The Deep 3 Podcast - We Reacted To ESPN's CRAZY Top 100 NBA Players List

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

ESPN's top 100 NBA players of 2026! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are going to react to ESPN's new top 100 list. Ah, my brain is already breaking. Every year they come out with their list where they project for this season, who they expect to be the top 100 players by the end of the year. And every year, it makes us mad. Let's see if this year is any different. I'm going to show you a series of players from this list. You guess where ESPN rank them.

You know they're good at their job. You know it's going to make a great rage bait. So to keep mind, but keep mind. It is projecting. The first player up on this list, we have, lamello ball. Okay, so very injury. prone. Had barely played.

But he did. He got up a lot of points last year. Meaningless points, though. The efficiency was indeed dog shit. But is that enough to make him a top 50 player? No, I think. There's a lot of good players in league these days. ESPN would probably be lower on him.

He didn't necessarily like, he put up points, but like you're not going to sit here and call him one of the better shooters. Can't call him one of the better like playmakers and you won't call him that either. That's the weird part. the playmaking hasn't been elite as his career has gone on. I feel like that's in some ways kind of regressed, probably because of talent around him. But I don't think he's devoid of blame. He doesn't, he doesn't, yeah.

There's no, he's not the best shooter, not the best pastor, doesn't have the best tattoos. He's not finishing. I'm going to go 64. There's no insane developmental curve. I'm going to go ahead and say he was 78. 63. Donovan was very, very, very close. I don't know how I feel about that.

I feel like it's. It makes sense, like, outside the top 50, but kind of in that, like, next tier. And, like, obviously, if Lamello does put it together, he is going to be one of, like, the 50 best players in the league. And if you can have something that's, like, pretty decent. He's right ahead of Denny at 66, Aaron Dysmith at 65, Ludo at 64. So he's right next to a premier role players. I think he should be above all those guys.

But Denny is a very interesting conversation. You know what? That actually makes sense because this is the, like, quintessential. like would you rather be like the number one option but like your team goes nowhere or yeah are you contributing to winning to winning arcane are you scalable he's really good it's funny christian brown is number 62 right above it all hell christian brown contributes to winning shout out to yokech man he does god's work christian brown at 62 lamello at 63 go to hell man this is not even this is just i mean i get it it it's just funny to see it next to each other

i don't view christian brown the same lens as the other elite role players but i don't even get They're projecting a jump in Christian Brown this year. Okay, okay, okay. So, okay. They seen Christian Brown, they said, ooh, look, a little black this year. Got a little fade, okay. Cade Cunningham. Ooh, he got to be way higher.

I think he's top 30. He got to be top 30. He's for sure top 30. I think Cade, Cade obviously had a leap last year, made the all-star team, finally showed everybody, listen, it just wasn't my fault.

Like, they just weren't giving me anything to work with. Because it's projection and because the east is so bad, I can see a scenario where they look at Cade. They see him take a leap as a score, take him to be even more efficient. I'm going to say 23 for Cade. I'm going to go higher than that. I think they're going to call him, damn you're a top 15 player. I'm going to say they put him at 15.

They put Kate Cunningham at 12. Fuck. I mean, that's not crazy. Projecting for this coming season? That's still high. That 12 is high. No. I think it's in the wrong possibility.

So we'll go over to the list. He's at 12, right ahead of Evan Mobley. If you tell me that's, they should meet next to each other. Okay. And then Anthony Davis at 14, they're saying he drops off a little bit. Yeah, you take a step back. Yeah. Donovan Mitchell at 15.

That's not crazy to tell me Kate is slightly better than these guys. Donovan Mitchell conversation is very interesting, but it could happen. It definitely could happen. And I could see a world on where I look up in it's February or whatever. I'm like, holy shit, bro. Kate is going crazy. He's averaging all these assists, 10 assists the game, 26 points or whatever it might be. I could see that.

You know, I'm, okay. If he's averaging 26 and 12, then like, okay, you got it. And that's pretty possible.

Huh? That's pretty possible, too. Yeah, his numbers were far away from that last year. 12, which is kind of hard to get to. But it's like,

if you tell me he's 26 and 9, yeah, I think I'll predict that actually. Yeah. You know, it's funny? Last year, 67. They did him insanely dirty

last year and now they had to repent with blaze. Really? Yeah, like that 2024 rank. You see it on the screen. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, so we can see that fair of ready.

compared to this year. The craziest jump. Okay. Next player. Brandon Ingram. Now he's probably a player that they did extremely dirty because over the course of the year you really ain't see much, his season has just been destroyed by injuries and he was also a pelican.

No one's watching you. I'm going to say he's probably like 70. Yeah. Being in New Orleans and then getting deported is very, very tough in terms of your PR. How many eyes are actually on you? I'm with you. We'll go 76. He's 77. Damn. What? I'm kind of on it. We don't like that though. And we don't like that you're on. 76 is Brandon Miller, which to me is crazy. Unless I'm again. It's like Brandon Ingram and then like Brandon Miller can you be Brandon Ingram? Yeah. Like I guess they're projecting a jump from Brandon Miller, which again last year at 2024 ranked there makes him 68. So now Brandon Miller is lower. So they're a little bit lower on him. They said,

he didn't make a big leap but apparently there's still Ingram went from 40 to 77 Ingram didn't play He's not 37 spots worse Because he was injured And then the fucking Raptors were tanking So I mean

The logic isn't there At all I guess injuries scare them a lot God damn No this I'm every year You do have to know Like this list is always gonna be very reactionary

To what just happened I guess what they're doing Is they're probably assuming He'll get hurt again And he won't provide value Yeah And when you haven't seen somebody play for for an

entire year, then like, yeah, you're going to drop. Okay. Tyler Hero. All-Star season. He had a good year, yeah. I'm assuming this list was finalized before the injury news came out. For sure. I think I'd have so. Maybe. I'm going to say they think he's like top 50. I'm going to say

50. They might do a lot with him actually. He was all-star. You're right. Yeah. So are we thinking like 41 maybe? I'm going to go 37 even higher. That's nice. like that number yeah 37 he's 68 oh damn bro hey man i i don't even like tyler hero like that they look at him they said your chain fake damn 68 that's not that's not right man that's now this is because the injury clearly but then again last year he was 76 so maybe that is don't fuck a Tyler hero

yo there's someone in that office who just don't fuck retire at all it's clear as day who win horse did the write-up yeah and right ahead of him Cameron Johnson. Hmm. Okay. I guess. Deadty 66. Okay.

This task because of the injury, I guess. I guess that make, this kind of touches on going back to what you said about like, okay, would you rather have like a star player who necessarily might not be the best star versus elite role players. Yeah. It does feel like, because, and we talked about it earlier in the summer, but like the entire, the entire league is kind of moving away from like bucket getters and small guards that only do buckets.

Yeah. And so now like the. the ranking is also moving away from bucket games. You know what it is? We're losing bucket recipes. You know what it is? What hurt his PR? In the playoffs they asked Darius Garland what the plan is against the heat and he said, attack Tyler Hero. Everybody was like, damn, they do attack Tyler Hero a lot. We realize he's a liability.

Damn. 68, though. Darius Garland kills PR. Salute. Dude, 68 is kind of nasty, man. John Morant. You know what? That's also very good mind games in the middle in the playoffs. That was funny. Good job. And it worked. They got a disrespect to him even more, man. Let's go, 89. 89. He wasn't hurt last year, so they're not going to ding him that much.

I'm with it. Let's go. Okay, you know what, not that much? 86. There we go. They just find a way to hate every controversial player that'll piss you off. Yeah, there's no different. 86.

No, they respect him. 33. Okay, this is about right. That's pretty valid. I think, hmm, I don't even know how to think about John Moran and what he's going to be doing next year. But I feel like this is accurate, no matter, like, if you think he's going to take a leap or stay the exact same. This is like a good medium. And what's cool is Jaron Jaxon is 31, right ahead of him.

You know what? After the season that Jaron had, fair. Fron's 32. You got it. Projecting a jump. Okay. And Jaron Joran Jod 33. But he was 20 last year, which last year they gave him all the credit in the world in terms of like, listen, you're coming off the injury, but you are still John Morant.

Yeah. Monty, 33 is perfectly fair. That's probably where I rank. When Christmas time comes and we redo our rankings after the start of the season, I expect John Morant will be one the first cuts on my list. Okay. So I respect that rank. in ESPN. Potentially.

Scotty Barnes. Oh, hell, man. For a bad year, but, you know, reason to believe who bounced back. I'm going to say 55. I'm thinking 55, 57. God damn, he's 30. They think he's going to,

they think that he's going to have a bounce back year, pretty much. And if you're thinking that he's going to be back to all-star level, be one of the top 30 players, be a all-star in the NBA again. Okay, that's not crazy. I think it's brave after last year and help bad it was but if that's your conviction you are on scotty barnes island still salute to you it's a lot you're super brave you definitely have your legacy not your legacies on the line is it is a drag but

amen now fuck that brine win horse what are you prepared to do about it if you're wrong i guess yeah i mean again they're just high on him which like it's understandable to be high on him but it's maybe a little too high very risky zionm williamsson 55 this keep him mind he's skinny now but what if they went ahead and like looked at again the zon williamson play chart and notice that you know this could be a year where he plays 70 games I don't I don't know I I still did lose a lot of weight too consider that as well I understand that but like what are we what are we doing here I'm going 55 with Zion I'm going to say they gave him because they they did remember

they didn't be dirty or was it them or everybody doesn't be dirty well yeah but like you have a history of players that consistently miss like whole seasons be kind of down I think that they should be like I didn't put him beat on here because I'm tired of that but they also did him dirty again he's like 80 okay I think they put Zion

he's younger than Embed though and still misses the same amount of games he's also less broken than Embed yeah if you're young you're less broken I think they gave him like 42 61 fuck me man never mind

61 is kind of nasty yep yep so he's right ahead of lamello ball 863 Christian Brown at 61 And you guys on at 61, I mean. Who's 60? 60 is Austin Reeves. Oh, yeah.

Fair. Nah, man. Fair play. 59 Jalen Suggs. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, let's get it. I'm kind of with it now. I like this. Okay. Paul George. What did you say in Bid was? I forgot. 80.

He said 80. I pulled up in my ass. He was like late on the list. Okay. I think he's going to be 99. 99. I go 87. Paul George is 53.

Oh, get the fuck out of here. Better than that. Okay, that's actually dumb. Like, if Zion is going to be 55, the talent that Zion still has to be one of like the better players in the league, that's still there. Paul George isn't going to be one of the better players in the league, one of the players that you can rely that like, did you can build your franchise around at this point? He also is missing mad times. Exactly. He should be much lower than 53.

It's dumb for that reason. By that logic. Yes, exactly. By that logic, it's even dumber because of that, bro. Rudy Go there. older now Stokin lead defenses I would say you took a step back offensive

last year but then he also went sicko mode against the Lakers in the playoffs so that's going to be in people's heads didn't he have like a 27 point game against the Lakers He did, damn, damn, damn, no, no, no I think he's gonna be 91's ridiculous right here I think he's got to be like 53 or something like that

Yeah, 49, yeah God damn 91 fuck off What is wrong with you man? I didn't know what they were thinking For next year, for next year, projecting that, that Gobert, who already took, like, his offense is not good. You wanted it to be 91. Where did you put him?

He was looking at Schops. Ready to hate. I mean, I put him at 92. I thought we were all going to put him at 90. My bad. Like, I thought we're on the same page. But like, hell not, 90's crazy. You want to see who's 91?

Yeah, who's 90. Who do you think 91 is? Take a guess. I don't know. Payton Pritcher and Anthony Simons. Effidy Symons. I don't think he's top 100. 91 is Drew Holiday.

And 90 is Nas Reid. Damn, okay. Fuck. You thought it was that bad? Andrew Wings, 89. Ah, my best. Yeah, 49 for Rudy Goldberg, which is fine. 72.

My bad. My bad. Jimmy Butler. Ooh, he got hurt last year. But he's still in, I would put Jimmy Bullitt in the top. But he got it still. Let's put Jimmy Butler at like 27? He's definitely bearing in the top 40.

So he can win. I think, I go like 25. They put him 18. A little, a little high, but you know what? His impact is crazy. The impact is crazy. And you're going to get him on a full season without all of the distractions of like, I don't want to be here or whatever.

So again, projecting out for this next year, I don't hate this. Last year was 28, a year older, jumping up to his spots. That's right where I had him. That's just not what I did. That's Warriors propaganda. Everything Steph Curry touches, touches turns the fucking gold. Okay. He's right above Jalen Brown.

Okay. I don't know if I like that. Yeah. Potentially. I might. I'm not high enough on Jaila Brown to be outraged. Yeah. Okay.

20 is Kauai Leonard. Okay. Whatever. 21 is bam. Huh. You know what? That feels like... Yeah.

You could say he's better than each and every one of the ones. I kind of don't like the whole tier. Now I'm thinking about it. Yeah. That's a little too much. Well, I don't want to spoil anything else, but yeah, weird tier. A man, Tompson.

Oh, man. Again, it's projection. Ultimate projection player. You can project a man Thompson to be. LeBron if you want to. Are they going to go ahead and put him at like 23 or so, yeah, exactly. 23 would be crazy.

He is number 37. Okay. Projections not, it's not bad at all. Yeah, I feel like the highest of highs for Amman Thompson believers and truthers who will probably put him at 23, but 37 is absolutely they're saying he'll be just better than Darius Garland. You know, okay. You know, that's fun.

Dary's Garland's awesome. Yeah. Darius Garns and All-Star, though. That's a lot. Desmond Bain, that's a crazy picture. Why didn't they use that picture? Because he got traded. They couldn't use nothing else.

They had pictures of him in a magic jersey. They did a photo shoot. And then Aaron Gordon at 40, which is a high. Wait, go back to the Desmond Bay. His arms are disgustingly small. He has a short neck and a big head. That makes he look crazy. He looks like a basketball player in a TV show.

Like an all-American. Basketball. Good thing is a bucket. Yeah, I mean, Thompson 37, that feels, that's a fine projection. They didn't do too much. Like, they could have been like 20. He's going to be a superstar right away. They refrained.

Yeah. Carl Anthony Towns. Second year with the New York Knicks PR boost. Coming with an offensive-minded coach that might unlock him. This might be 23. He had an all-star year. I was 25. Yeah, they're definitely going to look at him and say he's one of like the 25 best

player. I'll go 23. You know what? I think they've been. me put them at like 24, 25. 27. Okay. Do you guys in the same range? Yeah. That's fair. It's some simple.

Chet Hungry to 24. I'd rather have Chet Hungryman on my team personally. Yep. So, it makes sense to me. So okay. Oh, I fucking forgot. I was trying to chat is 24. That feels right, too. Oh, I searched you, Jaylon Brown, too.

Jaylon Brown's a team. I didn't even, oh, okay. Forgot, spoiled several. It's funny. Every time this happens. I know. I love it. I'm just going on the list. Victor, Wembenyama. Okay, Wemby.

Okay, Yokic, Shay, Janice, Luca. Are we putting Wembe at 5? They might put 1B at 4. They might put 1B at 4. They might. You know what? Luca did have this like weight loss door. Yeah, I want to get this right.

Let's put it at. I'm going to go 5. I think 6. You think they'll put ahead of him? I don't know, man. Because, like, that's the, that's the line, but like, like, the top three of Yokit, Shea Janus. I feel very good about that. For me, the conversation is Wembe versus Luka.

And how much do you believe that the weight loss and, you know, being in shape and all that stuff matters for Luka? Do you think last year was just a product of all the other stuff, all the trade? Or is when we just like that? But also, you saw Wembe go ahead and train and, like, really get in his zenful mindset, mind state with the monks. He was with KG, bro. He mastered all four elements. He was with the monks. He was with Camagarnet.

He was with Hakeem. He was with everything. Put him at... Fuck, dad. Put him at four. Let's go four. He's five. They got Luca.

They got Luca right ahead and four. Makes sense. Yep. Anthony Edwards right behind him at six. Makes sense. Crazy, man. That's crazy. Again, you're assuming good health?

It's not ridiculous. We'll assume we'll be at that level next year. It's not. It's not at all. That's my expectation. Yeah. It's the bare minimum. Yeah.

This is the storyline. This shit happened. LeBron James. Where are they ranking the old goat is age 41 season? I think he's seven. That's high as fuck. I'll go nine.

I'll be healthy, though. I think they are still looking at LeBron as a top 10 player in the world. For sure, they got that. They'll probably put Bronn, Stefan, KD. All knows each other? Yeah, like 7, 8, 9 or something like that.

So what are you thinking? I think seven. I go 7. Number eight, you guys are real close. You guys have the right idea. Okay. And if you go on here, look at the top.

10 we'll look at the whole top 10 right now we got jalen brunson at 10 oh yeah yeah kevin we're at nine okay step where you at lebron at eight step seven step at seven okay cool yeah macy edward six virgin woman yama five yon is four oh lucca three shay two and yokech one oh this is lucre this isn't terrible this isn't terrible this isn't terrible they're assuming skinny look comes back with a vengeance and proves to be a top three player back to being his prime I want to see the fantasy projection for Luca their stat lines Where you see that

On the bottom Yeah 30 points 8.5 rebounds 8.2 assists The Luca donch is special Okay I can almost guarantee you who average 38 and a is what he always does Okay yeah this feels accurate ESPN genuinely didn't do terrible This year

Yeah this wasn't Are they putting out Rational content? Oh my God Fuck that Are they washed Well I'm gonna mad I know.

They didn't raise me enough. The hell? Yes, we can get it together. Hire more dummies.