NBA's most underrated players: An improving LaMelo Ball, a picked-on James Harden ... and a rookie?

In wake of our NBA Top 100 list going live, CBS Sports writers are picking who they think are the most underrated players in the league

Oct 14, 2026 at 2:57 pm ET • 5 min read

Every year, major media outlets (including us!) release a list of the best players in the NBA. And every year, that list is remembered for maybe a dozen or so slights. Social media typically rallies a handful of fanbases to outrage against how unfairly the outlet in question is treating their favorite player, and among those aggrieved cities, a few turn out to be completely correct when the season actually arrives, thereby invalidating the entire exercise in their eyes.

In defense of those outlets (again… ours included!), the voting body is not a monolith. Just because one list is lower on your favorite player than you think it should be doesn't mean every individual voter was.

And so, with our list of the top 100 players in the NBA now released, we've decided to give our voters the chance to join those social media hordes and explain where we believe our colleagues erred. Each of our voters selected one player, based on their own top 100 rankings and the final list we published as a group, to name as the league's most underrated player. Maybe we were too low on your favorite player as a whole, but maybe you'll cut us a bit of slack when you find out that he had at least one staunch defender in our ranks.

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Sam Quinn

Jalen Johnson, Hawks

Top 100 ranking: No. 30
Why he should be higher: The Hawks' young star wing upped his production, improved his shooting efficiency and was the No. 1 option on a playoff team to earn his first All-Star and All-NBA selection in 2025. I think that's deserving of a bit more than the No. 30 spot in our rankings. Yes, Johnson showed some growing pains in the playoffs, but was also dealing with a hellacious Knicks wing defense that went on to win a title. It's not hard to see this guy continuing to climb the NBA ladder into superstardom this season, and at 25 he's got plenty of runway to continue improving. He will continue to get more comfortable with being in a leading role, and his playmaking ability at 6-foot-8 is what every front office dreams of.  -- Robby Kalland

LaMelo Ball, Timberwolves

Top 100 ranking: No. 41
Why he should be higher: If you're a skeptic because of his defense, his durability, even his maturity, fine, I can acknowledge those are real issues. I don't think people grasp just what an incredible shot-creator LaMelo Ball was last year. From Dec. 6 on, the Hornets had the NBA's best offense last season. In that span, the Charlotte offense declined by 13.2 points per 100 possessions during the minutes played without Ball... just below the amount the Nuggets declined without Nikola Jokić (13.4) in that same window. Charlotte's starters had the highest offensive rating of any five-man lineup to play 200 minutes last year at a bonkers 134.9 points per 100 possessions. 

Well... let's look at how those starters fared without LaMelo last season. Brandon Miller's true shooting was four percentage points higher with Ball on the court than without him. The other three starters (Kon Knueppel, Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabaté) all saw their true shooting decline by at least eight percentage points without him. Last season saw Ball post his lowest individual scoring and assist numbers since his rookie year... yet it was far and away the best NBA season he's ever played. His presence is transformative for everyone else on the floor offensively, and keep in mind, he's mostly wasted that effect on bad teams. Now he gets to amplify Anthony Edwards, and I'm betting that will trigger an overdue wave of appreciation for one of the game's best young creators. -- Sam Quinn

James Harden, Cavaliers

Top 100 ranking: No. 47
Why he should be higher: What are we doing here? Donovan Mitchell recently went too far when he tried to make the case that "the only reason" Harden isn't venerated like LeBron James and Kevin Durant is "because of championship convos." That particular caveat groans from the hilarious weight it carries. Mitchell went out on a limb, and it immediately snapped. But here we are at the other end of the spectrum with guys like Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero ranked ahead of Harden. Harden is an 11-time All-Star with eight All-NBA nods to his credit. He's a former MVP. He's a three-time scoring champ. He was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary team. Wagner and Banchero are ... not those things. Harden hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in the postseason, particularly where his defense and judgment have been suspect. Still, it ought to be possible to hold more than one thought at a time. He's surely flawed — just as he's better than we give him credit for in our rankings. -- John Gonzalez

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Sam Quinn

Domantas Sabonis, Kings

Top 100 ranking: No. 68
Why he should be higher: Sabonis missed nearly the entire 2025-26 season due to a knee injury. When he's healthy, Sabonis is one of the best floor-raisers in the NBA because of his rebounding, screening and passing. When the Kings had the best offense in the NBA during the 2022-23 season, it was because of Sabonis. He operated as the hub of the offense and created shots for others within the flow of the system. Sacramento's current system — and the lack of the right personnel around him — has led people to forget how good he can be. Sabonis, when healthy, is a top-40 player in the league. -- Cam Salerno

Cameron Boozer, Grizzlies

Top 100 ranking: No. 94
Why he should be higher: It's strange to say a rookie is underrated before he's even played a regular-season game, and you can never read too much into preseason. But from what we've seen from Boozer so far, in addition to his college tape, it's hard to not be super excited. He already has NBA-level size and strength and is extremely polished on both ends of the floor. Just look at some of the stuff he's doing already as a 6-foot-10 forward. 

Plus, in Memphis, he'll be starting from opening night and given every opportunity to produce. All told, it's easy to understand why he's the favorite for Rookie of the Year in a loaded class. Whether he wins that award or not, there won't be 94 players better than Boozer this season. -- Jack Maloney