Best NBA Players by Team

These ballers can put a franchise on their backs.

Best NBA Players by Team

It’s not a guard thing. It’s not a post thing. It’s just the main thing.

Being the best player on any NBA team is the type of rare air that only the game’s elite will ever get to breathe. And once you get there, that’s when things start to get really fun.

Some of these guys tear out the other team’s heart by raining 3-pointers. Some of them bring opponents to their knees with rim-shaking authority. Some of them have been around for over a decade. Some of them are already carrying the load for their team in just their first or second season.

What do they all have in common? They all ball. Full stop.

These are the best individual players on each of the NBA’s 30 franchises.

Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young, Point Guard

Trae Young, the No. 5 overall pick in 2018, shouldn’t have to shoulder this much of the load on such a bad team this early in his career.

But one positive, he’s already showing he can fill it up and dish it out as he leads the team in scoring and assists.

And the Hawks are so bad, Young is guaranteed to get some help with another lottery pick looking like a sure thing.

Boston Celtics: Kyrie Irving, Point Guard

The big knock on Kyrie Irving always has been his lack of maturity and a penchant for saying the wrong (or bizarre) thing at the wrong time.

This season, Kyrie still is rubbing some people the wrong way, but his focus seems to be on making the team better and becoming a better leader.

In most years, Irving’s name would be coming up in the MVP conversation. That’s not happening yet.

Brooklyn Nets: D’Angelo Russell, Point Guard

D'Angelo Russell’s first All-Star bid is a huge step in the right direction for arguably the most unpopular, unmarketable player in the NBA.

He leads the Nets in points, assists and steals, and if he can will his team to an Eastern Conference playoff spot, that’s another big step in repairing the reputation of a player who is more synonymous with wrecking his teammates’ personal lives (sorry, Nick Young) than his talents on the floor.

Charlotte Hornets: Kemba Walker, Point Guard

Kemba Walker doesn’t get the headlines other elite point guards get, but the three-time All-Star and former NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player constantly is putting in work.

Now, the Hornets need their big men to step up and help Walker and shooting guard Jeremy Lamb keep their heads above water. That means rebounds, fellas.

Chicago Bulls: Wendell Carter Jr., Power Forward

Just like with Atlanta’s Trae Young, it’s probably too early for Wendell Carter Jr. to be asked to carry this much of a load for his team — but it’s the Bulls. If they weren’t in a constant state of disrepair, they wouldn’t be the Bulls.

The 6-foot-10 power forward and the No. 7 overall pick in 2018 already is showing he can be an elite NBA rebounder and shot blocker. The scoring consistency will come with time.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love, Power Forward

Kevin Love has missed most of the 2018-19 season after surgery on his big toe, but he is expected to be return to action soon — although it could be with another team.

At 30 years old, Love still is one of the NBA’s best big men when he’s healthy.

Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic, Small Forward

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft has taken the NBA by storm as a rookie. He’s inspiring memes (and songs, like The Ringer’s wonderful "Halleluka") and making Mavericks management look like geniuses.

Bare bones, Doncic leads the team in scoring and is second in assists. Outside the box, maybe he’s the most marketable European player, ever.

The thought of Doncic and newly acquired center Kristaps Porzingis paired together for the next decade is a scary thought.

Denver Nuggets: Nikola Jokic, Center

The 2018-19 season been a breakout campaign for Nikola Jokic, who is in his fourth year and was named to his first All-Star team.

There aren’t a lot of big men like the 7-foot Serbian center, who is only 23 years old and leads the Nuggets in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

People scratched their heads when the Nuggets hit Jokic with a max deal for five years, $148 million in 2018. Now, we get it.

Detroit Pistons: Blake Griffin, Power Forward

Blake Griffin is still a scoring machine, averaging a career-high 26.2 points, but the Pistons have been wildly inconsistent since acquiring the former No. 1 overall pick just months after he signed a max contract with the Clippers in 2018.

That’s inconsistency the Pistons are paying mightily for, with Griffin making $31.4 million and center Andre Drummond making $25.4 million in the 2018-19 season.

Golden State Warriors: Steph Curry, Point Guard

The Warriors’ leading scorer and highest-paid player in the NBA this season at $37.5 million was the one who triggered Golden State's current dynasty, and still is the heart and soul of the team.

Continues to change the way basketball fans understand what an elite shooter is capable of.

Hits almost 50 percent of three-point attempts.

And his range is when he steps out of his car in the parking lot.

Houston Rockets: James Harden, Shooting Guard

The Beard is the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and averages a mind-boggling 36.2 points and 8.1 assists per game.

He’s impossible to guard, but his team doesn’t always rise to his level of play.

And that’s the rub. Can he consistently make other players better? And will he ever deliver in the postseason?

Indiana Pacers: Myles Turner, Center

The Pacers have to be in full panic mode after Victor Oladipo’s season-ending knee injury.

Without Oladipo (who was their best player, hands down), Myles Turner is the next man up for Indiana, and like his teammates, he thrived when paired up with Oladipo’s unselfish, defense-first mentality.

Get better, Vic.

Los Angeles Clippers: Lou Williams, Point Guard

This is obviously more like a "best player left" after the Clippers traded leading scorer and rebounder Tobias Harris to the 76ers.

But a moment of praise for Lou Williams, a two-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year (2015, 2018) who is in his 14th season and has been nothing but steady his whole career.

And how many players in the NBA can say Drake made a song ("6 Man") about them?

Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James, Guard/Forward

Not just the best player on the Lakers, but the best player in the entire NBA for most of the last decade.

LeBron James is not playing for individual honors.

Will he bring a championship with the Lakers?

Memphis Grizzlies: Mike Conley, Point Guard

Mike Conley’s career is coming into its final act at 31 years old (he’s also making $30.5 million in the 2018-19 season), and he’s putting up big numbers like he always does.

The Grizzlies still are terrible, and still in a city where people don’t care about pro basketball.

Memphis ranks 26th in the NBA in attendance and has not finished above 23rd in attendance since 2015.

Miami Heat: Hassan Whiteside, C

Hassan Whiteside is worth his weight in gold for what he does on the glass and on the defensive end — and you can’t teach someone to be a 7-footer.

When you watch Whiteside play, know you’re watching one of the elite NBA centers, even if he’s toiling away on a mediocre team.

Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Forward

The Eastern Conference’s leading All-Star vote getter is in his sixth season, only 24 years old and seems to get better every year.

The best young player in the NBA could very well just be the best player in the NBA before we know it. Shoot, maybe he is already.

Don’t believe the hype yet? Don’t worry. The "Greek Freak" will be dunking on (or jumping over) an NBA player in your town soon enough.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns, Center

Karl-Anthony Towns is talented, no doubt, and will be playing in his first All-Star game this season. Doesn’t change the fact the Timberwolves are a tiresome, tough sell for any basketball fan.

Towns, maybe unfairly, has been labeled as being too sensitive — because former teammate Jimmy Butler told everyone who would listen that the T-Wolves' young stars were too sensitive. Funny how that works.

New York Knicks: DeAndre Jordan, Center

Picking the Knicks' best player is like picking the best Steven Seagal movie.

Picking the Knicks best player is like picking a favorite way to serve broccoli.

Picking the Knicks best player is like picking the best way to make yourself wake up for an early flight.

Picking the Knicks best player is actually pretty simple. It’s DeAndre Jordan, who has been there for about 15 minutes.

New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Davis, Power Forward

Anthony Davis is the Pelicans’ best player, but for how much longer?

The 6-foot-10 big man, who led Kentucky to the 2012 NCAA championship in New Orleans, is a generational talent and doesn’t seem as susceptible to injuries as he once was.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook, Point Guard

Much like former teammate James Harden, Russell Westbrook has won all the individual awards the NBA has to offer.

Much like Harden, he also will be judged on how he does in the postseason. With another superstar on the Thunder in Paul George, the time is now.

#23: Orlando Magic: Nikola Vucevic, Center

Nikola Vucevic finally figured it out in the 2017-18 season, and it’s continued into the 2018-19 campaign.

The 7-foot center is a first-time All-Star at 28 years old and has become a hot commodity.

Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid, Center

Joel Embiid sitting out every game for two seasons after being drafted in 2014 seems like a lifetime ago.

Now, the joking, smiling, dunking, shot-blocking center from Cameroon is one of the NBA’s most dominant players, most recognizable faces and has a social media presence Fortune 500 companies and rock stars would kill for.

Trust the process, indeed.

Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, Shooting Guard

The Suns aren’t quite in the same category as the Knicks, but they are very, very bad. And Devin Booker is very, very good.

At 6-foot-6, he is a prototype NBA shooting guard and already one of the best young scorers in NBA history, as evidenced by his 70-point game against the Celtics.

But without a good supporting cast, that talent will be wasted. Or used somewhere else when he strikes it rich in free agency.

Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard, Point Guard

The four-time All-Star and All-NBA pick in the 2017-18 season already is one of the Trail Blazers’ all-time greats.

Playing in the Western Conference, Lillard could get lost in the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty. Watch him play once, and you’ll understand why No. 0 (hat tip to hometown Oakland, college town Ogden, current state Oregon) will never take a backseat to anyone.

Sacramento Kings: De’Aaron Fox, Point Guard

De'Aaron Fox, the Kings’ first-round pick in 2017, is starting to separate himself from the team’s 2016 first-round pick, Buddy Hield, a player who is almost the exact same size and essentially plays the same position.

Fox’s 17.5 points per game average is just three less than Hield, but he more than doubles Hield’s output in assists and steals.

San Antonio Spurs: DeMar Derozan, Shooting Guard

DeMar Derozan gets the slight edge over LaMarcus Aldridge, although the two seem interchangeable as the Spurs’ best player at times.

One thing you can point to that gives DeRozan the edge — he’s on pace to double his career high in assists.

Side note: Derozan will save $8.5 million in taxes in the 2018-19 season after being traded from high-tax Toronto to a team in no-state-taxes Texas.

Toronto Raptors: Kawhi Leonard, Small Forward

Kawhi Leonard is thriving in his role with his new team and seems to be on a mission to show why his name should stay in the conversation when we talk about the NBA’s very best.

The biggest testament to Leonard’s impact in Toronto? The players having career seasons all around him. He’s making his teammates better, and the Raptors could win the Eastern Conference.

Utah Jazz: Donovan Mitchell, Shooting Guard

Donovan Mitchell is only 22 years old but is being asked to put an entire franchise on his back.

Jazz fans were despondent after Gordon Hayward decided to leave for the Boston Celtics via free agency, but "Spida" injected hope with his play as a rookie in the 2017-18 season.

The Jazz, smartly, are surrounding him with the right kind of talent. This could really work.

Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal, Shooting Guard

Bradley Beal has been a model of consistency since 2017, avoiding the injuries that dogged him early in his career.

In that time, he’s overtaken John Wall as the Wizards’ best player.

Joined Oscar Robertson as the only players to have multiple 40-point, 15-assist, 10-rebound double-doubles in the same season.

And did it before the All-Star break.