UNITED STATES—The talent on display in the NBA these days is absolutely outrageous, those of you born in the 80s or early 90s even will have a point of reference for just how good the game has gotten over the last 10-20 years. Put it this way, you remember the Monstars from Space Jam? They’d stand no chance against even a bottom feeding NBA team today, nothing to do with their talent selection or anything… ANYWAY, today we’re here today to take a look at the top 3 performing players in the NBA this season so far and delve into what puts them ahead of all the other talent on show, so if we’re ready we’ll just jump straight into it.
First we’ll start with a list, once we know who we’re dealing with we can jump into it a little more;
Top 3 Players Currently in the NBA (2021-22)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Steph Curry
- Kevin Durant
There’s the list, before we delve into it a little more, do you agree? Disagree? This is an open discussion because it’s an opinion-based topic so we should all get involved. Fans have been. People will be debating this stuff until the end of time, you know what they say, you don’t mess with tradition right?
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis Antetokounmpo is a five-time NBA all-star, a two-time MVP (For the 2019 and 2020 seasons) who has drove his career forward with the Milwaukee Bucks at a phenomenal rate, cast your mind back to 2017 he won the most improved player award which put him up there alongside some of the biggest names in the NBA, showing he COULD and WOULD dominate the NBA sooner rather than later. He finally had his year when he capped off an incredible 2020-21 season with the Bucks as CHAMPION when they beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the finals best of 7, Giannis of course being named Finals MVP. A pretty solid victory too if you ask me.
Following last season Giannis was given what can only be described as “silly money” from the Bucks, a $228 million five season contract extension, which is the biggest contract in NBA history, nuts! Though that isn’t exactly unwarranted, there is no bigger name in the NBA right now than Giannis Antetokounmpo and I don’t just mean character length, Giannis is wanted by EVERY BIG BRAND. But why does he sit #1 on our list? Well it’s simple, it can seem very easy to be a one season wonder (which he has not been) but for him to continually improve, season on season, is another thing.
Giannis has started the 2021-22 season off in style, averaging 27.8 points (3rd best in the league) 12.2 rebounds (4th best in the league) 31.24 player efficiency rating (2nd best in the league) and while you may look at those stats and say, well, how is he #1 if there are players statistically better than him? It’s the fact he’s so highly rated across the board in almost every stat field that sets him aside from the rest. The Greek Freak (his nickname not mine) really is the #1 player in the NBA for me, right now and probably, for the foreseeable future.
Source: Morning Consult
- Steph Curry
I feel like if you asked the fans to bet on their favorite NBA players, Steph Curry will always be up there, if he isn’t #1 he’s absolutely top 5, every single time. I know where my money goes in terms of “favorite” but in a recent poll conducted in October, he topped the list of “NBA’s most liked players.” beating out Kevin Durant AND LeBron James. He’s just a very likeable guy, but he also backs it up on the court. The only problem with Steph Curry? His injury record. Steph has missed game time 15 times each with varying length on the sidelines due to injury in his career. If this guy had a clean bill of health, there’s no doubt in my mind he would ALWAYS be one of the top performers in the NBA. A guy who loves the game and shows it when he plays.
As a Franchise, the Golden State Warriors haven’t exactly been hitting the levels they would want to, but with the way Steph is performing this season, they’re looking increasingly likely to make the playoffs and potentially more. Sitting 15-2 at the time of writing, pretty incredible form and with Curry in form the potentially win his third MVP award? Who would really argue? Average points per game, 28.4 (2nd) 6.6 Assists, 27.8 player efficiency rating (6th) putting up 48.3% 3-point percentage in his last 10 games, and 29.7 PPG through them? This man is on fire.
Source: CBS Sports
- Kevin Durant
The Brooklyn Nets find themselves sitting top of the Eastern Conference, somewhat comfortably too. Thanks in part (a large part) to veteran Kevin Durant, with no MAJOR injuries in the last two seasons, minor shoulder injury at the time of writing, but the Nets don’t expect it to last long, Durant has really got back on track in a STRONG way. Some might argue that Durant is the #1 player in the NBA this season, but in a team that is performing as well as the Nets are it’s easier to look fantastic right? This is one of the reasons I put Giannis at #1 and not Durant or Curry.
Durant is topping the charts right now with 28.5 average points per game and sitting 5th with a 28.51 player efficiency rating, through his last 10 games he has a 45.5% 3 point average and has been averaging 35.3 minutes and is nailing 90% of his free throws for the season. Like I said, this man is 33 years old and “past his physical prime” as they say, but is he showing any signs of slowing down? Absolutely not!
That’s going to do it for this one, like I said at the top, let’s get a debate going, who do you think are the top 3 players in the NBA this season? Let us know! This is a debate that every ball fan will get into on Twitter anyway so let’s keep track of it here instead! All we can say for sure is, we’re lucky to be watching this generation of players, there are some incredibly special talents in the game right now, long may they reign! Until next time, take care folks!
