2026 NBA Player Tiers: Tier 5 | Tier 4Welcome to Tier 3, quite possibly the most polarizing tier. For some teams, this is as high as it gets, which obviously doesn’t make it easy to be in contender conversations.This year, 22 teams are represented in Tier 3 (21 were represented last year). Only two teams don’t have a player placed in the top three tiers, and no team clinched a top-six playoff seed without having a player higher than Tier 3. In 2025, the Houston Rockets were the only team that clinched a top-six seed without a player placed higher than Tier 3. The good news is that Houston was the second seed in the Western Conference. The bad news is that the Rockets lost Game 7 at home to the No. 7-seeded Golden State Warriors, a team that had two players in the first two tiers. Houston decided to go get Kevin Durant afterward.The only team that made the playoffs this year without a player placed above this tier was the Orlando Magic, the No. 8 in the Eastern Conference. The good news for the Magic is that they took a 3-1 lead against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. The bad news is that the Magic blew that 3-1 lead. The ugly news is that Orlando traded a net of three first-round picks for a player ranked in this tier and still had to fire its head coach.Not all of the players in this tier are All-Stars. Not all of the players in this tier should be All-Stars. Some will never be All-Stars. But what matters more is winning games. This tier is made up of players who will decide playoff spots.Tier 3AQuite bluntly, this sub-tier was the ceiling for each of these four players. They’re all very good players, but this was the place they needed to be.Stephon Castle isn’t close to a finished product, but the 2025 Rookie of the Year is the primary ballhandler for the Spurs and plays with the kind of force on both ends of the floor that makes it hard to ignore his impact. He draws fouls at a high rate, punishes the rim, finished in the top 10 in assists per game, rebounds well and is strong at the point of attack defensively. And that’s on a team full of talented guards. If the 6-foot-6 Castle straightens out his shooting, then he’s going to be a major problem for other teams. His first postseason has already shown signs that he could do just that.The centers here are all All-Stars, with some caveats. There are outliers, and then there’s Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points in a game. Adebayo had no other 40-point games this season and had only four other 30-point games. If you remove that game from Adebayo’s season, he only averaged 19.2 points per game. But Adebayo did have the second-highest scoring game of all time, and that got him to 20.1 points per game, his second 20-point season in his nine-year career. That made Adebayo one of only five players this season who played more than 20 games and averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. Adebayo can dribble, pass and shoot while defending at a high level. But he’s not an elite rim protector, and his field goal percentage has dropped in five consecutive seasons.Jalen Duren didn’t receive a rookie-scale contract extension, then responded by becoming an All-Star for the East’s best team in the regular season while averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. And then the playoffs started, and Duren’s ability to win with his dribble struck midnight. Duren is only 22 years old, and he has flashed the ability to pass and shoot while improving as a defender. But he’s going to need to respond to how this playoff run has gone.Like Duren, Alperen Şengün was an All-Star this season, and he’s skilled enough to run both ends of the pick-and-roll while being able to post-up and face up. Nikola Jokić is the only center who averages more assists than Şengün. The biggest challenge is that Şengün, like Jokić, is a bottom-five rim protector among starting centers. Şengün also isn’t a good shooter, which could put a cap on his ceiling.Tier 3BThis is an intriguing sub-tier packed with contentious All-Star picks, recent award winners and players who could be in those conversations as soon as next season.LaMelo Ball and Darius Garland are the point guards here, and both are dazzling pick-and-roll pull-up operators capable of taking games over with pace, just as long as they’re available and protected defensively. Ball is 6 foot 7, rebounds well, gets steals, has reduced his turnovers and launches 3s without apologies. After missing more than 35 games each of the previous three seasons, Ball played in 72 games. But his minutes have to be managed, his shot selection can be maddening and his free-throw attempt rate is lower than it has ever been. Also, while Ball has led two winning seasons in Charlotte, he still hasn’t ended the franchise’s playoff drought. Garland was traded from the Cavaliers to the Clippers and he played a career-low 45 games because of toe injuries on both feet. He also averaged a five-year low of 2.7 free-throw attempts in 29.9 minutes. Unlike Ball, Garland is only 6-1, and his size gets him in trouble at times on both ends. But Garland’s shot selection is better than Ball’s, and Garland has approached 40 percent from 3.Shooting guards Tyler Herro, Norman Powell and Austin Reaves were close to the same sub-tier last year, and they’re here together this time around. Herro had a forgettable season following offseason ankle surgery and was unable to build on his 2025 All-Star selection. Next season will be his final year under contract. Still, Herro is a versatile player who can play on or off the ball because of his playmaking and shooting. Powell took advantage of Herro’s difficult start to the season and made his first All-Star Game while averaging career highs of 5.5 free-throw attempts and 2.5 assists. The downside with Powell, and why he isn’t higher despite finally reaching All-Star status, is a lot of the concerns that led the Clippers to trade him ahead of his contract year: age, durability, slightly declining athleticism, a lack of positional versatility at 6-3 and difficulties maintaining his superb seasons after the All-Star break. Like Powell, Reaves is likely searching for a new contract after showing a high level of scoring artistry, particularly from the free-throw line. Reaves ranked fifth in the NBA in points per game among players who did not lead their team in scoring and was one of just 16 players to average at least 7.0 free-throw attempts per game. He was remarkably efficient out of ball screens and isolations as a result. Defensively, Reaves drew a heap of charges, rebounded at a career-best level and averaged 1.1 steals. The drawbacks for Reaves were multiple injuries that cost him several weeks at a time, a penchant for turnovers and the fact that offenses will continue to target him.The small forwards here are Brandon Ingram and Lauri Markkanen. Ingram made it back to All-Star status for the first time in six years and has scored at least 20 points per game in seven consecutive seasons. He can score out of ball screens, isolations and the post while offering decent passing and good shooting. Ingram is also a solid rebounder at 6-8. But he’s not an impact defender, and his game has fallen off a cliff the last two times he reached the playoffs, where he shot 33.6 percent from the field over his last nine playoff games. Utah has used Markkanen as small forward despite him being 7-1 and 240 pounds, which creates tremendous advantages offensively. No player uses more off-ball screens to score than Markkanen, who draws a heap of fouls and is a solid shooter. Markkanen is not a good rim protector despite his size, and of the 47 20-point scorers in the NBA this season, only Dillon Brooks averaged fewer assists per game than Markkanen (2.1). Utah’s multi-season tank project, in addition to whatever injuries Markkanen has had, has kept Markkanen from playing 60 games in each of the last three seasons. Next season will be Markkanen’s only chance of possibly playing in the playoffs while still in his 20s.