People always love to come up with lists and debate the best players in sports, so that's why The Athletic decided to poll 118 former NBA players before the 2021-22 season on a number of questions pertaining to the league when it comes to both the present and future. Naturally, the lead question asked who the best player in the NBA is for this season.

The winner was not reigning MVP Nikola Jokic. It also wasn't reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The honor goes to Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant with 44.2% of the vote, with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James not far behind at 31.6%.

Giannis came in third in the voting at 13.6%, with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in fourth at 3.5%. Jokic tied with Philadelphia 76ers big man at 1.8% to round out the top of this list.

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While The Joker and The Greek Freak have the most important accolades from last season, it's hard to argue with KD here. The Nets star nearly beat Giannis and Co. in the playoffs last season despite injuries to James Harden and Kyrie Irving. This season, Durant is leading the league in scoring by a rather wide margin with 29.6 points per game, and he's doing it on impressive efficiency by shooting 52.3% overall and 37.5% from 3-point range. He's also averaging 7.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 36.9 minutes per game.

It's fair to have some qualms with LeBron being second here over Giannis (and maybe others), but The King is The King and is still dominant when healthy. If it came down to one game, betting against LeBron James remains a tough proposition, and picking him over most of these other guys is understandable, even at 36 years old.