October is quickly approaching and that means the 2021-22 NBA season is quickly arriving. With a few weeks before the new season kicks off, this is also when ESPN starts getting NBA fans bent out of shape with their sports network’s rankings of the top 100 NBA players.

This is the eleventh year that ESPN has slowly released their #NBArank list. And that is how many seasons we’ve followed up with ESPN’s full list in an easy and readable manner because who really cares about the five sentence explanation as to why Mikal Bridges is ranked #86? What they care about is getting emotional about why Bridges is #86 and why he’s above/below other players.

Looking for the 2022-23 list? Click here.

ESPN’s 100 Best Players

To get to their controversial list of 100 players (or 74 players as they did a couple lists agon) they surveyed a panel of NBA writers, talking heads and “experts” asking them “Who are the NBA’s top players for the upcoming 2020-21?” and then counting up the rankings.

Even though Sports Illustrated released their list first, there’s no list that generates as much discussion as ESPN’s player rankings because their the prominent sports network that also broadcasts NBA games during the season.

There’s not much arguming when it comes to which players will likely comprise the top ten. Superstars like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Steph Curry are talked about ad nauseum that when they get down to the top ten, it’s not whether they’re at the top, it’s where they’re positioned. It’s not the Currys, James Hardens, Joel Embiids and Luka Doncics, it’s the players that come after that causes comment sections to explore all over the internet.

So are you ready for your head to explode and ready to mash your finger the caps lock? Because this is ESPN’s Top 100 NBA Players for the 2021-22 season.

ESPN hasn’t revealed their entire list just yet. They’ve released them in chunks putting out the first 50 (#100-51) then the next 25 (#50-#26) then the next 20 (#25-#6) before finally listing out the top five players of the 2021-22 season.

We’ll continue to update the list until we get to #1. Whatever happens, no one is going to entirely happy. Not you. Not your best friend. Not your Aunt. Not our barber. Not Kendrick Perkins. Definitely not Charles Barkley. Okay, Ernie Johnson might be chill. Until the season starts, feel free to peruse this list,  angrily scream in with CAPS LOCK on and call random commenters from across the country “casuals” when they don’t agree with you.