Kenny Smith’s Top 50 Players Ahead of the 2024-25 NBA Season | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

The 2024-25 NBA season begins next week and online stores are releasing their individual player rankings.

At Bleacher Report we have the ultimate trump card: the official Legendary Rankings Within the NBA Crew.

Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith all made their own top 50 (the overall version combining all three can be found here), and we’ll look at Smith’s below.

“You can impact the game in six categories,” the Jet said of superstars and his personal criteria for this exercise. “Hitting, rebounding, assisting, everyone knows that. But leadership, defense and also the pace of the game. They can change the pace of the game because of their size.”

These criteria not only helped Kenny get to the top of his list, but also influenced his thinking as the exercise continued.

Ideally, he would like to have players in the top five to 10 who can tick all six of his boxes. But someone like Stephen Curry, for example, can have four or five in such abundance that a lack of rebounding doesn’t matter as much.

Later in his list, having all six traits wasn’t quite as important, but it obviously still influenced his thinking.

With these factors and a lot of subjectivity as a guide, here are the first 30 names on Kenny’s list, with the rest following shortly before the premiere.

Kenny Smith’s Top 50-21 NBA Player Rankings

50. Russell Westbrook, guard (Nuggets)

49. Bradley Beal, guard (Suns)

48. Aaron GordonForward (Nuggets)

47. Michael Porter Jr., forward (Nuggets)

46. Cade Cunningham, Guard (Pistons)

45. Darius Garland, point guard (Cavaliers)

44. Brandon Ingram, Wing (Pelicans)

43. Pascal Siakam, striker (Pacers)

42. DeMar DeRozan, Wing (Kings)

41. Zion Williamson, forward (Pelicans)

40. Jaren Jackson Jr., Big (Grizzlies)

39. Lauri Markkanen, Big (Jazz)

38. Evan Mobley, Big (Cavaliers)

37. Jamal Murray, guard (Nuggets)

36. Chet Holmgren, Big (Thunder)

35. Julius Randle, forward (Timberwolves)

34. Scottie Barnes, forward (Raptors)

33. Tyrese Haliburton, point guard (Pacers)

32. LaMelo Ball, point guard (Hornets)

31. Trae Young, point guard (Hawks)

30. Kyrie Irving, Guard (Mavericks)

29. Bam Adebayo, center (Heat)

28. Karl-Anthony Towns, Big (Knicks)

27. Jimmy Butler, Wing (Heat)

26. Domantas Sabonis, Center (Kings)

25. De’Aaron Fox, point guard (Kings)

24. Tyrese Maxey, Guard (76ers)

23. Paul George, wing (76ers)

22. Jrue Holiday, guard (Celtics)

21. Paolo Banchero, striker (magic)

That’s it for now, folks. But don’t worry, you’ll get the full lists of all three members of the Within the NBA crew next week, as well as the overall ranking of the trio.