto Raptors roster. In September,  Micah Adams of NBA.com provided several stats that show Siakam without Leonard is either “a historical outlier living in the company of all-time greats that caught lightning in a bottle” or “the next bona fide face of the franchise.” A canyon-sized gap separates those types of players. 

We’re not going to blame Kyrie Irving for suffering a facial fracture during a Brooklyn Nets workout, although we do think he probably should’ve thought twice about  playing in a preseason game so soon after the injury. It does feel, however, like there’s often some non-basketball issue affecting the 27-year-old. Irving forced an exit from the Cleveland Cavaliers. He grew increasingly unhappy with the Boston Celtics, and his teammates shared those same feelings about Irving remaining with the club. Four summers ago, Irving hit one of the most clutch shots in NBA history. He can only look in the mirror for answers about his professional struggles since that moment. 

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert finished the season atop ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus en route to winning Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. The 27-year-old probably won’t ever develop anything resembling a shot, but he reminded everybody over the summer that he’s one of the sport’s top pick-and-roll weapons, as Mike Prada of SB Nation wrote. With Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic in the lineup, Gobert doesn’t need to become anything other than a 15.9 PPG  scorer. There are concerns his defense may slip a bit after Derrick Favors departed for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Celebrations and reactions to Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons hitting a three-pointer in an October exhibition game were real, and they speak to just how much that portion of his game is lacking. Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice recently told readers and Philly fans to expect to see more threes and jumpers from the pro with two seasons under his belt. Simmons is a dynamic playmaker capable of averaging 20 PPG and a triple-double over an entire season, and the 23-year-old could steal a Defensive Player of the Year Award from teammate Joel Embiid. 

Per Michael C. Wright of NBA.com , Kendrick Perkins, who played alongside Russell Westbrook and James Harden with the Oklahoma City Thunder, believes “there’s no way” the partnership between the two MVPs won’t work in Houston. Westbrook won the award in the spring of 2017, he’s  averaged a triple-double in each of the past three seasons and both he and Harden are starved for a ring. As Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey detailed in July, the two stars and the Rockets require significant adjustments and patience during what are bound to be some challenging times. Getting through those challenges with all heads above water could make the Westbrook trade the smartest transaction of the offseason. 

According to Jason Quick of The Athletic, Damian Lillard and the rest of the Portland Trail Blazers are entering the season with a “let’s win the championship” mantra. Lillard was Portland’s hero vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in the postseason, and he led the Trail Blazers in scoring (26.9 PPG), AST (6.6), STL (1.7) and player efficiency rating (20.71). Portland now needs to get Lillard and CJ McCollum a third star before the deadline. Banking on Jusuf Nurkic returning to form, if he even plays by March, could be catastrophic. 

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is a legitimate MVP candidate and the league’s best passing big man who averaged 25.1 PPG, 13.0 REB, and 8.4 AST during the playoffs and who shot over 39 percent from distance over those 14 games. Eric Spyropoulos of NBA.com praised Jokic’s noticeable improvement on defense vs. San Antonio Spurs center LaMarcus Aldridge in the postseason. Such performances now must become the norm for the 24-year-old. In early October, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports wrote why everybody should keep hot takes about Jokic’s weight to themselves. 

Joel Embiid is only 25 years old, but the Philadelphia 76ers already need to seriously consider minimizing his regular-season appearances to 60, at most. Embiid’s talent is undeniable — we see him as the Association’s best overall center this fall — but his injury history sets off major alarms. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explained, both knee tendinitis and an illness affected "The Process" following the 2019 All-Star Weekend, and Embiid wasn’t at 100 percent during the playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. Last April, certified orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Dr. David Chao explained for The San Diego Union-Tribune that Embiid’s latest physical hurdle could be a “long-term issue.” 

If Anthony Davis was still suffering as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, Paul George probably would’ve sat sixth in this list. The 29-year-old finished third in MVP voting behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden, third in Defensive Player of the Year behind Rudy Gobert and the Greek Freak, and he deserved a little more love in Most Improved Player voting. Now teamed up with Leonard, George could evolve into the league’s top perimeter defender. 

The Ringer’s Justin Verrier and Jonathan Tjarks both named Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis a top MVP candidate for 2019-20. As Tjarks pointed out, Davis improved his passing and averaged a career-best 3.9 AST while tallying 25.9 PPG and 12.0 REB (the latter also a career-high) as a malcontent with the New Orleans Pelicans. The 26-year-old is now apparently satisfied living in LA-LA Land and playing alongside LeBron James. Anything short of winning a title will be a failure for the Davis-James duo. 

We may have rated James Harden ahead of Stephen Curry in both lists  if the Houston Rockets wouldn’t have acquired Russell Westbrook in the offseason. There remain too many questions about how that partnership will work once the shine disappears from the apple and when Westbrook encounters his first inevitable and unavoidable cold streak of the campaign. Last March,  ESPN personality Mike Greenberg insisted Harden, the two-time reigning NBA scoring champion, and not Giannis Antetokounmpo deserved MVP honors for 2018-19. If Harden and Westbrook can co-exist, The Beard could win that trophy a second time. 

The Golden State Warriors dynasty of the second half of the 2010s may be buried, but ESPN’s Zach Lowe provided several reasons for why Stephen Curry should be a favorite to win the scoring title this season. Nobody knows how Curry will mesh with D'Angelo Russell. That experiment could end disastrously and with the Warriors trading Russell at the first sign of trouble. Russell’s downhill style could benefit the three-time champion and allow him to thrive, particularly with Klay Thompson sidelined indefinitely. 

Paying customers understandably hate load management and the thought that they may not witness stars compete during regular-season games played during the winter. Kawhi Leonard missed 22 contests that were ultimately meaningless for him and the Toronto Raptors, as he was the top player in the postseason who handled league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Eastern Conference Finals and then earned NBA Finals MVP after he averaged 28.5 PPG, 9.8 REB, 4.2 AST, 2.0 STL and 1.2 BLK vs. the Golden State Warriors. Those who only care about the playoffs may place Leonard atop this list. They could be proved right next June. 

We won’t argue if you’d rate Kawhi Leonard over LeBron James in October 2019. We just aren’t ready to downgrade the uncrowned MVP for the majority of the decade too much quite yet. As Marc Stein of The New York Times penned in September, video-game simulations predict LeBron, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers will win the 2020 NBA Finals. James could return to the top of such lists this time next year if that occurs. 

All that’s left for the reigning MVP who averaged 27.7 PPG, 12.5 REB and 5.9 AST during his best season, to date, is to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an athlete unlike any in the league, an unstoppable force inside of the paint who could boost his scoring to over 30 PPG if he adds a reliable perimeter shot to his arsenal. As Bruno Manrique of Clutch Points wrote, the 24-year-old admitted last spring that he learned plenty from being taken to school by two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard during the postseason. Those lessons could prove invaluable down the road.