It feels like just yesterday that the Nuggets were celebrating their first NBA championship in franchise history.  The months after the NBA Finals completed has quickly passed amid the whirlwind of Damian Lillard and James Harden trades, and here we stand, a mere few days away from the commencement of the 2023-24 season’s training camps. In the interim, CBS Sports has bestowed upon us their much-anticipated annual compilation of their top 100 players for 2024, arriving at our doorsteps as the dawn of the NBA new season looms.

CBS Sport’s Top 100 NBA Players for 2023-24

Let’s delve into the rankings.  

To be clear, this list from CBS Sports is a forward-looking endeavor. They aren’t overweighing past performances or illustrious careers. Instead, this list represents our team’s collective projection of the top 100 players in the NBA based on our expectations for their performances in the upcoming season.

We all know that dissension will arise, especially for those who believe any ranking excluding Kyrie Irving from the upper echelons feels off. Other positions will be called into question, no one would have wagered at 90phut that LeBron would not have been in the top 10 of CBS Sports’ rankings, but here we are. And there LeBron sits at #12. We don’t necessarily disagree.

CBS Gets Some of It Right

When it comes down to these type of “top 100” lists, it’s obviously specific to what the creators deem “best.” With so many respectable journalists and analysts in the world’s biggest sports network contributing to the list, I’d expect to agree with ESPN’s rankings more, but to be honest, we prefer CBS Sports player rankings.

That’s because CBS Sports list includes many of the most high-profile snubs left off ESPN’s annual list.

• Derrick White
• Bojan Bogdanovic 
• Alperen Sengun 
• Bruce Brown
• Trey Murphy III 
• Nicolas Claxton 
• Malcolm Brogdon 

If you’re going to say a player should be added to the list, you should have players you’re willing to take off. In this case, we think that these 7 should replace:

• Kevon Looney
• Mitchell Robinson
• Colin Sexton
• Clint Capela
• Immanuel Quickley
• Harrison Barnes
• Cameron Johnson

CBS Sports’ rankings were meticulously curated by eight esteemed NBA aficionados at CBS Sports—Brad Botkin, James Herbert, Jack Maloney, Sam Quinn, Bill Reiter, Ameer Tyree, Colin Ward-Henninger, and yours truly, Jasmyn Wimbish—emerged from our individual assessments. Each writer assigned a numerical value to every player based on their respective rankings, ranging from 100 points for the top spot to a single point for the hundredth position. The cumulative points meticulously calculated the order for this year’s CBS Sports NBA 100.