Beyond the Top 100: Six Deep-Cut NBA Players With Outsize Importance in 2024-25

Getty Images/Ringer illustration These guys couldn't crack our list of the Top 100 Players in the NBA, but they'll nonetheless play a pivotal role in the season to come The Ringer published our Top 100 Players in the NBA rankings yesterday, full of some 25,000 words of analysis, jokes, and other goodies for your perusing pleasure. Go read them all! But even on a list that goes 100 deep, not every player who will make a difference in the 2024-25 playoff and championship races can appear. Today, then, we'll survey a half dozen X factors who didn't place in our Top 100 but might nonetheless swing contenders' fortunes this season. Note that several top contenders, such as Boston, New York, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota, won't have any representation here, as all of their most important players are already in our Top 100. But the success of six other teams—and the shape of the season writ large—could hinge on whether the following players can thrive in their roles and break into the Top 100 as the season progresses. P.J. Washington, Dallas Mavericks Look away, Thunder fans; this graph might fill you with rage after your team's narrow loss to Dallas in the second round of last...