For the sixth season in a row, ESPN.com is ranking the top players in the NBA. Who will be the best player this season?
To get the final ranking, we asked our expert panel to vote on pairs of players.
LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry. Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant. Damian Lillard vs. Chris Paul.
We asked, "Which player will be better in 2016-17?" To decide, voters had to consider both the quality and the quantity of each player's contributions to his team's ability to win games.
We'll roll out the rest of our top 200 players over the next two days. If you want to get involved in the discussion or just follow along, #NBArank is the Twitter hashtag to use. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook.
On to the list ...
12. Blake Griffin
Clippers | F | @blakegriffin32
Last year's rank: 12
2016-17 projected RPM: 5.82
Insider profile: Though a summer of rest should heal Griffin's quadriceps, the injury is another sign Griffin's game will continue moving below the rim. And that's OK. Griffin's dunks as a percentage of his shot attempts dropped again, from 8.0 percent in 2014-15 (down from 14.2 percent in 2013-14) to 6.3 percent, per Basketball-Reference.com. But he was still plenty effective using his versatile floor game. Read more »
#NBArank 11-20