By Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon | The Athletic, 2026-05-06 09:00:39
《The Athletic》正在实时报道湖人对阵雷霆的2026年NBA西部半决赛第二场比赛。
NBA球员们如何看待同行中谁最被低估、谁最被高估？
对于联盟的主教练们，他们又有什么看法？
在《The Athletic》2026年度匿名NBA球员投票中，我们向他们提出了这些问题，以及更多其他问题。
从2月底到4月初，我们的记者走遍了北美各地，向球员们提出了涵盖个人奖项、球员流动以及联盟热点等一系列广泛的问题。我们的记者共采访了161名球员，创下了该项目的历史新高，约占联盟总人数的三分之一。
一如既往，我们允许球员匿名，以便他们能够自由、诚实地回答问题，而无需担心遭到对手、队友或球迷的报复。为了透明起见并提供背景信息，我们会告知你每个话题有多少人参与了投票。
《The Athletic》已经发布了部分结果：球员们对MVP之争的看法、最终的总冠军得主，以及如果夺冠是否会造访白宫。我们将继续逐步公布结果，确保每个话题都能得到应有的充分关注。
（编者注：在某些情况下，某一问题所有选项的百分比总和可能不等于100%，这是因为单个百分比已四舍五入到小数点后一位。）
最被低估的球员
这个问题得出的答案非常多样化，共有89名球员至少获得了一票。这并不罕见。在去年的投票中，有75名球员获得了选票。答案的广泛性可以归因于联盟的人才深度，但或许也可以解释为部分受访者投票给了自己的队友。
为了讨论方便，我们将重点关注得票率前六的球员（3.3%及以上）。
有一点非常明确：球员们认为波士顿凯尔特人队的德里克·怀特 (Derrick White) 仍然没有得到应有的尊重。他年复一年地出现在这个榜单的前列。2024年，他与俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 并列第一。去年，他位居第二，仅次于底特律活塞队的凯德·坎宁安 (Cade Cunningham)。而现在，他再次夺魁，与亚特兰大老鹰队的杰伦·约翰逊 (Jalen Johnson) 并列榜首。
怀特是一名赢球型球员，作为2023-24赛季凯尔特人夺冠的关键功臣，他还随美国男篮夺得了2024年奥运会金牌。他曾两次入选NBA最佳防守阵容第二阵，但从未入选过全明星或最佳阵容，尽管凭借本赛季的表现，他很有可能入选最佳阵容。
“对我来说，他是联盟中最重要的球员之一，”一位投票给怀特的球员说道，“他在攻防两端都做到了极致。我以前不知道他在进攻端有这么大的能量。”
怀特是今年进入前六名的三名凯尔特人球员之一，另外两位是杰伦·布朗 (Jaylen Brown) 和佩顿·普理查德 (Payton Pritchard)。他们之所以能名列前茅，与凯尔特人在杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum) 缺席大半个赛季的情况下仍能超出预期、取得56胜26负的常规赛战绩有很大关系。
一位投票给怀特的球员表示：“每个人都想说杰伦·布朗是MVP候选人。他们错了。怀特才是他们本赛季表现如此出色的最大原因。他为球队做了一切——进攻、防守、领导力。”
约翰逊是本赛季联盟的突破性球员之一，他带领亚特兰大老鹰队夺得了东部第六。他避免了重大伤病，出战了72场比赛，产出也大幅提升，场均贡献职业生涯最高的22.5分、10.3个篮板和7.9次助攻，并拿下了职业生涯最高的13次三双。值得注意的是，他在上个赛季没有获得任何“被低估”的选票，这可能是因为他去年因伤只打了36场比赛。
看看他的职业生涯轨迹能否接近坎宁安，将是一件很有趣的事情。坎宁安是去年的“最被低估”得票第一人，随后他带领活塞队取得了东部最佳战绩，并有可能在MVP投票中进入前五。我们并不是说老鹰队下赛季会成为东部最强的球队，但约翰逊完全有可能实现类似的飞跃。
波特兰开拓者队的朱·霍勒迪 (Jrue Holiday) 是最被低估榜单的常客，他曾在2023年排名第一，2024年位居次席，去年排名第五。洛杉矶湖人队的奥斯汀·里夫斯 (Austin Reaves) 在去年获得第四名后，今年再次上榜。
最被高估的球员
阿尔佩伦·申京 (Alperen Şengün) 本赛季第二次入选全明星，并帮助休斯顿火箭队在竞争极其激烈的西部获得了第五名。他场均20.4分、8.9个篮板和6.2次助攻以及四次三双的数据令人印象深刻。
为什么他的同行们会如此质疑他？
这是一个我们无法完全回答的问题，但也许一位投票给他的球员的评论能提供一些线索：“他每一回合都在抱怨。他很有天赋，但是，伙计，打球强硬一点吧。”
虽然申京确实没有防守悍将的名声，但在阿门·汤普森 (Amen Thompson) 和塔里·伊森 (Tari Eason) 强力外线防守的加持下，火箭队本赛季的防守效率排名联盟第六。
我们年度球员投票中“最被高估”的部分已成为最具争议的部分。你可能还记得，控卫泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿 (Tyrese Haliburton) 去年“赢得”——或者说是“输掉”了？——这个类别，获得了14.4%的选票。随后他带领印第安纳步行者队杀入NBA总决赛，并与雷霆队激战七场。在他在季后赛打出英雄表现后，哈利伯顿获得的那些“最被高估”选票显得滑稽可笑。
申京的火箭队在首轮系列赛中被湖人队淘汰，这意味着他无法像哈利伯顿那样在季后赛中上演复仇戏码。尽管如此，他只有23岁，其发展曲线预示着未来几年会有很好的前景。
今年的并列第二名，明尼苏达森林狼队的鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 和华盛顿奇才队的特雷·杨 (Trae Young)，是这一类别的常客。杨在2023年排名第一，戈贝尔在2024年排名第一。虽然杨刚刚经历了一个饱受打击的赛季（仅出战15场），但戈贝尔是森林狼队防守的核心，该队常规赛防守效率排名联盟第八。戈贝尔场均贡献10.9分、11.5个篮板和1.6次盖帽，并在由100名作家和播音员评选的最佳防守球员投票中排名第四。
然而值得注意的是，这个问题再次成为球员们最不愿回答的问题之一，仅投出了81票。换个角度来看，虽然申京是得票最多的球员，但他其实只得到了10票。
“我之前是认为泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿最被高估的那组人之一，而他去年在季后赛的表现简直不可思议，”一位本次投票的弃权者告诉我们，“所以我不想说（我认为谁被高估了）。这个联盟里有很多非常优秀的球员。”
另一位被问及此问题但拒绝回答的球员说：“这是一个我会实名反对的问题。我不想在背后默默地毁掉一个球员。我不是那种人。”
除你自己的教练外，你认为哪位现任教练最令人印象深刻？
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凯尔特人在这里得到了更多的赞誉——具体来说是乔·马祖拉 (Joe Mazzulla)，这位极具竞争心、作风务实的凯尔特人四年级主帅。
由于塔图姆因2025年季后赛遭受的跟腱伤势预计将缺席整个2025-26赛季，加上凯尔特人交易走了具有空间能力的内线克里斯塔普斯·波尔津吉斯 (Kristaps Porziņģis)，波士顿在10月开赛前被普遍看衰。NBA官网的年度总经理调查显示，各队总经理预测波士顿将以东部第八结束赛季。
然而，波士顿打破了所有这些预期，以56胜26负的战绩排名东部第二。凯尔特人的进攻排名联盟第二，防守排名第四。
一位受访者表示，他投票给马祖拉是因为“他的韧性，以及他激励团队的方式，还有他执教时的那种强度”。
雷霆队教练马克·戴格诺特 (Mark Daigneault) 获得第二名并不令人意外。他率领的卫冕冠军雷霆队以64胜18负的联盟最佳战绩结束了赛季。去年，当我们要求球员选出联盟最佳教练时，他以21.8%的得票率获胜。
J.B. 比克斯塔夫 (J.B. Bickerstaff) 在今年的“最令人印象深刻”教练投票中以11.0%的得票率位居第三。他执教的活塞队在取得60胜22负的战绩后，获得了东部季后赛的主场优势。
一位投票给他的人说：“看看他在所处的各种环境下所取得的成就。在克利夫兰，他表现出色，把球队带到了一个特定的水平。出于某种原因，他们不再需要他了。他去了底特律，那个没人能搞定的地方，并把它扭转成了东部最强的球队。
“他与球员的关系非常好，对他们要求严格。球员们继承了他的个性，那就是强硬。他是个伟大的教练。”
迈阿密热火队的埃里克·斯波尔斯特拉 (Erik Spoelstra) 同时兼任美国男篮主教练，他继续赢得球员们的尊重。一位投票给他的人称赞道：“他建立了一种赢球和努力打球的文化。”
除你自己的教练外，你认为哪位现任教练最不令人印象深刻？
从这些结果中得出的最大结论是，摆烂会对这些球队教练的声誉产生负面连锁反应。这些教练会因为在任何正常情况下都会被视为令人费解的换人模式，或者可能是在防守端缺乏组织而受到指责。
布莱恩·基夫 (Brian Keefe) 是华盛顿奇才队的教练，他的球队以17胜65负的联盟最差战绩结束了赛季，并在最后27场比赛中输掉了26场。
“我甚至不知道谁在执教奇才队，但不管是执教奇才的那个人是谁，”一位受访者说道。
奇才队赛季最黑暗的时刻发生在3月10日，当时热火队的班·阿德巴约 (Bam Adebayo) 砍下83分，带领热火以150-129大胜。一位投票给基夫的球员提到了阿德巴约的83分表现，并表示：“因为那场比赛，他们都应该滚出这个联盟。”
需要再次指出的是，这项调查是在常规赛期间进行的，当时教练更迭潮尚未开始。赛季结束后，道格·里弗斯 (Doc Rivers) 在密尔沃基被解雇，由泰勒·詹金斯 (Taylor Jenkins) 接替，而比利·多诺万 (Billy Donovan) 也辞去了芝加哥公牛队的工作。
史蒂夫·科尔 (Steve Kerr) 在金州勇士队的未来尚不明朗。在担任勇士队主教练的12个赛季中——拥有四个NBA总冠军、604胜353负的常规赛战绩和104胜48负的季后赛战绩——科尔可能会决定离开。
从历史上看，这位前美国队主帅一直是我们球员投票中最受赞誉的人之一。因此，有6.0%的受访者将科尔选为“最不令人印象深刻”的教练，这多少有些令人惊讶。
然而本赛季，金州勇士面临吉米·巴特勒 (Jimmy Butler) 和斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 的伤病困扰，仅取得37胜45负。科尔还因为乔纳森·库明加 (Jonathan Kuminga) 掉出勇士轮换阵容且未达预期而面临批评。
“我认为他是个伟大的教练，”一位投票给科尔的球员说，“我只是觉得他处理库明加情况的方式不太聪明。”
谁是联盟最佳防守球员？
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 会成为球员心目中最佳防守者的首选，这还有疑问吗？
没有。也许最大的惊讶在于他只获得了41.1%的选票。
文班亚马带领圣安东尼奥马刺队取得了62胜20负的联盟第二佳绩，并以场均3.1次盖帽领跑联盟。俄克拉荷马城的切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 在符合条件的球员中盖帽排名第二，而霍姆格伦场均“仅”有1.9次盖帽。
“他有7尺6寸！”一位投票给文班亚马的球员说道，文班亚马的官方身高标注为7尺4寸。“他有能力弥补这么多错误，包括他自己犯的错。他抹平失误的能力极其令人印象深刻，有些球员冲进禁区看到他，就会转身运球出去。在NBA，没人能做到这一点。
“但你会冲进去，你本来有个上篮机会，但你看到了他，于是你转身往回走。这太疯狂了。……因为你知道如果你强行出手，结局会是什么。你不得不服。”
多伦多猛龙队的斯科蒂·巴恩斯 (Scottie Barnes) 也得到了一些青睐，以4.0%的得票率并列第四。
一位投票给巴恩斯的球员说：“能从一号位防到五号位，有抢断，能全场（领防），能护筐。他在防守端几乎无所不能。”
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Who's NBA's most overrated player? Underrated? Best coach? Anonymous player poll results
Who’s NBA’s most overrated player? Underrated? Best coach? Anonymous player poll results
The Athletic has live coverage of Lakers vs. Thunder in Game 2 of the 2026 NBA Western Conference Semifinal.
How do NBA players feel about which of their peers is most underrated and most overrated?
And what do they think when it comes to the league’s head coaches?
We asked them those questions, and more, for The Athletic’s 2026 Anonymous NBA Player Poll.
From late February to early April, our writers fanned out across North America, asking players a wide array of questions, ranging from individual awards to player movement to league issues. Our writers surveyed 161 players, a record high for this project, which is approximately one-third of the league’s workforce.
As always, we granted the players anonymity to give them the freedom to answer honestly, without fear of reprisals from opponents, teammates or fans. For transparency and context, we’ll tell you how many people responded to each topic.
The Athletic has already released some of its results: players’ opinions on the MVP debate, the eventual title winner and whether players would visit the White House if their team won the championship. We’ll continue to roll out the results in increments, giving each topic the full attention it deserves.
(Editor’s note: In some cases, combined percentages of all answers to a question will not add up to 100 percent, because individual percentages have been rounded up or down to the nearest tenth of a percentage point.)
Most underrated player
Who is the league’s most underrated player? (2026 Poll)
Who is the league’s most underrated player? (2026 Poll)
This question yielded a wide variety of answers, with 89 players receiving at least one vote. That is not unusual. In our poll last season, 75 players received at least one vote. The breadth of answers can be explained by the league’s depth of talent, but it can also, perhaps, be explained by some respondents voting for their teammates.
For the sake of this discussion, we’re going to focus on the top six vote-getters (3.3 percent and up).
Something that is crystal clear: Players believe the Boston Celtics’ Derrick White still has not received his due respect. He is among the leaders here year in and year out. In 2024, he tied for the win with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Jalen Williams. Last year, he finished second, trailing only the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham. And now, he’s won again, tying with the Atlanta Hawks’ Jalen Johnson.
White is a winning player, earning an NBA title as a key contributor to the 2023-24 Celtics and a gold medal with the 2024 U.S. men’s Olympic team. He has twice been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, but he has never been named an All-Star or been named to an All-NBA team, though it’s possible he could earn an All-NBA nod for his work this season.
“To me, he’s one of the most important players in the league,” one player who voted for White said. “Just doing it on both ends. I didn’t know how much he had offensively.”
White is one of three Celtics to finish in the top six this year, joining Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard. Their upper-tier finishes have something to do with the Celtics overcoming Jayson Tatum’s absence for most of the season to defy expectations and finish with a 56-26 regular-season record.
One of the players who voted for White said: “Everyone is trying to say Jaylen Brown is an MVP candidate. They’re wrong. White has actually been the biggest reason they’re so good this season. He does everything — offense, defense, leadership — for them.”
Johnson was one of the league’s breakout players this season, leading the Atlanta Hawks to a No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. He avoided major injuries to play in 72 games, and his production improved, averaging career bests of 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, with a career-high 13 triple-doubles. Notably, he did not receive a single “Underrated” vote last season, which may be explained by playing in only 36 games that year due to injuries.
It will be interesting to see if his career arc can approximate the trajectory of Cunningham’s, who was the top “Underrated” vote-getter last season before leading the Pistons to the best record in the East and potentially in the top five for MVP voting. We’re not saying that the Hawks will be the East’s best team next season, but it’s possible that Johnson could take a similar jump.
Jrue Holiday of the Portland Trail Blazers is a staple of our most underrated lists, having finished as the top vote-getter in 2023, the runner-up in 2024 and fifth last season. Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers has made another repeat appearance after he placed fourth last season.
Most overrated player
Who is the league’s most overrated player? (2026 Poll)
Who is the league’s most overrated player? (2026 Poll)
Alperen Şengün earned his second All-Star nod this season and helped lead the Houston Rockets to the fifth seed in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. His stats of 20.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game and four triple-doubles are impressive.
Why all the skepticism from his peers?
That’s a question that we cannot fully answer, but perhaps this comment from one of the players who voted for him sheds some light on things: “He’s crying every play. He’s talented, but, dude, just play hard.”
While it is true that Şengün does not have a reputation as a particularly strong defender, with Amen Thompson and Tari Eason strongly defending on the perimeter, the Rockets finished the season sixth in defensive rating.
The most overrated section of our annual player poll has emerged as the most controversial section. You may remember that point guard Tyrese Haliburton “won” — or is it “lost”? — this category last season, finishing with 14.4 percent of the vote, and then led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals, where they took the Thunder to a Game 7. Haliburton’s “most overrated” votes seemed ridiculous after his postseason heroics.
Şengün’s Rockets were eliminated by the Lakers in their first-round series, meaning there will be no repeat revenge run in the playoffs like the one Haliburton had. Still, he’s only 23 years old, with a developmental arc that bodes very well for the years to come.
The second-place finishers this year, Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Trae Young of the Washington Wizards, are regulars in this category. Young finished first in 2023, and Gobert finished first in 2024. While Young is coming off an injury-riddled season (he played in just 15 games), Gobert was the anchor of a Timberwolves defense that finished the regular season eighth in defensive rating. Gobert averaged 10.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and he placed fourth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, which is done by a panel of 100 writers and broadcasters.
It should be noted, however, that this question was once again one that players were least willing to answer, with 81 votes cast. To put that into perspective, although Şengün was the top vote-getter, he only received 10 votes.
“I was part of the group that said Tyrese Haliburton for most overrated, and what he did in the playoffs last year was unreal,” one of this poll’s non-voters told us. “So I’m not saying (who I think is overrated). We have a lot of really good players in this league.”
Another player who was asked the question but declined to answer said: “That’s one I would put my name on. I don’t want to crush a guy silently. I ain’t that type of guy.”
Which current coach, aside from your own, do you find the most impressive?
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More love here for the Celtics — specifically, Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ ultra-competitive, no-nonsense fourth-year head coach.
Because Tatum was expected to miss the entire 2025-26 season as he recovered from the Achilles tendon injury he suffered during the 2025 playoffs, and because the Celtics had traded away floor-spacing big man Kristaps Porziņģis, the Celtics entered October expected to tumble down the standings. NBA.com’s annual GM Survey had league general managers predicting that Boston would finish eighth in the East.
However, Boston defied all of those expectations, finishing second in the East with a 56-26 record. The Celtics also ranked second in offense and fourth in defense.
One respondent said he voted for Mazzulla because of "his tenacity and the way that he fires his group up, the intensity that he coaches with.”
It’s no surprise that Thunder coach Mark Daigneault finished second. His defending-champion Thunder ended the season with the league’s best record, 64-18. Last year, when we asked players to name the league’s best coach, he won with 21.8 percent of the vote.
J.B. Bickerstaff placed third this year in the “most impressive” coach vote, with 11.0 percent. His Pistons ended the regular season with home-court advantage in the East after going 60-22.
Someone who voted for him said: “Just what he’s been able to do with what situations he’s been in. In Cleveland, he shined. He got them to a certain level. For whatever reason, they didn’t want him anymore. He moved over to Detroit, where nobody could figure that spot out, and turned it around to having the best team in the East.
"He has a great rapport with his players, gets on them. They take on his personality, which is tough-nosed. He’s a great coach.”
The Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra, who doubles as USA Basketball’s men’s coach, continues to earn the players’ respect. Someone who voted for him lauded “the culture he’s built of winning and playing hard.”
Which current coach, aside from your own, do you find the least impressive?
Which current coach, aside from your own, do you find the least impressive (2026 Poll)
Which current coach, aside from your own, do you find the least impressive (2026 Poll)
The biggest takeaway from these results is that tanking can have a negative downstream effect on the reputations of those teams’ coaches. Those coaches get blamed for what, under any typical situation, would be considered baffling substitution patterns or, perhaps, a lack of organization, particularly on the defensive end.
Brian Keefe is the Washington Wizards’ coach, and his team finished the season with the league’s worst record, 17-65, with losses in 26 of their last 27 games.
“I don’t even know who’s coaching the Wizards, but whoever coaches the Wizards,” one respondent said.
The lowlight of the Wizards’ season occurred on March 10, when the Heat’s Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in a 150-129 Heat victory. One of the players who voted for Keefe cited Adebayo’s 83-point performance for his vote, saying, “They should all be out of the league for that."
It should be noted again that this survey was conducted during the regular season, before the coaching carousel started to turn. Since the end of the season, Doc Rivers was replaced in Milwaukee with Taylor Jenkins, and Billy Donovan stepped down from his job with the Chicago Bulls.
Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors future is in doubt. After 12 seasons as the Warriors’ coach — with four NBA championships, a 604-353 regular-season record and 104-48 playoff record — Kerr might decide to exit.
Historically, the former Team USA coach has been one of the most lauded in our player polls. So it was somewhat surprising that 6.0 percent of respondents voted for Kerr as “least impressive” coach.
This season, however, Golden State faced injuries to Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry and went 37-45. Kerr also faced criticism for Jonathan Kuminga falling out of the Warriors’ rotation and not meeting expectations.
“I think he’s a great coach,” one of the players who voted for Kerr said. “I just thought the way he handled the Kuminga situation wasn’t very smart.”
Who is the league’s best defensive player?
Who is the league's best defensive player? (2026 Poll)
Who is the league's best defensive player? (2026 Poll)
Was there any question that Victor Wembanyama would be players’ top choice for the league’s best defender?
No. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that he only received 41.1 percent of the vote.
Wembanyama led the San Antonio Spurs to the league’s second-best record, 62-20, and he led the league in blocks, with 3.1 per game. Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren finished second among qualifiers in blocks, and Holmgren “only” averaged 1.9 blocks per game.
“He’s 7-6!” said one of the players who voted for Wembanyama, who is officially listed at 7 feet 4. “He just has the ability to cover up so many mistakes, including ones that he’ll make. Just his ability to erase mistakes is extremely impressive where guys drive in the paint and see him and turn around and dribble out. Like, no one does that in the NBA.
“But you’ll drive in, and you’ve kind of got a layup, and you see him, and you turn and go the other way. That’s crazy. … You know what the ending is if you do it. You can’t knock that.”
Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors received some love, too, finishing in a tie for fourth, with 4.0 percent of the vote.
One voter said of Barnes: “Able to guard one through five, steals, full-court (pressure), protecting the rim. He can pretty much do everything on defense."
By Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon, via The Athletic