NBA: Top 10 Players In The Eastern Conference

7. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Here’s the controversial part of this list. Giannis Antetokounmpo is only entering his fourth NBA season, and the reason he rates this high is due to a 30ish game sample size. That’s hardly concrete evidence.

Still, those 30ish games are pretty eye-dropping. After the NBA All-Star Break, Giannis was running Milwaukee’s offense as a point forward (he actually started a few games before the break but for simplicity’s sake we’ll use the post-break numbers).

Point Giannis averaged 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game after the All-Star Break, while shooting 50.9 percent from the field. No player has ever averaged those numbers for an entire season in the history of the NBA.

Even if Giannis only comes close to that stat-line next year, he’ll doubtlessly be one of the best players the NBA has to offer, much less the Eastern Conference. There will be periods of struggle for Giannis, as there are with every young player.

With Matthew Dellavedova added to the starting five, Giannis will have more space than ever before to work with. Look for him to put that space to good work while leading the Bucks with unbelievable numbers next season.

Next: Number Six