Draymond Green puts LeBron James No.1 and leaves Steph Curry behind

LeBron James has undoubtedly been the best player in the past two decades. However, some people might argue that he's no longer the best player in the league right now, as young players are coming hot and ready to lit up the NBA. Still, for the four-time NBA champion, Draymond Green, there's no doubt that the best player going into the 2022-23 season is still, LeBron James. He even put him above his own teammate, Steph Curry.

LeBron James had a disappointing season last year team-wise, as the Lakers ended up with a 33-49 record, finishing 11th in the Western Conference and missing the playoffs. He also suffered some injuries that caused him to miss almost 30 games. Still, the ‘King’ finished the season with some amazing numbers, averaging 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 56 games in 2021-22. He was also selected to his 18th NBA All-Star game.

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Meanwhile, Steph had the best year of his career, as the Golden State Warriors ended up winning the Championship and Steph won his first ever Finals MVP. During the regular season, however, he had lower numbers than LeBron. The best 3-point shooter of all time, he finished the season averaging 25.5 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds in the 64 games that he played. He also was selected to play in his eighth All-Star game.

The list might be surprising for some people as Draymond has repeatedly said that Steph is the best player he has ever seen. Still, the power forward put his teammate behind the future Hall of Famer. Draymond's top five players going into next season was completed by Bucks' leader Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.9 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists), Kevin Durant (29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists) and Joel Embiid averaged (30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 68).

Players that also made Draymond Green's list?

He completed the top 10 list with a power house of youth by adding Luka Doncic at six (28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists), Ja Morant at seven (averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds), Jayson Tatum  at eight (26.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists), MVP Nikola Jokic (27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists) at nine and finally, Kawhi Leonard at ten. Leonard didn't play last season.