Latest / Bleacher Report / NBA Ranking Had Fans Heated | LeBron at No. 22? Jalen Brunson Over Giannis?!

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NBA Ranking Had Fans Heated | LeBron at No. 22? Jalen Brunson Over Giannis?! · Bleacher Report

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  Speaker 1: The BRNBA staff ranked the top 99 NBA players heading
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  Speaker 1: into the 2026-27 NBA season. Let's go through the entire
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  Speaker 1: list and see what you guys had to say about it.
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  Speaker 1: The biggest comment I saw, are there 74 players better
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  Speaker 1: than Ja Morant going into this season? And honestly, I
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  Speaker 1: think this is a pretty fair ranking for Ja. We
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  Speaker 1: haven't really seen him be in this level in quite
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  Speaker 1: some time going back to the 2025 season in round
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  Speaker 1: one against Oklahoma City when he was still a Memphis Grizzly.
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  Speaker 1: Last year was kind of like a wash year for
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  Speaker 1: Ja Morant. And it's a new system here. New head
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  Speaker 1: coach in Portland with Mike Inori. They might have some
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  Speaker 1: other players on this list that could take shots away
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  Speaker 1: from Ja, that can handle the ball more from Ja.
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  Speaker 1: We've got to see if he can kind of go
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  Speaker 1: back into that athleticism we saw early in his Memphis
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  Speaker 1: Grizzlies career. So I think just with a lot of
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  Speaker 1: question marks around his new fit this year in Portland,
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  Speaker 1: I think this is a fair spot for him. Ja
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  Speaker 1: is one of five Blazers that we are going to
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  Speaker 1: see on this list, which is kind of fascinating. When
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about some of the best teams in the
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  Speaker 1: Western Conference this year, you have the Thunder, the Spurs,
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  Speaker 1: maybe the Wolves, Rockets, and Lakers. Nobody's really talking about
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  Speaker 1: Portland too much there in the West, but them having
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  Speaker 1: five is going to sway their season. Could they end
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  Speaker 1: up as a three seed in the Western Conference? Could
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  Speaker 1: they end up as a 10th seed? But it's really
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  Speaker 1: impressive to see how they've grown over the last few
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  Speaker 1: years to have all this talent in general. BR has
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  Speaker 1: Castle and Harper both ahead of De'Aaron Fox, which honestly,
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  Speaker 1: I know Fox is making more money, but I don't
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  Speaker 1: think they're wrong right there. And both of them will
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  Speaker 1: be better than Fox this season. And I think when
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  Speaker 1: we saw Dylan Harper become this prospect out of Rutgers,
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  Speaker 1: go second overall in a really good 2025 draft, and
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  Speaker 1: what he did last year in his rookie season for
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  Speaker 1: this team, especially in the playoffs, I think Mitch Johnson
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  Speaker 1: has to start Dylan Harper. I know you maybe have
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  Speaker 1: some questions about floor spacing and three-guard lineups. You got
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  Speaker 1: to figure it out outside of Dylan Harper. He is
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  Speaker 1: too good to come off the bench right now. He
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  Speaker 1: just was awesome in the NBA Finals. As a 20-year-old,
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  Speaker 1: he is too dynamic around the rim. He's looked awesome
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  Speaker 1: in preseason. And I agree with VR. I think he's
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  Speaker 1: better than De'Aaron Fox. They're probably making $ 50 million apart
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  Speaker 1: from each other. But I think he's too good to
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  Speaker 1: come off the bench this season. So coming in at 35,
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  Speaker 1: we have Joel Embiid, which has been a topic in
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  Speaker 1: the office. Is he too high? Is he too low?
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  Speaker 1: Because last year, Joel Embiid... played 38 games. And you
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  Speaker 1: could say that he was definitely a top 30, maybe
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  Speaker 1: top 20 player in the NBA in those 38 games.
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  Speaker 1: But if you're going to miss that amount of time,
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  Speaker 1: can you really be worthy of a top 30 spot
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  Speaker 1: going into a year? And you know that there's always
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  Speaker 1: concerns with NBA talent. And then you also have a
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  Speaker 1: lot of mouths to feed in Philadelphia this season. So
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  Speaker 1: I feel like for Embiid, this is a good, safe
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  Speaker 1: spot for him. If he plays 60 games this year,
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  Speaker 1: he could end up being a lot higher on this list,
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  Speaker 1: but that's definitely a big if. And another thing you
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  Speaker 1: guys mentioned a ton was LaMelo Ball ahead of Kyrie Irving.
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  Speaker 1: LaMelo Ball's in a new spot here in Minnesota, and
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  Speaker 1: Kyrie's coming off an ACL tear in his mid-30s. I
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  Speaker 1: think there is a chance for Kyrie to be better
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  Speaker 1: than LaMelo Ball this year, but you have to kind
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  Speaker 1: of come in with some skepticism that Kyrie Irving might
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  Speaker 1: not be the same player off the ACL tear, given
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  Speaker 1: his age and his position. I mean, it's still Kyrie
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  Speaker 1: Irving at the end of the day. He could still
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  Speaker 1: walk his way to 25 points. And if that is
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  Speaker 1: the case, he could end up being higher than Mamello
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  Speaker 1: Ball at the end of the year. LeBron James in
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  Speaker 1: his age 42 season coming in at number 22. You
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  Speaker 1: could say he's going to be the fourth scoring option
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  Speaker 1: for this team this year. And you guys mentioned, are
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  Speaker 1: there 21 players better than LeBron James going into this
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  Speaker 1: NBA season? And I think honestly, yes, I would probably
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  Speaker 1: have LeBron James a little bit lower in that Pascal Siakam,
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  Speaker 1: Eugene Inouye, Jalen Williams tier, where he's going to be
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  Speaker 1: more of like a secondary complimentary piece this year to
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  Speaker 1: the main ball handlers in Philadelphia. Kind of like you
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  Speaker 1: see Siakam as like a secondary piece to Halliburton. Shane
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  Speaker 1: Goon as a secondary piece to Kevin Durant. OG as
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  Speaker 1: a secondary piece to Brunson and Cat. It's still LeBron
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  Speaker 1: James at the end of the day. You could say
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  Speaker 1: he's better than those guys, but I think he's more
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  Speaker 1: so in that tier going into age 42 in December.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of you guys talked about Kawhi Leonard maybe
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  Speaker 1: being a little bit too low on this list. He
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't be behind Steph Curry. And honestly, I kind of
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  Speaker 1: agree with you guys as well because Kawhi Leonard from
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  Speaker 1: November to April last year was arguably a top three
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  Speaker 1: player in the NBA. But like Embiid and some of
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  Speaker 1: the other guys that we talked about here, you have
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  Speaker 1: to be a little bit cautious with his ranking because
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  Speaker 1: of his games played. Last year felt like a healthy
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  Speaker 1: year for Kawhi. They still missed 17 games. But I
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  Speaker 1: think this is a good spot for Kawhi. Maybe could
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  Speaker 1: be a spot or two higher. Seven is Giannis Antetokounmpo
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  Speaker 1: of the Miami Heat. And six is Jalen Brunson of
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  Speaker 1: the New York Knicks. You guys said a lot about
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  Speaker 1: this spot. It was a very polarizing ranking. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to have to agree with you guys. I know
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  Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson just won Finals MVP. I'm a Knicks fan
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  Speaker 1: as well, but I don't know if we could say
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  Speaker 1: that he's better than Giannis. Yes, Giannis was on a
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  Speaker 1: worse team last year in Milwaukee and Brunson was on
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  Speaker 1: the best team. But Giannis is now in Miami. He's
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  Speaker 1: looked great in preseason so far. He looks healthy. He
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  Speaker 1: looks motivated. I think Giannis is going to kind of
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  Speaker 1: reclaim himself as a top four player in the NBA
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  Speaker 1: this season. And I don't really disagree with the spot
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  Speaker 1: of Brunson at six or just in this range in general,
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  Speaker 1: because he was the finals MVP last year. He's the
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  Speaker 1: most clutch player in the NBA, and he just propelled
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  Speaker 1: the Knicks to their first title in over 50 years.
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  Speaker 1: The one thing I do disagree is him over Giannis.
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  Speaker 1: I think you can have Brunson ahead of Cade Cunningham
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  Speaker 1: because Cade was better in the regular season last year,
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  Speaker 1: but Brunson was better in the playoffs. And Brunson has
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  Speaker 1: kind of been more of a playoff riser in previous
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  Speaker 1: years and has never really been an all NBA first
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  Speaker 1: team guy before. like Cade Cunningham. BR thinks that Anthony
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  Speaker 1: Edwards is going to be the fifth best player in
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  Speaker 1: the NBA this year, and you guys could not believe
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  Speaker 1: that he was one spot ahead of Jalen Brunson after
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  Speaker 1: what Brunson did last year. I'm going to agree with
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  Speaker 1: you guys as well. I think Brunson deserves a little
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  Speaker 1: bit benefit of the doubt being the reigning finals MVP.
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  Speaker 1: Don't need to put Brunson in that top one tier
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  Speaker 1: with Jokic, Wemby, and Shea, but I do think Brunson
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  Speaker 1: deserves to be over Anthony Edwards at the very least.
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  Speaker 1: And then you guys also talked about that the super
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  Speaker 1: team Philadelphia 76ers have zero players in the top 10.
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  Speaker 1: Their highest is Tyrus Maxey at 13. Jalen Brown, who
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  Speaker 1: was an All-NBA second team guy last year, falls in
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  Speaker 1: there at number 16. I think there's a range for
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  Speaker 1: Brown or Maxey, or at least a scenario where they
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  Speaker 1: could be in the top 10. We'll see if four
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  Speaker 1: top 35 guys can be a super team here in
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  Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference, or does that say that they are
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  Speaker 1: way too volatile going into the season? I think Philadelphia...
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  Speaker 1: obviously has a higher ceiling than what they did last year,
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  Speaker 1: getting swept by the New York Knicks. And I think
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  Speaker 1: there is a scenario where everything goes well for them.
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  Speaker 1: The stars align and they can win the Eastern Conference.
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  Speaker 1: But I think there's definitely a good chance that this
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  Speaker 1: doesn't gel at least in year number one, and maybe
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  Speaker 1: it needs a year or two for them to have
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  Speaker 1: the chemistry to actually win the NBA Finals together. So
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  Speaker 1: that's going to wrap things out. We just reacted to
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  Speaker 1: BR's top 99 players going into the 2027 NBA season.
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  Speaker 1: Let us know in the comments who's too high, who's
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  Speaker 1: too low, or maybe some honorable mentions that you think
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  Speaker 1: should have made this list as well.