How do we quantify Importance/Impact?
(C8) The 18 Most important Players in the NBA Today (MAY 2025)
MY TOP 18 MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE (Separated by Tier).
As we start the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, I find my TOP 12 list for most important NBA Players is coming into full view. With that said, it has expanded to 18 players.
Sometimes it actually takes an injury or two to realize how important a player is. For example, once Steph Curry went down in this year’s playoffs, the Wolves v. Warriors Series all of a sudden became a snooze fest.
While I initially had Steph Curry ranked 5th when I first did these rankings, I then revised it a bit and I still had Steph as the 5th most important player.
Both times I was wrong, and it honestly shouldn’t have taken Steph Curry’s injury this post-season for me to realize it.
This league is still Steph and LeBron’s until it is not! And that is just the way it’s going to be for now.
Jayson Tatum’s injury put his importance into full view as well. If he led his team to another Championship, that certainly would have elevated him. But unfortunately, it was a devastating achilles injury that did it instead.
Also, I slightly altered my rankings in other places as well. I really am not sure how to properly rank Jokic’s importance to the league, as he is largely unknown outside of people who actually follow basketball. Call it the —>
“Aunt Sally doesn’t really know sports but is still a bit hip to pop-culture” effect.
(See the acronym for it, below).
As anyone who has followed the NBA even a little bit over these last few years knows, Jokic is an otherworldly talent. Yet, he does not really appear to care much for fame or for American culture. For this very reason, it puts his popularity in a perspective that’s particularly hard to define. Yet, I still rank him very high, because his importance to the game still does mean so much.
“ASDRKNSBISHTPC” - EFFECT
In the Summer of 2010, when LeBron James declared he was “Taking his talents to South Beach”, it was HUGE NEWS!! Everyone and anyone who pays attention to popular culture, remembers that infamous TV Event. Having said that - I have an aunt (not named Sally), who knows pop culture enough to recognize how much of a mega-star LeBron is and has been over the last two decades.
One of the biggest impacts on LeBron James playing for the Miami Heat was the clear elevation of Dwyane Wade’s status from NBA Super-Star to Global Pop-Culture Star. Those four years when D-Wade played with LeBron in Miami, gave Wade a certain name recognition (beyond basketball) that he never experienced before, despite already being one of the most popular players in the NBA.
D-Wade’s importance to the game was elevated by playing with LeBron. Not only that, but the *impact of the Miami Heat Super Team forming in 2010, is still being felt to this day, with the league now having formed an unofficial “Hard Salary Cap”.
*Granted, the 2016-2017, the Golden State Warriors did the same thing the Miami Heat did in 2010, and formed maybe the greatest “super team”, ever. But give more credit (or blame) to the team that did it first.
ONTO MY UPDATED RANKINGS!!!
TIER 1A (1st and 2nd ranked players in order of importance)
LeBron James of the Lakers
Steph Curry of the Warriors
This is still their league. Everything still goes through them, even though they both are clearly at the tail end of their career, battling attrition and injuries.
TIER 1B (3rd - 6th ranked players in order of importance)
3- Anthony Edwards of the T-Wolves: His team is back in the Conference Finals, which is huge for him, his brand and the league.
4- Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets: I realize I might have a tremendous bias in keeping him ranked so high, while outside of anyone who even remotely follows the NBA, they have no idea who he is.
5- Luka Doncic of the Lakers: Questions still linger about Luka and how his first full season with the Lakers is going to go. And also, because he now plays for the most recognizable team on the planet with the most recognizable player on the planet, I might be ranking him a bit too low here.
Obviously, my rankings aren’t a perfect science, but at the same time Ant Man is in the Western Conference Finals again, and Jokic lead his team on another deep playoff run, with a roster that was in deep turmoil just over a month ago, firing their long-time Head Coach just before the post-season even started.
Meanwhile, Luka’s team is eliminated from the playoffs at home and it’s questionable he’s working out to get in shape for next season.
Who is going to be the new face of the NBA?
We have leaned heavily into NBA talk the last couple of weeks at - Josh off the Press
6- Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks (for now): He is easily one of the most recognizable stars in the league today. His lack of playoff wins the last few years is frustrating, and the rumor that Nike appeared to sideline him a bit to appease the LeBron camp, is also a story that is under-reported (whether it is 100% true or not).
For the record, anyone is welcome to publicly comment on what they think I have wrong on this list, and what I have right!
TIER 2 - (7th, 8th & 9th)
7 - Jayson Tatum of the Celtics: In a sad way, Tatum is finally getting the attention he deserves, because of his devastating injury. He’s probably going to miss the whole 2025-2026 season. I’m very curious to see how he does once he comes back to play. Some people say he should call up Kevin Durant to see how to come back to form!
8 - Jalen Brunson of the Knicks: Bruson has already entered the Mount Rushmore of Greatest Knicks ever, before even winning a title or making the Finals. Brunson is beloved right up there with Willis Reed, Walt Clyde Frazier, and of course my favorite Knick, Patrick Ewing.
9- Shai Gilgeous Alexander of the Thunder: The fact that his team advanced to the Western Conference Finals has elevated him in my mind. When I was making this TOP 18 list, he was initially 11th on my list. And then I witnessed the butt-whipping OKC put on Denver in Game 7, and I was like…SGA is about to get a lot more famous.
TIER 3 - (10th, 11th & 12th)
10- Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs: Barring injury, it’s only a matter of time before Wemby is slotted somewhere in TIER 1.
11 - Donavon Mitchell of the Cavs: He was almost a NY Knick, and that certainly would have enhanced his brand. But now he’s behind Brunson in these rankings.
12 - Kevin Durant of the Suns (for now): KD is still a legend and will continue to be for as long as he plays.
TIER 4 (13th-18th)
13- Tyrese Halliburton of the Pacers: The only player in this category whose team is still playing this season. He deserves credit for being a leader of a team that has made it to the conference finals two years in a row, now.
14- Ja Morant of the Grizzlies: He is still young enough to sell people on his potential, even if he will be coming crashing back down to earth sooner or later (potentially sooner).
15 - James Harden of the Clippers: He might have the most recognizable beard in America, and it wasn’t too long ago when he was a perennial MVP candidate year after year.
16 - Kyrie Irving of the Mavs: Despite his lack of favorability ratings among a certain segment of the NBA population, he is still super-duper popular with younger fans.
17 - Jalen Brown of the Celtics: The 2024 ECF and Finals MVP showed his mettle and leadership in these playoffs. Even though they did bow out to the Knicks! Brown’s Game 5 was a memorable performance; despite the egg his team laid in Game 6. I still can’t believe Brown actually fouled out with less than 3 minutes left of the 3rd quarter of that close-out game.
18- Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers: He had a mini-renaissance this season. Kawhi still garners a ton of respect for being such a difference maker as a player. But, if he were to retire before LeBron James does, I don’t think anyone would be all that shocked.
DISHONORABLE MENTION:
Joel Embiid of the 76ers: How do you go from being the MVP in 2023 to having your next two seasons cut short by injuries, where nobody thinks you will be in top form, ever again!? That’s not to say that many people already think that Embiid stole that MVP from Jokic, in a campaign led by Kendrick Perkins. And despite certain accolades he has received over the years, Embiid has always been incredibly injury prone and has never led his team out of the 2nd round of the playoffs. I look at him and his career up to this point as deeply frustrating, and I’m not exactly optimistic it will get better from here.
Zion Williamson of the Pelicans: To think how the Knicks were in the Zion sweepstakes in the Spring of 2019. Or how the League expanded how many teams make it to “The Bubble” in Disney World in the summer of 2020, for Zion. I’m not ready to call him a BUST, just yet…but we are getting awfully close to considering his career an abject failure!
If I missed any names, feel free to publicly comment or reach out to me to let me know. But even though I used my own spin on the TOP 18 players, I actually did capture the 10 most-viewed players on NBA social, digital during 2024-25 season on this list of 18.
Phenomenal article! The piece stands out not only for its willingness to blend pop culture relevance with on-court impact but also for its bold and unconventional takes—particularly the “ASDRKNSBISHTPC” effect, which cleverly captures how mainstream awareness (or lack thereof) shapes a player’s league-wide significance. Your reflection on Nikola Jokic’s importance despite his subdued fame is a refreshing acknowledgment of how cultural presence and basketball excellence don’t always align. Likewise, the transparency in reassessing Steph Curry’s value post-injury, and his recognition of Jayson Tatum’s unfortunate rise in perceived importance due to injury, show a rare willingness to embrace nuance and self-correction in real time—something not often seen in sports media.
Joker is the best!