Victor Wembanyama has officially claimed the top spot in the league's player rankings, signaling a new era of NBA dominance. His rapid ascension confirms that he is the most valuable building block in the sport moving forward.
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Ranking the NBA's top 100 players: Victor Wembanyama enters 2026-27 season at No. 1
Wemby is ahead of SGA and Nikola Jokić as a new season begins... so what about everyone else? There was a time not so long ago in NBA history when teams believed that they could simply assemble two or three of the top 20 players in the NBA and waltz their way to an NBA championship. Not anymore. Just consider how the last handful of NBA champions have fared in our annual ranking of the top 100 players in the league: All five starters from the 2025-26 New York Knicks, plus backup center Mitchell Robinson, were ranked as top 100 players a year ago. Six members of the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder were selected two seasons ago. All five starters on the 2023-24 Boston Celtics ranked within the top 62 of that year's list. The 2022-23 Denver Nuggets placed four players within the top 75. Your inclination will almost certainly be to focus on the beginning of the list. Who's No. 1? Who's rising into superstardom? What older players are starting to slip? But winning a championship in the 2020s means having players scattered throughout the entire list. You need your superstars, of course, but you need your Josh Harts and your Alex Carusos and your Al Horfords just as badly. Six CBS sports analysts submitted ballots for this year's list: Brad Botkin, John Gonzalez, Robby Kalland, Jack Maloney, Sam Quinn and Cameron Salerno. The players were ranked on how we expect them to fare in the 2026-27 season, meaning injuries factored in both for players returning from lengthy absences (like Kyrie Irving and Tyrese Haliburton) and ones who will miss time to open the season (like Jimmy Butler).
By Sam QuinnOctober 13, 2026CBS Sports
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