Hawks Star Jalen Johnson Gets Questionable Spot in New NBA Player Ranking

The Atlanta Hawks clearly view Jalen Johnson as their franchise player. Bleacher Report views the young point forward as the 21st-best player in the NBA.

The obvious, knee-jerk reaction is to claim that he's being underrated. If he's the best player on the Hawks and only the 21st-best player in the league, where does that leave the team?

Yet, in the spirit of objectivity, we need to ask who's ranked ahead of him. Is Johnson being underrated, or is this roughly where he lands league-wide?

It's a close call, but there are a couple of players ranked ahead of him who are, at the very least, questionable.

There is at least one player on this list whom Johnson was better than in 2025-26: Devin Booker.

Booker's reputation is beginning to exceed his on-court impact. He is obviously a dynamic talent. Last season, Booker averaged 26.1 points and 6.0 assists per game with a 2.2 Box Plus/Minus (BPM) and 58.5% true shooting percentage (TS%).

That's a fine season, but Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 7.9 assists with a vastly superior 4.2 BPM. He was less efficient with a 58.1 TS%, but that's largely due to Booker's substantially higher 3-point volume.

Booker's slightly superior efficiency shouldn't outweigh Johnson's more well-rounded production. He was a far better playmaker, and his rebounding should count too. It feels like Booker's reputation is carrying some weight here.

Otherwise, it would be hard to argue that Johnson had a better season than Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who was sensational in 2025-26. Still, it's arguably an overreaction to rank him ahead of Johnson after a career year.

Virtually every advanced stat would agree that Johnson is more impactful than Jaylen Brown, but Brown has often confused analysts on that basis. Ranking him over Johnson is fair, but it's far from a sure thing.

So is Johnson a top-20 player?

Frankly, I think he absolutely belongs in the top 20. Johnson was one of the most productive players in the NBA in 2025-26.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. These rankings are fluid. If anything, Johnson could use them as motivation.

After all, there's plenty for him to improve on. More efficient 3-point shooting could put Johnson in the MVP conversation. More consistent defensive effort would help as well.

Still, it feels like he should be widely recognized as a top-20 player after a sensational 2025-26 season.

That's good enough to count as a franchise player.