Multiple Golden State Warriors snubbed from ESPN Top 100 list

ESPN has released their list of the top 100 NBA players for next season and multiple members of the Golden State Warriors have been snubbed.

Every year, ESPN releases their prediction of who will be the top 100 NBA players in the upcoming season. The lists are almost always controversial, with massive snubs occurring each time. On this occasion, a number of Golden State Warriors players were wrongfully placed.

Let’s start with who made the list. Thus far, as only the top 90 players have been listed, Draymond Green is the only member of the Warriors to be ranked (44th). It’s safe to assume Stephen Curry will appear somewhere in the top 10 – while Klay Thompson would have been in the top 20 had he been healthy enough to play this year.

As for the rest of the roster, players like Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre Jr. and James Wiseman were absent from the top 100. There is a case to be made for each member, so let’s break it down.

The most notable snub has to be Wiggins. He hasn’t appeared on one of these lists since 2018 when he placed 70th heading into the year. While we can’t argue that Wiggins was a top 100 player last year – we can say that everything is aligned for him to crack the list this year.

Wiggins is in the perfect environment to be a high-impact player. Acting as a complimentary piece to Curry and Green, Wiggins will be capable of posting efficient scoring numbers while being a quality defensive presence if he buys into the system. The same can be said for Oubre, who could easily end up being the second-best scoring option on this team.

Wiggins and Oubre both have the potential to make the Warriors a top seed in the Western Conference if they fill in roles next to Curry. It feels ridiculous that neither gained recognition from ESPN here.

Meanwhile, James Wiseman is someone who can really surprise people this year. He is going to put up big numbers as the Warriors’ main interior presence. He will likely lead the team in rebounds and blocks while receiving a ton of open looks under the rim due to Curry and Green’s playmaking ability. There is a real possibility Wiseman posts averages near 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in his rookie season. Is that not worthy of being a top 100 player?

I guess we will see if ESPN got it right this time. But, as the great Kobe Bryant once said “I’ve known for a long time they’re a bunch of idiots over there.”