The most overrated NBA players on ESPN's top 100 list

ESPN published their list of the NBA's top 100 players on Wednesday, with little surprise that three-time MVP Nikola Jokic is No. 1 and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is No. 2. But further down the list, there are some players listed higher than their accomplishments, skills and health might merit. Here are the most overrated players on the list.

No. 5: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

There's no denying Victor Wembanyama's massive, massive potential. The 21-year-old led the NBA in blocks last season in just 46 games, after missing the second half of the season with deep vein thrombosis. He made his first All-Star team and averaged 11 rebounds and 3.1 three-pointers.

Still, it doesn't feel like the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama has accomplished enough to rank ahead of players like Anthony Edwards (No. 6), Stephen Curry (No. 7) and LeBron James (No. 8) yet. Would you really take Wembanyama over those three players in a must-win game?

Wemby has incredible upside and had an action-packed summer training for his third NBA season. But for his first two NBA seasons, his team has been outright bad. It's premature to put Wemby in the top five before we've ever seen him in the playoffs.

No. 14: Anthony Davis, Dallas Mavericks

Anthony Davis is a fantastic defensive player and interior scorer when he's on the court, averaging 24.7 points and 11.6 rebounds last year. But the key phrase is "when he's on the court."

The Brow missed 31 games last season. He sat out 26 games in 2022-23, 42 in 2021-22 and 35 in 2020-21. The effects of the injuries are showing in his game. Davis is taking more three-point shots, yet hasn't shot better than 30% from deep in five seasons. He prefers to play power forward instead of center, making his lack of spacing a bigger problem.

AD is still a force. But like No. 20 Kawhi Leonard, ESPN is overrating former superstars by assuming they'll be healthy, even as both players enter their mid-30s.

No. 30: Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors

Scottie Barnes averaged 19.3 points last season and shot a dreadful 27.1% from three-point range last season, contributing to his career-low shooting efficiency numbers. He does have ball handling skills and passing ability (5.8 assists per game, 2.8 turnovers) that allowed the Raptors to run the offense through him, but that offense was one of the worst in the NBA last season (and in 2023-24).

Last year Barnes took more shots, used more possessions, but delivered fewer points and assists. It's not a positive progression. Barnes is a skilled defender, but he's not as good as No. 31 Jaren Jackson, Jr., an All-Defensive big man who anchored a better defense while shooting 37.5% on threes. Putting Barnes ahead of him is simply wishful, and Franz Wagner (No. 32) is a similar, better version of Barnes.

No. 83: Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors

One standard for a top-100 NBA player should be whether he sees the court in a playoff series. For Jonathan Kuminga in the first round last season, the answer was no, as he played just 50 minutes in seven games. He did get playing time in the second round after Curry's injury, where he averaged 24.3 points per game — in four games the Warriors lost by an average of 12.3 points.

Kuminga isn't a great fit on the Warriors alongside Jimmy Butler (No. 18) and Draymond Green (No. 51), since he shot 30.5% on three-pointers. He's not outstanding at anything except scoring inside. While he's very good at that — and might thrive on a new team — Kuminga's inconsistent defense, shooting, passing and rebounding (4.6 per game) make it tough to call him a top-five player on his own team, let alone the 83rd-best player in the NBA.