Who are the top 5 centers in the NBA today?
Associated PressNBA offenses rarely revolve around centers as they once did. That does not mean there aren’t a wealth of standout big men in the league today. Who are the five best centers currently?
Only three natural centers made the 2024 All-Star team in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. However, other fives carry their respective franchises and do things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.
The position’s creme of the crop are hard to debate. Without their presence, their teams would likely plummet in the standings.
Before delving into the top five, honorable mentions go to Kristaps Porzingis (Boston Celtics) and Karl-Anthony Towns. While both can be considered centers, Towns currently plays the power forward next to Rudy Gobert and Porzingis consistently sees time at both positions.
5. Victor Wembanyama
Though he’s only a rookie, Victor Wembanyama is well past his years. Wembanyama has all who follow the game on high alert for records he’s liable to break.
The French phenom became the second player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1987 to record a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double with five assists, steals and blocks apiece in a single game, as NBA history shared on X.
Wembanyama is averaging 20.7 points and 10.3 rebounds, all while leading the league with 3.5 blocks per game. He’s entered Defensive Player of the Year talks and has dominated the competition that he’s faced.
4. Alperen Sengun
Associated PressAlperen Sengun is a crafty playmaking center that resembles another contemporary on this list. The Houston Rockets big man finds creative ways to score in traffic and feed his teammates on every area of the floor.
Most impressively, Sengun averages five assists as a big man. Even in today’s game, that is a high achievement.
The Turkish big man slightly edges out Wembanyama in scoring with 21.1 points per game and does so on 53.7 percent shooting from the floor.
He scored a career-high 45 points against the Spurs rookie on March 5 and held him to 10 points. Sengun topped it off with an epic poster dunk.
His outside game could use more refinement and his defense is the only knock against him. Despite that, Sengun has the tools and experience that justify his placement at No. 4.
3. Jarrett Allen
In an NBA with Myles Turner, Mitchell Robinson, and Nic Claxton, Jarrett Allen may be the best rim protector of them all. The 25-year-old center sends back 1.2 shot attempts per game, but his impact around the rim is exponentially greater when watching him play.
He also moves his feet and can defend exceptionally on the perimeter. The Cleveland Cavaliers middle man is joined by Milwaukee Bucks MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo as the only two players that are averaging 16 or more points on 60 percent shooting or better from the floor.
Allen can also space the floor and has a virtually unstoppable hook shot in close. Allen is a center that most teams would go to great lengths to have on their team.
2. Joel Embiid
The reigning 2023 NBA MVP is Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. He reminded the NBA world of that every time he stepped on the floor this season before suffering a left meniscus injury last month.
Embiid’s 35.4 points per game are the most by a center other than himself since Shaquille O’Neal in 1999-2000. Had it not been for his injury, would be the runaway favorite for this year’s scoring title.
The numbers are eye-popping but what’s even more impressive is the way he impacts the game.
Embiid forces defenses to scramble in the pick-and-roll as a three-point shooter. He also is one of the few players regardless of position that thrive in the post. On defense, smaller guards aren’t safe when they blow by him.
Embiid is one of the best shot blockers in the league. However, his limited playoff success prevents him from owning the top spot.
1. Nikola Jokic
What more can be said about Jokic? The debate between himself and Embiid stretched out until last June when Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to an NBA Finals win over the Miami Heat and took home the Finals MVP.
He added the league’s top honors to two regular season MVPs as well and became the first center in history to average a triple-double for a season.
And that was all before this current 2023-24 campaign.
On the year, Jokic has led Denver to the third-best overall record and the current second seed in the West. Individually, he’s up to his usual ways, averaging 26 points, 12.2 rebounds and 9.2 assists.
Qualitatively, there’s no answer for the 6-foot-11 Serbian on the break, from the top of the key, in the post, or anywhere for that matter.
Currently the odds-on favorite to win his third MVP (per Superbook Sports), Jokic stands as the best center in basketball, and arguably the best player in the whole league.
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