The 2021-22 NBA season is on the horizon as media days and training camps are approaching on the calendar.
Before the season begins, it’s only right to kick off a new NBA campaign with player rankings, which ESPN has put together with their NBArank.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s NBA staff released the first 50 players in the top 100 rankings, which included new Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball at No. 57, who was ranked No. 54 in last year’s ESPN’s NBArank. Ball was ranked No. 76 in Sports Illustrated’s top 100 player ranking.
Andrew Lopez of ESPN elaborates on Ball’s ranking:
“In the last two seasons in New Orleans, Ball improved his 3-point shooting, going from 31.5% on 5.3 attempts per game during his first two years with Los Angeles to 37.6% on 7.2 attempts per game. Ball’s free-throw shooting also jumped to 78.1% last year with the Pelicans.”
In his final season with the Pelicans, Ball averaged a career-high 14.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.