Ranking the NBA’s Top 100 Players, Part 5: Tinkering With Stardom
On to part five of the list. As a reminder, my logic in deciding the order boils down to: Who would be the best player in the world if everyone already ranked were wiped off the face of the Earth? So far we’ve wiped 42 players off the face of the Earth (relax, we’ve done so by immortalizing them here), and we’re going to figure out the best of the rest.
The players in this tier of the list are not “reliable” per se, for one reason or another, though they’re still capable of great things. Teams who have these players really think they have a top 25 player if all goes well this season. The types of flaws these players present range from things as simple as “can this player stay healthy?” to “are they willing to play against their instincts to benefit from the team?” to “is this player going to let the fact they’re a huge, whiny baby get in the way of their awesome potential?” to “are they only good when the game feels nihilist?” It’s a compelling group of players, and guaranteed, someone from this group will jump up and grab an All-Star spot. Anyway, in our mythical count-up, the last great hope for basketball glory, Lauri Markkanen, has just been wiped off the face of the Earth. Oh no! Lauri Markkanen, the best basketball player alive, has been disappeared! Who will take over the mantle as the greatest player left roaming the Earth.
It’s Khris Middleton. He begins our rankings below.
The list so far:
1. Nikola Jokic
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo
3. Stephen Curry
4. Joel Embiid
5. Luka Doncic
6. Jayson Tatum
7. Kevin Durant
8. Jimmy Butler
9. Devin Booker
10. LeBron James
11. Damian Lillard
12. Anthony Davis
13. Kawhi Leonard
14. Ja Morant
15. Anthony Edwards
16. Zion Williamson
17. Donovan Mitchell
18. Paul George
19. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
20. Trae Young
21. Bam Adebayo
22. Karl-Anthony Towns
23. Domantas Sabonis
24. Jamal Murray
25. Tyrese Haliburton
26. De’Aaron Fox
27. Jaylen Brown
28. Pascal Siakam
29. James Harden
30. Kyrie Irving
31. Brandon Ingram
32. DeMar DeRozan
33. Jrue Holiday
34. Zach LaVine
35. Jaren Jackson Jr.
36. Desmond Bane
37. Jalen Brunson
38. Julius Randle
39. Darius Garland
40. Cade Cunningham
41. Paolo Banchero
42. Lauri Markkanen
43. Khris Middleton, SF, Milwaukee Bucks
44. Evan Mobley, PF, Cleveland Cavaliers
45. Bradley Beal, SG, Phoenix Suns
A fully healthy Khris Middleton lands comfortably in the 30s, possibly in the 20s of my rankings. Only, we might not get a fully healthy Khris Middleton again. As the Batman to Giannis’s Robin of the 2021 playoffs approaches his age 32 season, it’s a question whether his reliable 20 points per game seasons are behind him. He showed spark in the Bucks’ five-game flameout against the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, averaging 23.8 points over that series, but he still has plenty to prove as the Bucks move back into please-Giannis-or-panic mode. The Bucks are under great pressure to evaluate quickly whether Middleton can reclaim his form that made him the second-best player on a title team, and if they decide he cannot, they will need to reform quickly or risk losing their franchise player. And yes, I was ironically referencing Kendrick Perkins earlier.
Of the three 2021–22 rookie of the year finalists, Evan Mobley was the only one who took a step forward in his second season. His scoring output didn’t change drastically, but he increased his efficiency and continued developing on the defensive side of the ball. He and Jarrett Allen were a fearsome duo, leading Cleveland to the lowest defensive rating in the league. Mobley will continue to evolve and, after figuring some things out in year two, could show some explosive growth in year three.
Bradley Beal hasn’t played a game of second-round (or later) NBA playoff basketball since 2017, and given that nobody on Earth is the same as they were then, it’s fair to wonder if, in 2024, Beal will be. These Suns are instantly the best basketball team Beal has ever been on, and while making it work will be a little bit of a challenge with numerous reasonable kinks to work out, the moment is finally here for Beal to be relevant again. Beal, my Poeltl starter player, just had his highest field-goal percentage ever, cracking 50% for the first time, while lowering his 3-point volume to levels it hasn’t been since 2015. With Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, Beal will be a relative afterthought for defenses, resulting in automatic open looks for a player who has never seen them before. It feels like Beal is older than he is because it’s been so long since Washington has been relevant, but for perspective, he is two years younger than James Harden was when Harden was traded from Houston to Brooklyn. He has plenty of career left for a definitive second act, and couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to do so than being delivered to the league’s last superteam. I had him ranked here before the move, and while it’s tempting to move him up because his context is so much more favorable now, and rightfully energizing, I still want to see him prove that he deserves higher than 45th before I give him that spot.
46. Mikal Bridges, SF, Brooklyn Nets
47. CJ McCollum, SG, New Orleans Pelicans
48. Michael Porter Jr., SF, Denver Nuggets
CJ McCollum had as many 30-point games, 8, in his first season with the Pelicans as he did in his second. The problem was he had 26 post-deadline games with New Orleans in his first season, opposed to 75 games in a full season last year. Hitting 30 points 30% of the time is different than doing so 10% of the time. McCollum appeared to be on the cusp of a renaissance in New Orleans. His scoring jumped, and he had a singular effect on the locker room after arriving in New Orleans. That honeymoon phase faded away, however, and McCollum reverted to previous career numbers. This both makes sense and is disappointing. Especially with Zion Williamson in the fold where he hadn’t been before, you could see why McCollum was a little more deferential to start the year. But once Williamson was shelved, the Pelicans really needed McCollum to go takeover mode again, and he wasn’t able to. Still, while McCollum isn’t the star in New Orleans, he has a huge role to play as a supplemental star, punishing defenses who swarm Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
Mikal Bridges sure evolved last season. It took getting out of Phoenix to get there. Five years into his career, the biggest jump Bridges experienced was the 8.9 points per game jump from his first 56 games in Phoenix to his final 27 in Brooklyn, bringing him to 26.1 points, a figure he likely won’t replicate in a full season. Still, Bridges taking over as a feature piece was a huge step forward in his career and a huge win for the Nets. While McCollum’s renaissance seemed perhaps like fool’s gold, Bridges’ post-trade jump was a more logical progression for a young wing whose role was tattooed on his face in submission to Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Ayton. Bridges was ready for more, though, and has showcased a mature game in Brooklyn and with Team USA at the FIBA World Cup. Brooklyn needs to find a way to build around him, ultimately finding a star that he can supplement, but hitting with Bridges softens the blow of the Durant failure and gives the Nets much-needed direction in the short term, even if playoffs are a much tougher proposition this year.
Another player who embraced supplemental balling was Michael Porter Jr. Porter Jr. has maybe all the tools to be a superstar except for his back. It’s gotten him injured so many times, he simply can’t be the most aggressive version of himself for long stretches. He has had to define a role for himself, and he did that this year and it made him a champion. While he struggled in the Finals, he stayed 100% engaged, digging deeper into his aggression to make plays in different ways as the series went on. The result was a 16-point, 13-rebound performance in the clinching game. Porter Jr. shot 4–28 from three in that series, or 14.3%. It was some of the worst shooting of his career, but he was able to keep playing, keep himself involved, and contributed something meaningful to the Nuggets’ title win. He still has the potential to grow, but you got the sense this year he was no longer trying to be a league superstar, and was more interested in doing the little things right that made him an excellent complementary piece. He somehow lowered his ceiling and expanded his horizons at the same time. It was a weird, feel-good way to regress.
49. Klay Thompson, SG, Golden State Warriors
50. Chris Paul, PG, Golden State Warriors
51. LaMelo Ball, PG, Charlotte Hornets
The king of supplemental stars is Klay Thompson (well, actually it’s Scottie Pippen, but Klay is our era’s Scottie). After a year of getting back up to speed and hitting his high gear as soon as was needed to help the Warriors win a championship, Thompson had more of a regular Klay Thompson year this past season. Making it feel even more like the old days was the absence of Andrew Wiggins, who missed most of the year with personal concerns. Ultimately, it will be said that Klay Thompson was able to make an unprecedented recovery after an injury barrage that would end 90% of NBA careers. Thompson will turn 34 this season, and the end of prime Klay is coming sooner than later, but for now, he’s still an incredible cog in the Warriors’ amazing machine. Thompson’s role will shift a little bit more as Wiggins returns, Chris Paul arrives, and Jordan Poole exits. The Warriors are going to be perhaps more different next year than they’ve ever been in the Steve Kerr era, but a fifth championship is there for the taking, and Thompson is one of a slew of Warriors eager to prove they have more in the tank.
Of course, in order for the Warriors to win a fifth championship, Chris Paul would most likely have to be a part of that. Chris Paul has never been part of a championship team. This year will certainly be a first for Paul, not being his team’s undisputed floor general. The Warriors will have to figure out how to play Curry and Paul, but if that means bringing the Point God off the bench, so be it. The vision in Golden State has always been a bit, well, visionary, but throwing steadyhanded offensive manipulator king Chris Paul into an offense known for chaos and ball movement feels off. Obviously the Warriors have to have some idea of how the pieces are going to fit (we say this because we grant that they are not as dumb as the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose “vision” of the Towns-Gobert fit was a right hallucination). You also have to wonder though how his ego fits into the ego of the Warriors’ core. I mean, they basically were rivals with Paul as an individual. They hated that dude. Warriors faces can laugh it off and pretend it’s no big deal, but we just watched them lose a whole season to a training camp punch, so chemistry right now should be no laughing matter. Overall I don’t like the fit, I think it’s a waste of Paul’s strengths and the Warriors’ resources, but everyone involved in the decision knows a lot more about basketball than me, so I tend to think my opinion there doesn’t matter.
LaMelo Ball. What a guy. He’s already been the subject of a good deal of ranking scrutiny this offseason, because he’s something of a rorschach player. You can see the highlights, the stats, and the moxie and think one thing, you can see the record, the advanced stats, and the lowlights and think another. I’ll just say the jury’s still out. He’s got many years to prove either half of the debate right. He hasn’t had a requisitely competitive Hornets team around him to really learn about him from. The team is changing ownership, and that will affect things over the next couple years, but things feel really tepid in Charlotte for now and are likely to remain that way for this season. Ball also hasn’t stayed healthy for two of his three seasons in the league, and with the type of injuries his brother Lonzo has suffered, it’s nothing you can brush off even though he’s still young. His potential is still massive, but his risk is pretty significant at this point as well.
52. Tyrese Maxey, PG, Philadelphia 76ers
53. Russell Westbrook, PG, Los Angeles Clippers
54. Jalen Green, SG, Houston Rockets
A major differentiating factor in this trio is that Tyrese Maxey is, at this point in his career, a serious player. Jalen Green is not there yet, and Russell Westbrook is not there anymore. Maxey is a serious player in what is becoming an increasingly serious situation, as James Harden’s trade request and subsequent denial continue to turn ugly for Philadelphia. The return on Harden diminishes more each day, as he gets older, burns more franchises, and continues not having won anything, which affects Maxey in that the 76ers core post-Harden is probably going to be their most frail in a while. That bodes poorly for Maxey insofar as he wants to be Joel Embiid’s running mate for as long as possible. Maxey’s style might not necessarily mesh well with Embiid’s but at this point Embiid needs teammates who can suck up attention, score in bursts, and pass him the ball at the nail, and Maxey does all those things well enough. Maxey is still in the upward thrust of his career, and has time to smooth out his sometimes wild game, but whether he can round into a more complete player is what will tell how high his ceiling is. As of now, Maxey could become a perennial All-Star or he could turn into a sixth man of the year candidate bringing a starter-level spark off the bench, in the mold of Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams, and Mo Williams. I kind of foresee him not being able to start for a serious contender, but he’s only 22 entering the season.
Russell Westbrook still deserves credit, I believe, as a franchise-positive player. The stint with the Los Angeles Lakers was a complete failure, but one that goes way beyond merely Russ over-Russing things, the way it’s been depicted. Going from Los Angeles A to Los Angeles B, Russ showed he is capable of adapting his role and playing complementary ball for other players. After an initial five-game skid upon acquiring Westbrook, the Clippers went 11–5 to finish the season, a 55-win pace. This was with Westbrook starting, after being benched for the Lakers. What’s more, Westbrook still carries a fastball, and can go get big games when he wants. Without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Westbrook put up 37 points on 17–29 shooting (3–6 from three) in a do-or-die Game 4 versus Phoenix that LA did lose, but respectably. Without Leonard and George, Westbrook put up 36 and 10 assists to beat Memphis on the road in late March with seeding on the line. This shows that Westbrook could be a number one option; he still has the ability and motor to do so. That team wouldn’t contend for a championship, however. Probably not a playoff spot. Westbrook is trying to be the version of himself that best helps his team, a pacing guard, initiating offense, providing energy when it lacks. He’s able to do that really successfully. And while it’s easy to view this version of Westbrook as a disappointment compared to the MVP candidate he was five years ago, it’s actually a pretty elegant evolution for someone of his caliber to make.
Jalen Green has tools to be a top-20 player in the league. He is very far away from being there, however, because he plays for an unserious franchise (as of now) in Houston. Additions of Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks figure to give Houston an added measure of stability. Lineups featuring VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Jabari Smith Jr., and Alperen Sengun should be reasonably competitive, though fitting those pieces and ideologies together is going to be a tough task for head coach Ime Udoka. With Sengun’s creativity, VanVleet’s scoring, Brooks’ defense, and Smith’s spacing, the stage is set for Green to make a leap this year just by being in a healthier context. They need to see it in Houston, too. If he’s not capable of being a franchise centerpiece, Houston needs to find one fast, because they have some enticing supplemental pieces to build around, but if they have to start over, they have to start over.
55. Josh Giddey, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder
56. Dejounte Murray, PG, Atlanta Hawks
57. DeAndre Ayton, C, Phoenix Suns
The Thunder Down-Under, Josh Giddey, is a threat to take a huge leap this season, but we need to see it. Giddey is enticing as a giant, 6'8" ball-handler who is smooth, creative, and not too reckless. Two trends that must continue for Giddey to grow are his decreased turnovers and increased 3-point shooting. His turnovers dropped from 3.2 to 2.8 per game, and his 3-point shooting increased from 26.3% to 32.5%. If Giddey pushes that to 2.5 turnovers a game and 35% shooting, you have an All-Star caliber player.
Bringing Dejounte Murray to Atlanta was supposed to humble Trae Young a little. Force Young to share ballhandling responsibilities and make him develop some off-ball chops. That didn’t happen. Murray and Young took turns running the offense, and Murray’s version of it was slightly less successful, and the Hawks fired coach Nate McMillan midway through a wasted season that confirmed what we already knew: the conference finals run was flukish and the Hawks needed to reorganize. Now under Quin Snyder, there’s hope that the Hawks offensive flow can become more encompassing of Young and Murray as co-stars, but we have to see it. If the Hawks can’t fend off the Magic for the second spot in the Southeast division, you have to think they’ll reset in Atlanta.
DeAndre Ayton might just not ever be happy in Phoenix. With head coach Monty Williams now in Detroit, that beef — or whatever it was — between he and Ayton is now in the rearview. Still, Ayton is looking at a franchise with very little ball left over for him. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal all need at least 15 shots a night, and that just doesn’t leave much for everyone else. Ayton would be next in line, but his shot selection should morph a little with Chris Paul no longer there to work pick-and-roll sets with the 7-footer. Ayton is still an incredibly useful piece, though it’s fair to wonder if he can possibly maximize his potential as a fourth option. Ayton’s game is pretty soft relative to his size and athleticism, so it’ll be critical that he responds to Frank Vogel’s coaching on the defensive end. Vogel has historically been great working with centers (Roy Hibbert, Anthony Davis, Javale McGee), but Ayton has been bad, historically, working with coaches. How Ayton responds and adapts very well could be make-or-break for this Phoenix team that has so much invested elsewhere.
58. Jordan Poole, PG, Washington Wizards
59. Rudy Gobert, C, Minnesota Timberwolves
60. Kristaps Porzingis, PF, Boston Celtics
Here we have a trio of formerly coveted scrap. All have changed teams within the last year, with two coming to new teams this offseason. Jordan Poole was once the heir to Steph Curry’s Golden State fortune, only to be junked for a veteran after a season of discontent because Poole had the audacity to get punched in the face. Gobert was once viewed as a surefire commodity in the form of instant defensive relevance. The former two-time Defensive Player of the Year was traded for way more than what was reasonable and, against that mountain of valuable draft capital, came to be viewed as an utter waste. He then punched Kyle Anderson, got himself suspended, the Wolves dropped to the eight seed, and that was it on their first year together. Kristaps Porzingis was once the unicorn of the NBA, a prancing 7'3" bambi who could shoot. New York moved on from him, sending him to Dallas, who paired him with Luka Doncic for a Latvian-Slovenian alliance. In Dallas, Porzingis did not hold up his end of the deal as a co-star, and he was exiled to Washington. In Washington, he oddly thrived. The team was bad enough to remove all pressure, and Porzingis quietly began playing the game he was supposed to have been playing all along: shooting, scoring from the block, and rim protection. He has been saved from NBA Siberia and brought to Boston, where he moves them off their switch-any-and-all-things defensive identity they forged under Ime Udoka. Porzingis now faces the pressure of being a third scoring option on a contending team, which may be the best fit for him yet.
Of these three players, Poole has the most upside. He is still ascending, even though last year felt like a definite plateau. Landing in Washington, where irrelevance is baked in, may be good for him for a year or two of experimentation and playing free from expectation. He partners with Tyus Jones, one of the most rational backcourt players in the league, for kind of a yin-and-yang approach to risk and shot selection. Look for Poole to pop this year scoring, aiming for 25 points a game. He’s a jittery scorer who was unafraid playing in the shadow of Stephen Curry (until Draymond bruised his cheek, at least), and will be less afraid now that he’s taking a franchise thinking more about Cooper Flagg than anyone on its current roster.
Between Gobert and Porzingis, you have a pair of giants whose styles could not differ more for two guys of similar height. Porzingis is free-flowing, fluid, dynamic offensively, and Gobert is someone who requires a master’s degree to play with, to hear it described by apologists in Minnesota and Utah. Once you figure out how to throw Gobert occasional lobs inside, apparently he’s great. Porzingis has continued to be put in the next idea of an ideal spot for himself. The change to Dallas was perfect. The change to Washington was needed. The change to Boston comes at the right time. Through all these moves, the team success has dipped when Porzingis arrived. As the Taytum-Brown pairing enters a code orange period, where questions about their viability will be increasingly legitimized with each year they don’t reach the Finals from here until they win one, Porzingis’s impact is going to be huge on that franchise.
61. Kyle Kuzma, SF, Washington Wizards
62. Fred VanVleet, PG, Houston Rockets
63. Andrew Wiggins, SF, Golden State Warriors
64. Scottie Barnes, SF, Toronto Raptors
Rounding out our Tinkering With Stardom section of the list are some guys with ties to Canada. Scottie Barnes showed so much raw promise in his Rookie of the Year campaign two years ago, the only question was how he would evolve. Unfortunately, that’s still the question. You always expect guys whose job this is to figure it out, but Barnes averaged the same scoring output as his first year, declined slightly with deep shooting and rebounding, and distributed more as head coach Nick Nurse put him in more of a ballhandling role. Darko Rajakovic takes over that spot, his first head coaching gig after nine years as an assistant in the NBA. Anybody coming in to be head coach of the Raptors must have a coherent plan for Scottie Barnes. That’s step one of developing this team. Even though Siakam is their best player right now, Barnes is their main piece moving forward. One more season of stagnant growth, however, and we’ll begin looking through the list of Rookie of the Year winners whose careers never materialized the way we thought they would: Ben Simmons, Malcolm Brogdon, Michael Carter-Williams, Tyreke Evans, Emeka Okafor, etc.
Andrew Wiggins has had a weird couple of years. After Minnesota gave up on him, trading him to Golden State for D’Angelo Russell, Wiggins finally seemed to develop into the player Minnesota had hoped he would become all along. He became a reliable three-level scorer and a savage defender. He was named an All-Star, and sort of ironically thrust into an All-Star starter role. Wiggins came off that to help the Warriors make a deep playoff run and actually win a championship. It was a perfect fit, with him taking the wing-defending mantle from Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala. Then last year, he missed most of the season with obscure personal reasons. He came back and played mostly at similar levels to his 2021–22 season, but the team was in a weird spot, and they went out in the second round to the Lakers. Wiggins remains a key piece for Golden State as they look to get back into serious contention after a weird season last year that ended with them as the six seed.
Fred VanVleet gets out of Canada, where he and Toronto had won a championship, and heads to a Houston team in dire need of a ballhandler and some mature veteran leadership. He’ll continue to get his on the scoring front, and bring a new energy with Dillon Brooks (Canada!) and Ime Udoka on the defensive end. Houston shouldn’t be outright competitive this season, but they should be pesky. Kyle Kuzma, whose girlfriend Winnie Harlow is Canadian, and who likes oversized sweaters on occasion, remains in Washington as the lone remnant of the “big three” he formed with Beal and Porzingis. Poole and Kuzma are both former champions who don’t let that make them too serious, and Washington should be kind of fun this year, even though they seem a bit like the Jazz of last year, minus the trove of assets.
The list so far (and their season high in scoring):
1. Nikola Jokic (43 points; 12/14/22 vs. Washington; W)
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (55 points; 1/3/23 vs. Washington; W)
3. Stephen Curry (50 points; 11/16/22 vs. Phoenix and 3/15/23 vs. Los Angeles Clippers; L, L)
4. Joel Embiid (59 points; 11/13/22 vs. Utah; W)
5. Luka Doncic (60 points; 12/27/22 vs. New York; W)
6. Jayson Tatum (51 points; 1/16/23 vs. Charlotte; W)
7. Kevin Durant (45 points; 11/28/22 vs. Orlando; W)
8. Jimmy Butler (38 points; 3/11/23 vs. Orlando; L)
9. Devin Booker (58 points; 12/17/22 vs. New Orleans; W)
10. LeBron James (48 points; 1/16/23 vs. Houston; W)
11. Damian Lillard (71 points; 2/26/23 vs. Houston; W)
12. Anthony Davis (55 points; 12/4/23 vs. Washington; W)
13. Kawhi Leonard (44 points; 2/24/23 vs. Sacramento; L)
14. Ja Morant (49 points; 10/21/22 vs. Houston; W)
15. Anthony Edwards (44 points; 1/21/23 vs. Houston; W)
16. Zion Williamson (43 points; 12/28/22 vs. Minnesota; W)
17. Donovan Mitchell (71 points; 1/2/23 vs. Chicago; W)
18. Paul George (45 points; 12/31/22 vs. Indiana; L)
19. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (44 points; 12/23/22 vs. New Orleans and 2/10/23 vs. Portland; L, W)
20. Trae Young (44 points; 11/25/22 vs. Houston; L)
21. Bam Adebayo (38 points; 11/25/22 vs. Washington and 2/8/23 vs. Indiana; W, W)
22. Karl-Anthony Towns (30 points; 11/16/22 vs. Orlando and 4/9/23 vs. New Orleans; W, W)
23. Domantas Sabonis (34 points; 2/1/23 vs. San Antonio; W)
24. Jamal Murray (41 points; 2/4/23 vs. Atlanta; W)
25. Tyrese Haliburton (43 points; 12/23/22 vs. Miami; W)
26. De’Aaron Fox (42 points; 2/24/23 vs. Los Angeles Clippers; W)
27. Jaylen Brown (43 points; 3/13/23 vs. Houston; L)
28. Pascal Siakam (52 points; 12/21/22 vs. New York; W)
29. James Harden (38 points; 3/4/23 vs. Milwaukee; W)
30. Kyrie Irving (48 points; 1/20/23 vs. Utah; W)
31. Brandon Ingram (42 points; 4/9/23 vs. Minnesota; L)
32. DeMar DeRozan (49 points; 3/17/23 vs. Minnesota; W)
33. Jrue Holiday (51 points; 3/29/23 vs. Indiana; W)
34. Zach LaVine (43 points; 12/30/22 vs. Detroit; W)
35. Jaren Jackson Jr. (40 points; 4/5/23 vs. New Orleans; L)
36. Desmond Bane (38 points; 10/24/22 vs. Brooklyn; W)
37. Jalen Brunson (48 points; 3/31/23 vs. Cleveland; W)
38. Julius Randle (57 points; 3/20/23 vs. Minnesota; L)
39. Darius Garland (51 points; 11/13/22 vs. Minnesota; L)
40. Cade Cunningham (35 points; 10/28/22 vs. Atlanta; L)
41. Paolo Banchero (33 points; 11/5/22 vs. Sacramento; L)
42. Lauri Markkanen (49 points; 1/5/23 vs. Houston; W)
43. Khris Middleton (34 points; 3/27/23 vs. Detroit; W)
44. Evan Mobley (38 points; 1/21/23 vs. Milwaukee; W)
45. Bradley Beal (37 points; 2/28/23 vs. Atlanta; W)
46. Mikal Bridges (45 points; 2/15/23 vs. Miami; W)
47. CJ McCollum (42 points; 12/30/22 vs. Philadelphia; W)
48. Michael Porter Jr. (31 points; 11/13/22 vs. Chicago; W)
49. Klay Thompson (54 points; 1/2/23 vs. Atlanta; W)
50. Chris Paul (31 points; 1/28/23 vs. San Antonio; W)
51. LaMelo Ball (33 points; 2/5/23 vs. Orlando; L)
52. Tyrese Maxey (44 points; 10/28/22 vs. Toronto; W)
53. Jalen Green (42 points; 1/23/23 vs. Minnesota; W)
54. Russell Westbrook (36 points; 3/29/23 vs. Memphis; W)
55. Josh Giddey (31 points; 3/28/23 vs. Charlotte; L)
56. Dejounte Murray (41 points; 3/3/23 vs. Portland; W)
57. DeAndre Ayton (35 points; 2/7/23 vs. Brooklyn; W)
58. Jordan Poole (43 points; 12/18/22 vs. Toronto; W)
59. Rudy Gobert (26 points; 3/10/23 vs. Brooklyn; L)
60. Kristaps Pozingis (43 points; 3/8/23 vs. Atlanta; L)
61. Kyle Kuzma (40 points; 1/13/23 vs. New York; L)
62. Fred VanVleet (39 points; 12/14/22 vs. Sacramento, 12/16/22 vs. Brooklyn, 1/17/23 vs. Milwaukee; L, L, L)
63. Andrew Wiggins (36 points; 12/3/22 vs. Houston; W)
64. Scottie Barnes (32 points; 3/10/23 vs. Los Angeles Lakers; L)