NBA Player Tiers 2025: Jalen Brunson, Kawhi Leonard and more All-Star standouts in Tier 2

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This article is part of our Rankings & Tiers series, an evaluation across sport about the key players, front offices, teams, franchises and much more.

Player Tiers 2025: Tier 5 | Tier 4 | Tier 3

Tier 2 is the echelon of All-Stars. Sure, some actual All-Stars and All-Star-caliber players were in Tier 3, but none of those players were All-Star selections in both of the last two seasons.

I capped this tier at 20 players, rounding out the top 30 in the NBA along with the 10 players in Tier 1. That was purposeful, as I wanted to have a 1:1 ratio between players and NBA teams. Naturally, you have some haves and have-nots. A dozen teams have their highest-placed player in Tiers 3 through 5.

If you don’t have a player in Tier 2, it’s probably going to be a challenge to contend consistently. The very best players need a sidekick, and the teams without one of the very best players need to get a player who can at least approximate that level of play on an occasional basis, including throughout a postseason series.

Of course, the next best thing is to have multiple players in this tier. That’s where the Cleveland Cavaliers come in, as the only team to have three players in Tier 2 on their way to the Eastern Conference’s top seed.

This group received serious consideration for being in the highest tier. And yet, I was very comfortable leaving them out.

Jalen Brunson has worked himself into a force, both as a pick-and-roll ballhandler and in isolation. He gets to the free-throw line at a high rate, compiles nearly three assists for every turnover and hits a healthy percentage of 3s. But as much as he competes defensively, he’s a 6-foot-2 guard with second-round athleticism, and it shows with how much New York has to compensate for him defensively.

Devin Booker has been asked to play multiple positions over the last three seasons. He’s still a good decision-maker who can get to his spots with aplomb. He is capable of getting stops. And he makes his catch-and-shoot 3s at nearly a 40 percent clip. But he’s a shooting guard who is overtaxed as a point guard, and his defense has been eroding too much for him to be considered his team’s top wing defender as a small forward. The Suns haven’t done him any favors as they steadily have gone from the NBA Finals to the bottom five in the West. The other shooting guard in this group, Donovan Mitchell, has now been the best player on a top seed in each conference in the last five years. Mitchell is one of the best pick-and-roll scorers in the league, he is a solid decision-maker and he hits better than 40 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s. Now, Mitchell has to show that he can avoid an early playoff exit while leading a team as a 6-3 off guard.

Anthony Davis is a power forward now that he is in Dallas. On one hand, he’s a versatile impact defender, an improved passer and skilled enough to score in a variety of ways. His length is especially overwhelming when he plays next to a center. But Davis is not a reliable enough 3-point shooter to ideally play next to a non-shooting center, and he’s not a true fulcrum for a strong offense. Basically, you shouldn’t trade Luka Dončić for him, and that’s before you get to the age or durability (at least 25 missed games in four of the last five seasons) concerns.

This is a group of players whom I wouldn’t consider for a higher tier for one reason or another. Three of them weren’t even All-Stars this season, but they are all otherwise highly impactful.

At point guard, Tyrese Haliburton had a slow start to the season and was passed over for an All-Star selection. He’s not a strong defender, and he’s not necessarily an imposing scorer. But Haliburton is a pick-and-roll maestro who rarely makes a mistake offensively. He also has enough size at 6-5 to play with other small guards and weaponize his 40-plus percent catch-and-shoot 3.

Jaylen Brown is the reigning NBA Finals MVP. He doesn’t have the ballhandling responsibility or playmaking skill that Jayson Tatum does, but Boston asks Brown to be a top defender who drives more than any player on the team. The glaring concern: a career-low 3-point percentage that isn’t helped by spotting up.

Jimmy Butler is at the point where he will manage his way through games and regular seasons, then turn it up in the postseason. The knee injury that canceled his postseason a year ago was the beginning of the end of his tenure in Miami, and he’s been highly impactful in Golden State despite missing the last two All-Star Games. Butler gets to the line at a high rate, is one of the best playmakers defensively and fits a pass-heavy offense extremely well. He’s at power forward to minimize the fact that his 3-point shooting doesn’t turn up until the postseason. Kawhi Leonard is an elite player with few on-court weaknesses. He scores from everywhere, he rarely makes mistakes offensively and, like Butler, he annually collects more steals than fouls. It’s all about availability for Leonard, and he’s seeking to be healthy at the end of a postseason for the first time in five years.

Karl-Anthony Towns underwent a position change, going from Minnesota’s power forward next to Rudy Gobert to New York’s center. Offensively, Towns has dominated that arrangement with his combination of inside-out ability. Defensively, Towns is one of the worst rim protectors among starting centers, and that will be a concern with New York also having to account for Brunson defensively in the playoffs.

Perhaps the players in this group are a little high, especially if they have to lead teams in the postseason. But in their current situations, I’m bullish enough to keep them here.

Cade Cunningham is a 6-6, big-bodied touch leader for a breakthrough Pistons team, and all he needs is to get experience in postseason basketball. The turnovers are going to get ugly for Cunningham, but he finally had the right support around him this season to validate his status as the top pick in the 2021 draft. James Harden has a low floor due to his challenges with turnovers, rim pressure and streaky shooting. But he has demonstrated an elite ability to make his teammates better while still collecting free throws and self-created 3s at a high rate. Defensively, Harden has to guard up, but he has contributed to a top-three defense due to his nose for the ball. Damian Lillard has played in only one conference semifinal in the last eight years; he hasn’t had the greatest fortune in the postseason, with his two series-ending buzzer-beaters securing half of his career postseason series victories. Lillard’s poor luck continues, as he is battling deep vein thrombosis after another season of collecting souls in pick-and-roll while hitting his highest percentage of 3s in four years.

Jaren Jackson Jr. had to take his medicine in the wilderness that was the 2024 Grizzlies, but he emerged as a better player for it. He eats in the post, still gets to the line at a high rate and knocks down 3s despite his awkward delivery. Jackson is a power forward who remains a strong rim protector, and his fouls are down, even though he still has an unsettling rebound-to-foul ratio overall. The biggest weakness in Jackson’s game continues to be the fact that he is a low-turnover player who still has fewer assists than turnovers.

This may be the most polarizing part of Tier 2. How good are these players exactly? The playoffs are going to be a great exhibition for this group.

I put point guards Darius Garland, Ja Morant and Trae Young here. Cleveland has benefited from letting Garland run the offense in tandem with Mitchell, and the result has been the best offense in the league, especially when it comes to pick-and-roll destruction. Garland is a sound decision-maker and an elite shooter. He’s only 6-1, so he’s going to get hunted in the spring. Morant has major durability issues, which have played a role in his lack of All-Star selections, in addition to other factors that have cost him time and money. Morant is also thin with a shaky jump shot, and he has turned the ball over more than ever this season. But he still gets to the line at a high rate, and he competes defensively while showing a nose for the ball. Most importantly, the Grizzlies win when Morant plays. Young usually has to wait until someone gets injured to get his All-Star nods, he’s even smaller than Morant and nowhere in the same galaxy athletically and his 3-point shooting gets chilly. Young also turns the ball over way too much. But Young leads the league in assists while dragging defenders to the free-throw line.

Evan Mobley got to his fourth season and broke through to All-Star status. It certainly helped that Cleveland had the regular-season success, and Mobley was able to do it starting at power forward next to Jarrett Allen. Mobley still isn’t the most forceful scorer, but his skill is evident up front as a passer and shooter, even if he still has more steps to take in both areas. Mobley’s defense is also critical for Cleveland, as he can guard outside while protecting the rim. Elsewhere at power forward, Pascal Siakam has either been an All-Star or All-NBA selection four of the last six seasons, all of which have seen him score at least 20 points per game. Indiana is significantly better when he is on the court, as he gives them a presence inside the 3-point line, defends well and makes around 40 percent of his 3s off the catch.

This is a special sub-tier, but it’s clearly not the sub-tier you want to be in.

Joel Embiid was the MVP two years ago and was wasting the NBA for close to 35 points per game last season. But including the postseason, Embiid has played in only 30 games since February 2024. As a big man on the other side of 30, he has looked like a shell of himself. Embiid has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He is still a center with elite skill. But he had only five dunks in 574 minutes this season, and he wasn’t the same as a rim protector. Even if he returns to form, he shoots 45.9 from the field in his postseason career and has 36 more turnovers than assists in the playoffs.

How Embiid recovers from left knee surgery is one thing. How Kyrie Irving recovers from left knee surgery is another. Irving was putting together a fantastic season for Dallas. But then, Dončić got traded. Afterward, Irving tore his ACL in March, jeopardizing when he can begin his 15th NBA season. Irving is already a small guard with elaborate skill but relatively unspectacular athleticism. Just when the Mavericks needed Irving more than ever, they lost him, and there’s a chance that he’s never the same again at this stage of his career.

The Rankings and Tiers series is sponsored by E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Sponsors have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Jason Miller, Tim Nwachukwu, Harry How / Getty Images)

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