From Victor Wembanyama’s meteoric rise to Isaiah Hartenstein’s specialized impact in OKC, discover which elite rim protectors and versatile playmakers dominate our definitive rankings of NBA bigs.
In this five part Roundtable series, I will count down the players that I believe will be the best at their position for the upcoming NBA season. Last up, the centers.
The OKC Thunder have a loaded big man room with up to five players who can play the five spot any given night. Two of them certainly qualify as Top 10 talents at the position. However, Isaiah Hartenstein is the Oklahoma City candidate for this list due to Chet Holmgren starting at power forward in the double big lineup.
Top 10 Centers For 2026-2027
10. Jalen Duren. The Detroit Piston became a first time All-Star and All-NBA selection last season while anchoring the defense of the Eastern Conference's #1 seed. There seems to be a disagreement about how valuable he is to the team, though, considering this offseason's contract stalemate.
9. Ivica Zubac. A smart Indiana Pacers front office thought enough of the 7 footer's defense, rebounding and paint scoring to roll the dice on a possible #5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft to acquire him. Side note: it's a good thing the Pacers are not located in Las Vegas.
8. Isaiah Hartenstein. A walking double double who makes a winning impact in all the overlooked parts of the game. Hartenstein's defense and rebounding get most the attention but his playmaking and screen setting are his true superpowers. OKC's best move this summer was re-signing their starting center to a team friendly extension.
7. Rudy Gobert. Somehow still disrespected by a large portion of the NBA community, all the French big man does is win basketball games and win Defensive Player of the Year trophies. His one on one victory against Nikola Jokic in last season's playoffs may finally swing some long overdue respect his way.
6. Anthony Davis. Sure, he plays power forward the majority of the time now. Yeah, he is a risk to miss more games than play them next season. And those are the only reasons he's not ranked in the top five because the talent is still there.
5. Bam Adebayo. A versatile, smart, elite defender on one end and a playmaking big and lob threat on the other end. I still can't believe Adebayo scored 83 points in a game.
4. Joel Embiid. Though he still did not quite crack playing half the games on the schedule, the former MVP reminded everyone of his special scoring talent last season. If he can still relatively healthy and if the new look 76ers can find some team chemistry, Embiid may be playing into the late summer next year.
3. Karl-Anthony Towns. The second best player on the NBA's reigning champions. Towns has proven a lot of doubters wrong in New York.
2. Nikola Jokic. The Serbian big man has won three MVP trophies and was the consensus best player in the world for several straight seasons. Now it's a debate whether or not he's the best at his own position.
1. Victor Wembanyama. The generational alien prospect is living up to the out of this world hype. Wembanyama is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and led the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Finals... at only 22 years old.
