Karl-Anthony Towns off to better start than Anthony Edwards, ratings say

Towns is shooting 57.1% from 3-point range and averaging 13 rebounds per game.

Nov 6, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) passes the ball against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Anthony Edwards is unquestionably one of the best basketball players in the world. It's almost impossible to argue against him being a top-15 player on the planet. His impact as a scorer, defender and leader is immense. With all that on the table, there's a respected, subjective list that puts Karl-Anthony Towns well ahead of him on the early 2024-25 player rankings.

What? Seriously? HoopsHype's Global Player Rankings puts Edwards at No. 20 in the NBA so far this season. His teammate, Julius Randle, ranks 19th. Towns is well ahead of them both at No. 10 overall.

Edwards is averaging 27.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 45.3% from 3-point range. Towns is averaging 23.1 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 57.1% from 3.

Death, taxes and Nikola Jokic at No. 1 in HoopsHype's Global Rating. pic.twitter.com/rmR4dm3yV0

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 7, 2024

Here's how the rankings are determined?

"Global Rating is the main metric HoopsHype uses to track the performance of basketball players all around the world," HoopsHype explains, "it combines players’ and teams’ statistics to rank players according to their productivity on the court. The amount of games a player has missed in a certain season or competition is also factored in."

Minnesota (4-3) has played just seven games and not everyone has been firing on all cylinders. Per the HoopsHype ratings, the top eight players on the Timberwolves so far are, in order, Randle, Edwards, Naz Reid, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaden McDaniels.

League wide, Randle (19) and Edwards (20) are two of four Wolves in the top 100 of the ratings. Reid (53) and Gobert (67) are the others, while Conley (136), DiVincenzo (145), Alexander-Walker (146) and McDaniels (204) are off to slow starts.

Cleveland, off to an undefeated start at 8-0, leads the NBA with six players in the top 100. In fact, all six are in the top 70. Boston, Denver, Golden State, New York, Oklahoma City and Phoenix all have five players in the top 100.