ESPN put out its list of the top-100 NBA players for the 2026-27 season this week, and there were a lot of controversial rankings, but perhaps nothing is as crazy as the idea that Paul George is the 67th-best player in the league.
I know that he is 36 years old now, that he has only played in 78 games over the last two seasons, and that he served a 25-game suspension last season. Is he the player he once was? Of course not. Is he past his prime? Absolutely.
But he’s not washed up. He proved how much he still has left in the tank during the playoffs last season, and the advanced metrics show that he’s still an excellent defender and shooter. At the very worst, he’s an elite role player, and if he can stay on the floor, he absolutely still has All-Star upside.
He should be a great fit in Boston, and the team should win a lot of games with him playing a major role. I’m not saying he should have been in the top 20 or anything like that, but 67th is absolutely absurd. Even last season in Philadelphia, at the lowest point of his career, he managed to put up 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 39.2% three-point shooting, while forcing 1.7 steals.
His reputation is in the gutter, but the hate has gone way too far, and perception no longer matches reality. I don’t want to call out specific players, but just looking right ahead of PG in the rankings, I see Brandon Ingram at 65th, Jarrett Allen at 63rd, and Domantas Sabonis at 58th. I’m sorry… what???
The numbers prove Paul George is far from washed up
No NBA GM would take any of those players over George this season, and if they would, they should be fired.
If this list were forecasting for the future and factoring in contracts and value, then I guess I could understand this ranking a little more. But as far as I can tell, the point of the exercise was simply to judge how good these players will be this season. And if that’s the case, the placement of George is baffling.
At the end of the day, the good news is that these rankings mean absolutely nothing. If anything, it should provide some extra motivation and act as a little bulletin board material for a future Hall of Famer. PG already has plenty of reason to have a great year and try to chase his first title, but if this adds a little extra chip on the shoulder, then that’s great.
For my money, I think PG is going to bounce back and have a great year, proving that he can still play at a high level and stay on the floor. When we look back at the end of this season, George will have made his ranking look incredibly foolish and will likely slot in closer to the top 25.
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