These 4 players have no business ahead of Fred VanVleet in recent NBA rankings

It's an annual tradition. Fans of the Houston Rockets - along with 29 other teams - band together to complain about ESPN's Top-100 list. This year will be no exception.

There's some sympathy to be felt for ESPN. Ranking 100 NBA players is not easy. There are plenty of subjective decisions to be made. Still, it feels like they give us some head-scratching decisions on a perennial basis.

For example, Fred VanVleet ranked 79th on this year's list. That's far too low. There were several players ranked ahead of VanVleet who should not have been.

Here are four.

4. Brandin Podziemski (78th)

VanVleet had a Box Plus/Minus (BPM) of 3.4 in 2023-24. Podziemski clocked in at -0.1.

Something isn't adding up here.

Granted, BPM isn't everything. Still, when there's a gulf between two players, it's usually telling. Besides, how likely is it that a rookie like Podziemski impacted winning as much as a seasoned veteran like VanVleet?

Here's a related question - what are the odds that he'll surpass him as a sophomore? They feel exceedingly low. Podziemski has a lot of potential - he could be a better player than VanVleet someday. He doesn't project to be in 2024-25, and he certainly wasn't in 2023-24 - so by any metric, he doesn't belong ahead of VanVleet on this list.

3. Austin Reaves (72)

At one time, there was a lot of anticipation surrounding Reaves. It felt like he was found money for the Lakers. Realistically, he was - but not as much money as they thought they'd initially seen.

In 2024-25, Reaves averaged 12.4 points and 3.7 assists per game with a True Shooting % (TS%) of 61.3%. Those are solid marks, but VanVleet gave the Rockets 15.0 points and 5.7 assists with a TS% of 56.8%. In a blind test, most educated fans are taking Player B.

Is this a case of overthinking? Yes, Reaves was highly efficient. That's great - but the Lakers didn't rely on him to create offense. VanVleet did plenty of that for the Rockets. His relatively inferior efficiency is a byproduct of his increased offensive responsibility.

Does ESPN think that if the Rockets traded VanVleet for Reaves, they'd have gone .500 last year? That feels absurd. VanVleet's playmaking makes him a far more dynamic player than Reaves, and he should be ahead of him on any list.

2. Klay Thompson (71)

This will be a tough pill to swallow for Rockets fans. Even during a down year, Thompson found a way to beat the Rockets.

This was an egregious error. Thompson's 57.6 TS% hardly eclipses VanVleet's mark. Thompson's defense has suffered a rapid decline, while VanVleet is still steady on that end. Thompson doesn't make plays for his teammates - what does he do better than VanVleet?

Perhaps he's being "grandfathered in". Thompson has ranked ahead of VanVleet in these lists for a long time - and rightfully so. Still, he was not the better player in 2023-24, and there's no reason to assume he'll be better in 2024-25.

Although, in his first season with the Mavericks, he'll likely still find a way to be a thorn in the Rockets' side.

1. Jalen Green (69)

Don't accuse me of being biased.

Green averaged 19.6 points and 3.5 assists per game with a TS% of 54.1. He had a BPM of -0.5. He was worse than VanVleet by every measure but the pedestrian points per game.

Leave the stats for a second. We understand that ESPN didn't watch every Rockets game like some SpaceCityScoop authors did. They don't have their finger on the pulse of one specific team to the same extent.

Moreover, they could be blinded by Green's torrid March. Frankly, he was better during that month than VanVleet has ever been in his career.

One month of phenomenal basketball shouldn't outweigh an entire season's body of work. VanVleet was the Rockets' best guard last year:

Although, this is one ranking that may divide Rockets fans.