ESPN has released their top 5 list of players for the 2022-23 NBA season, and of course, it’s making a lot of noise. These lists always get a lot of attention from fans who disagree with certain players’ positions and how they’re perceived around the association.
As usual, many had something to say about it, as it happens every year. We already knew some things would get criticized since Andrew Wiggins was ranked higher than Kyrie Irving, while James Harden, Trae Young, and Karl-Anthony Towns have a better position than Jimmy Butler, but more especially after LeBron James and Kevin Durant didn’t even make the top 5 this year.
That wasn’t the end of it, and even though people knew who was making the final cut of this list, not everybody was happy with the final result of that. Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the No. 1 player in the league ahead of next season.
NBA Fans Don’t Like ESPN’s Top 5 Players For 2022-23 Season
Besides the aforementioned controversies, this final release of ESPN shows Stephen Curry at No. 5, which raised many eyebrows around the league. Some said he should have ranked higher than Joel Embiid or Luka Doncic, but there’s nothing they can do to change that except for calling out the people who made the list.
5. Stephen Curry
4. Joel Embiid
3. Luka Doncic
2. Nikola Jokic
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
https://twitter.com/The_RoyalJoshua/status/1573313807186907139
Luka is the second best, how can people still say this after his playoff run 😂 dude carried the mavericks bummy team to the conference finals.
— Digitaldex (@Digitaldex1) September 23, 2022
These “experts” are a joke fr😂 bro just won finals mvp and hes at 5😭😭😭
— phx (@phxbramhall) September 23, 2022
Luka is very overrated! Don't play winning basketball at all!
— Greatness was born 🙌🏾🤴🏾🙌🏾 (@GreatnessWas) September 23, 2022
Luka is very overrated! Don't play winning basketball at all!
— Greatness was born 🙌🏾🤴🏾🙌🏾 (@GreatnessWas) September 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/marcel__gerard/status/1573311956273987586
Steph on ESPNs top 5 pic.twitter.com/hTbfZd72Ad
— E ☀️ (@DubMnE) September 23, 2022
Curry is 2-3, but aside from that this is pretty good
— The Big Guard (@TheBigGuard) September 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/_DLoNYC/status/1573316836271460352
Lmao don’t even get me started
— Guru (@DrGuru_) September 23, 2022
They got the players right but the order wrong. The top 3 are fine, but curry should be over Embiid. And you could put him over Luka as well.
— Big4horry (@B4horry) September 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/DexUrDaddy/status/1573311022156349440
I woulda had:
1. Giannis
2. Jokic
3. Curry
4. Embiid
5. Lebron
6. Luka
7. Durant
8. Tatum
9. Booker
10. Ja
— KKA (@PKKANBA) September 23, 2022
This just keeps getting worse. Love Embiid, but he’s not better than Curry.
— Tjay (@TJames312) September 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/AnujSha113/status/1573315187406696453https://twitter.com/raptalksk/status/1573318463472521219
Embiid > Jokic
— 🦆¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@cantguarddurant) September 23, 2022
I’ve never seen a guy who won the championship and Finals MVP be out of the top 3.
— 🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@LookatChefCurry) September 23, 2022
Steph below Luka after he just got kicked out the playoffs because of steph is crazy
— Angel-nyc1 (@Nyc1Angel) September 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/KentrellsTwin/status/1573311056306442242
The disrespect people have towards Curry is amazing! Plus, there has to be an agenda to push Jokic and Doncic! pic.twitter.com/cC1jz6vFxF
— UglyUberDriver (@UglyUberDriver) September 23, 2022
Ja Morant clears….most exciting player in the league, averaged 27, 7, and 6 on tremendous efficiency, league the league in points in the paint as a f'n 6'3" point guard, his leadership both on and off the court led his young team to the 2nd best overall record.
— Omar King (@OmarKin01119481) September 23, 2022
What? Who is the champion?
— Will (@WillHar18196474) September 23, 2022
Why are Jokic Embiid and Luka top 5 when they have little playoff success. Kawhi bron and kd should be top 5 since they got rings and fmvps.
— Adi (@ChubbXHunt) September 23, 2022
NBA players are extremely competitive, and all of them want to be the best of the best. This list will surely motivate some of them to become the best version of themselves. Steph will probably be petty about it and take it as motivation, as he did last year.
As for the rest, it’s very likely that they’ll be part of the elite of the league for many years to come, so get used to seeing Embiid, Giannis, Luka, and Jokic fighting for the top spot on these lists.
