The NBA is full of talented players, there is no denying that. After all, the NBA is considered as the best basketball league in the world. Basketball players from all around the globe usually wish to get a chance to prove their talents on the biggest stage in the world of basketball.
Evidently, it means there are many ways that you can rank teams and players in the league. The most common way to rank teams is via power rankings for the upcoming season. A similar method can be used to rank players.
But today, we are trying out a very different way to rank the best teams in the NBA right now. Inspired by the work of Reddit user u/Aranea-Hominum, we are creating the best NBA teams based on the first letters of players’ last names.
Each team will feature five players in the starting lineup and five players on the bench. We are including two guards, two forwards, and a center in both the starting 5 and the bench. On that note, let’s get started.
Team A
- G – DJ Augustin
- F – Carmelo Anthony
- F – Giannis Antetokounmpo
- F – Bam Adebayo
- C – Deandre Ayton
Bench – Cole Anthony, Grayson Allen, OG Anunoby, LaMarcus Aldridge, Steven Adams
Team B
- G – LaMelo Ball
- G – Bradley Beal
- G – Devin Booker
- F – Jimmy Butler
- C – Marvin Bagley
Bench – Lonzo Ball, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jaylen Brown, Harrison Barnes, Mo Bamba
Team C
- G – Mike Conley
- G – Stephen Curry
- G – Seth Curry
- F – John Collins
- C – Clint Capela
Bench – Jordan Clarkson, DeMarre Caroll, Jae Crowder, Robert Covington, Wendell Carter
Team D
- G – Goran Dragic
- G – Luka Doncic
- F – DeMar DeRozan
- F – Kevin Durant
- C – Anthony Davis
Bench – Spencer Dinwiddie, Donte DiVincenzo, PJ Dozier, Cheick Diallo, Andre Drummond
Team E
- G – Wayne Ellington
- G – Anthony Edwards
- F – Jacob Evans
- F – CJ Elleby
- C – Joel Embiid
Bench – Carsen Edwards, Dante Exum, Vince Edwards, Drew Eubanks
Team F
- G – De’Aaron Fox
- G – Evan Fournier
- F – Dorian Finney-Smith
- F – Derrick Favors
- C – Tacko Fall
Bench – Markelle Fultz, Terrance Ferguson, Bruno Fernando, Malik Fitts, Christiano Felicio
Team G
- G – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- G – Paul George
- F – Aaron Gordon
- F – Draymond Green
- C – Rudy Gobert
Bench – Devonte Graham, Danny Green, Danilo Gallinari, Rudy Gay, Blake Griffin
Team H
- G – James Harden
- G – Jrue Holiday
- F – Tobias Harris
- F – Gordon Hayward
- C – Montrezl Harrell
Bench – Tyrese Haliburton, Tim Hardaway Jr., Al Horford, Richaun Holmes, Dwight Howard
Team I
- G – Kyrie Irving
- G – Joe Ingles
- F – Brandon Ingram
- F – Jonathan Isaac
- C – Serge Ibaka
Bench – Andre Iguodala, Wes Iwundu
Team J
- G – Reggie Jackson
- G – Keldon Johnson
- F – LeBron James
- F – Jaren Jackson Jr.
- C – Nikola Jokic
Bench – Ty Jerome, Derrick Jones, Stanley Johnson, Josh Jackson, DeAndre Jordan
Team K
- G – Luke Kennard
- G – Jonathan Kuminga
- F – Kevin Knox
- F – Kyle Kuzma
- C – Enes Kanter
Bench – John Konchar, Maxi Kleber, Frank Kaminsky, George King, Luke Kornet
Team L
- G – Damian Lillard
- G – Zach LaVine
- F – Kawhi Leonard
- F – Kevin Love
- C – Brook Lopez
Bench – Kyle Lowry, Caris LeVert. Jeremy Lamb, Trey Lyles, Robin Lopez
Team M
- G -Jamal Murray
- G – Donovan Mitchell
- G – CJ McCollum
- F – Khris Middleton
- C – JaVale McGee
Bench – Ja Morant, Malik Monk, Lauri Markkanen, Marcus Morris Sr., Boban Marjanovic
Team N
- G – Kendrick Nunn
- G – Frank Ntilikina
- F – Aaron Nesmith
- F – Larry Nance Jr.
- C – Jusuf Nurkic
Bench – Raul Neto, David Nwaba, Abdel Nader, George Niang, Nerlens Noel
Team O
- G – Victor Oladipo
- G – Isaac Okoro
- F – Kelly Oubre Jr.
- F – Cedi Osman
- C – Kelly Olynyk
Bench – Josh Okogie, Royce O’Neale, Onyeka Okongwu, Jahil Okafor, Daniel Oturu
Team P
- G – Chris Paul
- G – Kevin Porter Jr.
- F – Otto Porter Jr.
- F – Michael Porter Jr.
- C – Kristaps Porzingis
Bench – Cameron Payne, Norman Powell, Taurean Prince, Mason Plumlee, Jakob Poeltl
Team Q
- PG – Immanuel Quickly
Bench – N/A
Team R
- G – Derrick Rose
- G – D’Angelo Russell
- G – Terry Rozier
- F – Julius Randle
- C – Mitchell Robinson
Bench – Rajon Rondo, Duncan Robinson, Cam Reddish, Paul Reed, Naz Reid
Team S
- G – Collin Sexton
- G – Marcus Smart
- F – Ben Simmons
- F – Pascal Siakam
- C – Domantas Sabonis
Bench – Dennis Schroder, Landry Shamet, Luka Samanic, Jalen Smith, Dario Saric
Team T
- G – Jeff Teague
- G – Matisse Thybulle
- F – Jayson Tatum
- F – Karl-Anthony Towns
- C – Myles Turner
Bench – Garett Temple, Gary Trent Jr., PJ Tucker, Tristan Thompson, Daniel Theis
Team U
No active players in the NBA as of now
Team V
- G – Fred VanVleet
- G – Denzel Valentine
- F – Jarred Vanderbilt
- F – Noah Vonleh
- C – Nikola Vucevic
Bench – Gabe Vincent, Devin Vassell, Jonas Valanciunas
Team W
- G – Kemba Walker
- G – Russell Westbrook
- F – Andrew Wiggins
- F – Zion Williamson
- C – Christian Wood
Bench – Derrick White, Lou Williams, TJ Warren, Patrick Williams, James Wiseman
Team X
No active players in the NBA as of now
Team Y
- G – Trae Young
- F – Thaddeus Young
- C -Omer Yurtseven
Bench – N/A
Team Z
- F – Cody Zeller
- C – Ivica Zubac
Bench – N/A
Stats via NBA.com
This concludes our unique list of the best NBA teams created by using the first letter of the current active players’ last names.
While a few strong teams emerged, there were a few letters that were left empty or just a few players.
All things considered, the best team out of the list is undoubtedly ‘Team L.’ Thanks to not only a phenomenal starting 5, but it also has a great supporting cast. The team that could go head to head with this squad is ‘Team D.’ It features the likes of Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis after all.
The aforementioned teams are in a class of their own, but Team B, M, and W are not half bad either. They could do well in all areas of the game and some might even argue they can defeat the upper-tier teams as well. Lastly, ‘Team J’ featuring LeBron James and Nikola Jokic have a good duo but that’s pretty much it about them. The two stars do have the support they might need to get over a few of the other teams on the list.
So if the above-mentioned teams every entered in a tournament, Team L or Team D would have most likely emerged as the winners of it.
