ESPN does the right thing and ranks Nikola Jokic as the best NBA player

ESPN revealed its top 10 players in the NBA on Thursday, and fortunately, Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was ranked No. 1 in the league.

After winning three of the last four MVPs, that felt like a given, but then again, Jokic was No. 2 on this list a season ago, behind Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. Remember, this came after Jokic had just led Denver to its first title and been named NBA Finals MVP.

For Nuggets fans, it’s nice to see Jokic first, especially since Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray fell in the top 100 rankings this week. Aaron Gordon also made the list, moving up two spots in the league from No. 51 to No. 49.

Here’s how ESPN compiled these rankings and landed Jokic at number 1: “We asked our panel of experts to vote on player-versus-player matches from more than 15,000 possible pairings. Voters were asked, “Which player will be better in 2024-25?” and had to predict how each player will perform this season.”

That seems fair, and it’s hard to argue that you can pit Jokic against anyone in the NBA not Put it on the top spot. Mavericks star Luka Doncic was No. 2, Antetokounmpo was No. 3, the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was No. 4 and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum rounded out the top five.

“Having won three of the last four MVP trophies, Jokic has a chance to achieve legend status by becoming only the sixth player to win four or more MVP awards should he repeat that this season. When you consider that only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James have done this, it’s easy to see why Jokic is the best player in the world right now,” ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk wrote.

It’s refreshing to read that Jokic is the best player in the world according to consensus. We’ve known this for quite some time, but everyone else has officially caught up.

Click here to see the complete ESPN rankings of the top 10 players.