ESPN's NBA rankings send Butler, Morant and Green tumbling down the top 100

A knee injury, a trade to Portland and questions about durability pushed three big names down ESPN's annual list of the league's top 100 players.

ESPN's annual countdown of the NBA's top 100 players delivered steep slides for several well-known veterans. Jimmy Butler III went from 18th to 92nd, Ja Morant dropped from 33rd to 77th, and Draymond Green slipped from 51st to 93rd. The panel was instructed to judge only projected value for the 2026-27 regular season, setting aside résumés and reputation.

Butler's plunge stems from a torn right ACL suffered in January, with a return possibly not coming until January or February 2027. He is 37, headed for unrestricted free agency next summer, and ESPN's forecast of 19.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists comes with major questions about how much he will actually play. Golden State went 23-15 with Butler on the floor last season and 14-30 without him, underscoring what the Warriors may be missing.

Morant's spot at 77 is arguably the list's biggest surprise. Still just 27, he has never averaged below 20 points and seven assists for a season, yet he has appeared in only 79 games across the past three years. Memphis shipped him to Portland as the franchise pivots to a rebuild around Cameron Boozer, and he now shares a crowded Trail Blazers backcourt with Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson and, eventually, Shaedon Sharpe as he recovers from a torn meniscus.

Lillard, who missed all of 2025-26 with a torn Achilles, landed one spot ahead of Morant at 69. Elsewhere, Paul George came in at 67 after placing 54th a year ago, while Aaron Gordon fell from 40th to 64th after averaging just 53 appearances per season since Denver's 2023 title.