These 3 players have no business being over Michael Porter Jr. in recent NBA rankings

It’s ranking season among NBA media as multiple outlets have released their player rankings ahead of the 2024-25 season. New versions of these lists will pop up from time to time; some are based on past performance and what we’ve seen, while others focus on projecting forward, predicting leaps and falls that are on the horizon.

One of the first publications to release rankings for this season was the Action Network. Matt Moore and Brandon Anderson compiled their own top 100 lists and aggregated them to create their NBA Elite 100: Ranking the 100 best players in the NBA for the 2024-25 season. 

The list started off on the right foot, listing Nikola Jokic at #1, the undisputed best player in the league. At least they got that right. The next Nugget to appear on the list was Jamal Murray at #31, which seems pretty reasonable given some of his struggles and injury concerns.

Aaron Gordon came in at #66 on the list, which also seems about right for him. And the final Nuggets player to make the list was Michael Porter Jr., who was ranked at #84. This is where the list went off the rails in terms of the Nuggets.

Porter Jr. is certainly not a perfect player by any means, but there are not 83 better than him currently. He’s an excellent shooter, especially for his size. He’s athletic and a strong rebounder. If he added some versatility and playmaking to his game and leveled up on defense, he could easily be a star.

But even without that, he’s a very valuable and important player who should probably be ranked closer to 50 than 100. There were several eyebrow-raising names ahead of MPJ on the list, but here are 3 that were particularly egregious.

Player #3: Chris Paul, Spurs

I love Chris Paul. He’s a clear hall-of-fame player and I still believe he can help an NBA team. But he is a far cry from the player he was even a few years ago and he has not been better than Porter Jr. in several years.

Paul should be a great addition for the Spurs this season and he should improve their outcome tenfold. He’ll also be a great presence for that young locker room and a guy who should be able to work wonders alongside Victor Wembanyama.

But at this point in his career, Paul is an undersized liability on defense, someone who likely won’t be beating guys off the dribble, pressuring the rim, or getting to the free-throw line. He should be a very solid role player on this up-and-coming squad, but he’s just that; a role player.

Paul is a legend. But if he’s a better player than Michael Porter Jr. this season, then the Nuggets are in big trouble.