NBA Rank 2026: The new top 10 features a razor-thin race for No. 1 - ESPN

Welcome to the grand finale of NBA Rank 2026.

After unveiling Nos. 100-51 on Tuesday and Nos. 50-11 on Wednesday, the big reveal is here.

Who will be the top 10 players for the 2026-27 season? How high did reigning Finals MVP Jalen Brunson climb? Did Victor Wembanyama just begin a LeBron James-esque run atop of the list?

While ESPN's latest top 10 — er, full top 100 — will surely spark debate, what can't be questioned is the remarkably tight race for this season's No. 1 spot. Just three voting points separated Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama, with each superstar placing atop at least one of the seven panelists' individual rankings.

• Top 10: Mitchell, Tatum, Cade, Ant...
• Nos. 50-11: Ranking LeBron, Curry, Durant, Kawhi
• Nos. 100-51: Four rookies make the countdown
• NBA Rank debate: Snubs, surprises, top 10 picks
• 10 players to watch in NBA Rank… 2027
• NBA team rankings: Three-year outlooks for all 30

That panel has been overhauled for the 2026 edition. In previous seasons, more than 100 ESPN NBA insiders, reporters, editors and producers voted on thousands of possible player vs. player matchups to arrive at the final top-100 list.

That «wisdom of the crowd» approach has given way to the wisdom of seven NBA experts: ESPN's Ben Golliver, Vincent Goodwill, Zach Kram, Bobby Marks, Dave McMenamin, André Snellings and Matt «Stats» Williams. (The panelists' individual top-100 lists were combined to create our final rankings.)

Voting guidelines, however, remained unchanged. The panel was asked to rank players based on predicted contributions — quality and quantity — for the 2026-27 regular season only.

Let's get to the list — the best of the best heading into the new NBA season.

Note: Signature stats