As a part of his piece about the top players in the NBA, in which he ranked Luka Doncic second, Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports listed out what he considered to be the second option for each team in the league, ranking them in order of effectiveness in their roles.

The top number two player in the NBA according to his list is the LA Lakers‘ Anthony Davis, which should come as no surprise to those who have watched the NBA for the last several years. The case can even be made that Davis is actually the first option for the Lakers, but Rohrbach still has LeBron James in this spot for LA’s premier franchise.

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Second on the list is Phoenix Suns star guard Devin Booker, who could also be argued as a co-star alongside Hall of Fame small forward Kevin Durant. Third on the list is Boston Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown, who won Finals MVP last summer in their defeat of the Dallas Mavericks, with Jayson Tatum being considered the top option on their championship team.

Fourth on the list is where the argument for the Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving may begin to make sense – as good as Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has been, especially on the defensive end and on the glass, it is more difficult to argue that his impact has been greater for his team than Irving’s has been for Dallas when compared to the first three players on the list. This is an even tougher decision after the most recent Finals run for the Mavericks, during which Irving was a massive piece of the puzzle.

As has been stated in previous pieces, Dallas struggled mightily without Irving on the floor last season, going 8-14 when lacking his presence as an offensive creator. However, as arguable as Adebayo is against Irving when talking about pure impact, the next player on this list makes even less sense ahead of him.

At fifth on the list is a player who has never made an All-Star Game in Jamal Murray, who, as spectacular as he was during the 2023 NBA Finals playoff run, has simply not been the level of player Irving has. Even forgetting Murray’s recent struggles, the accolades speak for themselves – Irving has eight All-Star appearances and three All-NBA nods to zero in either category for Murray, which indicates a difference in effectiveness.

The next player in line is sixth-ranked Domantas Sabonis, whose role with the Sacramento Kings begs the question of whether he is even second fiddle to De’Aaron Fox. It’s more difficult to make a distinction between Sabonis and Irving than it is to make one between Irving and Murray, as Sabonis simply brings more to the table than Murray does.

Irving’s being in seventh place begs the question; is he now underrated by NBA standards? Typically, he would be higher on this list. If he’s being punished for missing games, that is one understandable factor, but outside of that, it’s hard to say he’s not amongst the top three or four on this list.

He will have to prove it on the floor once again this year as Dallas competes for another championship berth.

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