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 week. 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 ...
37. Rudy Gobert
Jazz | C | @rudygobert27
Last year's rank: 42
2016-17 projected RPM: 2.53
Insider profile: Having led the Jazz's surge as a starter after the 2014-15 trade deadline, Gobert put together nearly an identical campaign in his first full season as a starter, both before and after a sprained MCL that sidelined him for a month. Given Gobert's age (24), the fact that he didn't improve significantly qualified as a mild disappointment. Read more »
#NBArank 31-40