HoopsHype ranks Domantas Sabonis over a center that may surprise you

Heading into the 2024-25 season, HoopsHype took the time to rank their top 30 centers. No matter who you are, whenever you do something like this, you are opening yourself up to intense criticism and judgment. There will always be someone who disagrees with your list.

Normally, when we make a post like this on A Royal Pain it's because they underrated one of our players. Very rarely does a team site admit that a website may have overrated one of their guys. But hey, we aren't like other team websites!

Where is Domantas Sabonis ranked amongst centers?

In their rankings, HoopsHype had Sabonis (a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection) ranked fifth in the NBA among centers. The four they had ahead of him were Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Victor Wembanyama.

No one is going to argue with the top three bigs. Although, some people may raise their eyebrows at the soon-to-be sophomore Wembanyama being listed above him. Keep in mind thatthis list is intended to project how good these players will be in this season, not how good they were in the past.

Is Sabonis overrated?

This brings us to the main premise of this article. While I wouldn't quibble with the players ranked above him. There is one player I was surprised they had ranked below him.

If you hadn't already guessed, that player is Bam Adebayo. To be fair, Adebayo was ranked sixth, right after Sabonis. So, it wasn't that big of a misstep, but it is one that is still worth noting.

Anyway, while Sabonis is the superior offensive player (94th percentile Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus, per Dunks & Threes), it's not like Adebayo is a bad offensive player himself (65th percentile in OFF EPM).

Meanwhile, Adebayo is a much, much better defender. Last year, he ranked in the 97th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus (DEF EPM), while Sabonis was only in the 58th percentile (the year before that, he was in the 22nd percentile). This is consequential because defense is a lot more important for the center position than it is for any other spot.

Not only is Adebayo better than Sabonis at defense, but his style of defense (one that is incredibly rangy and versatile) is the exact kind you need when you are trying to make deep runs in the playoffs; hence, the Miami Heat continuously fielding teams that make it to the conference/NBA Finals.

Now, as we said, there will always be something to debate with lists like this. For instance, one could also argue that Chet Holmgren should be ranked ahead of Sabonis (heck, I may even aid in that argument). At the end of the day, Sabonis and Adebayo (and Holmgren) are all in the same tier of player. So, as long as we understand that, it's okay to have your own individual preference on who is better than who.

At the end of the day, at least we have a top 10 player on our roster!