Four Trail Blazers crack Sports Illustrated's Top 100

Four Trail Blazers crack Sports Illustrated’s Top 100

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 19: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers stands on th court during Game 3 of the Western Conference playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Smoothie King Center on April 19, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – APRIL 19: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers stands on th court during Game 3 of the Western Conference playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Smoothie King Center on April 19, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The 2019 NBA season is a month away, which means it’s time for several major media networks to release their rankings of the league’s best players.

Of all the lists that dutifully rank the multitude of NBA players, Sports Illustrated’s Top 100 is by far my favorite – and that’s not just because four Portland Trail Blazers made the cut.

This is the sixth annual edition of SI’s Top 100. Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney are the masterminds/evil-geniuses behind the rankings.

To determine players’ positions on the list, Golliver and Mahoney evaluate every player “for this coming season alone, independent of their team context.” They understand that players perform better or worse based on how they fit within the talent on their team, but the overarching theme of the exercise is that they rank the world’s best basketball players in a vacuum.

So, without further ado, let’s breakdown which four Trail Blazers made the cut and where they ranked.