NBA Rank 2025: Payton Pritchard, Ex-Celtics Make Top 100 List

ESPN unveiled part one of its annual “NBA Rank” on Tuesday.

The countdown ranks the top 100 players for the 2025-26 season and began with players 100 to 51.

The only current Boston Celtics player to make the list on Tuesday was guard Payton Pritchard at No. 97. The 27-year-old didn’t make the 2024 “NBA Rank.”

“The reigning Sixth Man of the Year is coming off a career-best 14.3 points per game, but the Celtics are about to enter a gap year with superstar Jayson Tatum (Achilles) sidelined. Which could mean, ultimately, that there should be more of an opportunity for Pritchard, especially with veteran guard Jrue Holiday traded to Portland,” Baxter Holmes wrote. “Pritchard could even break his way into the starting lineup alongside Derrick White and Jaylen Brown, a potentially potent trio for Boston. The Celtics like to say no one on the team works harder than Pritchard, and, given the circumstances, this could be the season in which he really blossoms.”

While Pritchard is the only Celtics representative on the first half of the countdown, there were a pair of notable former Boston players to also crack the list.

Jrue Holiday — who was sent to the Portland Trail Blazers in the offseason — is placed at No. 91. Holiday dropped significantly from the 2024 rankings, where he was No. 36.

“Entering his 17th season, Holiday is back in Portland — where he was traded in 2023 before being quickly moved to Boston — and will serve as a veteran leader for a team with a young core,” Holmes wrote. “The two-time NBA champion will also help the Trail Blazers’ improving defense, which jumped from 23rd in 2023-2024 to 16th last season. But at age 35, it would be unfair to expect Holiday, who is clearly in the winter of a likely Hall of Fame career, to be the force that he once was. Still, for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in four years, Holiday should be a welcomed boost.”

Indiana Pacers small forward Aaron Nesmith is 65th on the countdown after going unranked in the 2024 edition.

The Celtics selected Nesmith with the 14th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and he played 98 regular season games across two seasons with the team.

Boston traded the Vanderbilt product to Indiana in July 2022 as part of a package including big man Daniel Theis for guard Malcolm Brogdon.

“As a two-way force on the perimeter during the Pacers’ improbable run to the Finals, Nesmith was one of the breakout stars of the postseason,” Jamal Collier wrote. “He was often tasked with defending the opposing team’s best perimeter players while shooting lights-out as a 3-point shooter on offense. He not only shot 43% from deep during the regular season but caught fire in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals while hitting eight 3s to lead Indiana’s comeback victory at Madison Square Garden that would propel the Pacers to a series victory.”

The rest of the countdown will be revealed with Nos. 50 to 11 on Wednesday and the top 10 on Thursday.