The power forward position in the NBA will seem very different in 2023-24 compared to how it appeared between 20 and 30 years ago. The players who make up the top 10 are as versatile as they come on both sides of the ball, with newcomers emerging as potential stars daily and older veterans clinging to their spots among them. This is although newbies are emerging as possible stars every day. These 25 power forwards are at the top of their game and deserve to be called the finest.
The following list consists of the best 10 power forwards for the upcoming 2023–24 NBA season.
10. Evan Mobley
2022–23 stats: 16.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.5 blocks.
Evan Mobley has shown why the Cleveland Cavaliers want to build their team around him for the long term since he joined the NBA in 2021-22. With him in their frontcourt and Jarrett Allen at center, along with new guards and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers have been a playoff team with big goals for the future.
Mobley was named to the All-Defensive Team for the first time in 2022–2023. This was a well-deserved honor since he played well on defense against some of the league’s best big men and small forwards. Mobley kept getting better as a scorer and a rebounder, which shows that the Cavaliers will gain even more as he keeps getting better.
I think Mobley will take an even more significant step toward All-Star status in 2023–24, making Cleveland’s frontcourt one of the best in basketball. If he can add 20 points and 10 rebounds per game to his already great defense, the Cavaliers can be sure their team will be a real contender for the championship instead of going out in the first round again.
9. Paolo Banchero
2022–2023: 20.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Paolo Banchero was the first player taken by the Orlando Magic in the 2022 NBA Draft. By the end of the 2022–23 season, it was clear that they had made the right decision. Banchero was the first rookie to score 20 points per game since LeBron James, and he won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.
What surprised me the most about Banchero’s first season was his maturity. He played like a seasoned warrior. He took over games when he had to and gave up those responsibilities when he had to. Banchero made it clear that he and Fraz Wagner are the people the Magic should build their future around, and it looks like they will do that.
The Magic have a good chance of winning a title in the next five to seven years, and Banchero is the player who will get them there. If he keeps getting better at being versatile on offense and strong at both off-ball and on-ball defense, that prediction could come true much sooner than I thought.
8. Lauri Markkanen
2022–23 stats: 25.6 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.6 SPG, and 0.6 BPG
Last summer, Lauri Markkanen was sent to the Utah Jazz as part of the deal for Donovan Mitchell. Utah didn’t even know what was coming when they got Lauri. Markkanen made his first All-Star team after scoring over 25.5 points per game on 49.9% shooting overall and 39.1% shooting from three on over 7.5 tries. This was a big surprise.
Not only was it amazing to see how many points he was getting, but it was also amazing to see how he was doing it. Markkanen chose his shots and controlled the ball so well that we all asked, “Where did this come from?” He did so well that he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, giving Utah hope that they could rebuild much faster with him on the team.
I don’t think Utah will be able to keep up in the tough Western Conference, but they will be much better than most people think. This will be true only if Markkanen can play as well as he did last year or even better. From what I’ve seen, I don’t see any reason to think that won’t be the case in 2023 and 2024.
7. Pascal Siakam
2022–23 stats: 24.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 5.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 0.6 BPG
The Toronto Raptors had a bad season in 2022-23. They didn’t make the playoffs, finishing with a 41-41 record overall, and their hopes were dashed in the play-in game. This was not Pascal Siakam’s mistake. This was his second All-Star and All-NBA season since 2020.
Siakam again showed why he is a top-10 power forward in this league with his ability to score, grab rebounds, and make plays for other players. For the second straight season, he led the NBA in minutes played while missing just 11 games. This is the most games he has missed since the magical 2019 NBA title.
With a new teaching staff and Fred VanVleet gone, it will be up to Siakam to step up as the team’s leader in 2023-24. He might be the key to the growth of young stars like Scottie Barnes, who regressed in his second season. When everything goes well, he will be praised for the turnaround. If it all goes wrong, he will be the one to take the blame. With a boss like that, the Raptors should do everything they say to become a playoff team again.
6. Jaren Jackson Jr.
2022–23 Stats: 18.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 3.0 BPG
In 2022-23, Jaren Jackson Jr. had another great defense year. This time, Jackson was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year after helping the Memphis Grizzlies get the second-best record in the Western Conference by blocking 3.0 shots per game and winning his second straight blocks title.
Of course, foul trouble was a big problem for Jackson, known for taking chances on weak-side help. Even though that is a problem, it is easy to fix once you are older and understand it. On offense, Jackson got better at scoring, posting a career-high 18.6 points per game and shooting 50.6% from the field overall, which was also a career-high.
Jackson will be one of the key players the Grizzlies will look to in 2023-24 to help them get through the first 25 games without Ja Morant, who will be serving a suspension. Jackson can handle this task, as he had before when Morant was not around. If he can keep playing great defense and even get a little better on offense, Memphis should be in great shape by the time Morant comes back and be able to go deeper into the playoffs than in the last two seasons.
5. Zion Williamson
2022–23 Stats: 26.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG
If you think that putting Zion Williamson in the top five power forwards for 2023–24 is too high, I can not change your mind. Since 2021, Zion has missed 135 games and has been constantly attacked for being out of shape for basketball. Still, based on what I have seen of Zion when he is fit, he has all the talent and time he needs to be one of the top five players in the NBA.
Zion Williamson can be an elite scorer, rebounder, and defender when he is fit. He can also try to make the All-Star team and the All-NBA team on an individual level. On a team level, he can help the New Orleans Pelicans become a team with a chance to win the title. The only problem is staying healthy long enough for all these crazy statements to come true.
4. Karl-Anthony Towns
2022–23 Stats: 20.8 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 4.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.6 BPG
Karl-Anthony Towns had a hard time watching the 2022–23 season, mostly because he missed 53 games. Anthony Edwards and the rest of the Timberwolves’ team helped them get back into the NBA playoffs, even though Towns was hurt and did not fit in well with the team’s scheme. Towns would come back for the playoffs. In their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, he averaged 18.2 points and 10.2 boards per game.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have high hopes for the 2023–24 season, the second year that Towns and Gobert will start up front for them. With Towns healthy, this team could make much more noise than last season and be a real contender for the playoffs and maybe even the title. So that they can catch up with the best teams in the West, they will need to deal for or get a few more players.
Towns give Minnesota an edge for the 2023–24 season, but how they do on the court will be the only way to tell if it pays off.
3. Anthony Davis
2022-23 Stats: 25.9 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 2.0 BPG.
Anthony Davis’s next season with the Los Angeles Lakers will be the most closely watched of his career. Injuries hurt Davis and the Lakers’ hopes of winning titles in 2021 and 2022, but Davis had a comeback season in 2022-23. Davis missed 26 games, but he made up for it with a playoff run for the ages that came close to giving the City of Angels another title.
Davis played in 16 playoff games and helped his team get to the Western Conference Finals. He averaged 22.6 points, 14.1 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks in those games. We named him the best two-way player in 2022–23 because he played both ways well. Even though the Lakers did not win, Davis showed it was too early to write him off and set himself up for a big 2023–24 season.
I expect Davis to take over the Lakers from LeBron James in 2023–24 and make them his team going forward. If the Lakers want to get over the hump and back to the NBA Finals, everything they do on both ends of the court has to go through Davis. We have seen that he can be that player when the Lakers let him. Let us hope that people who are smarter than I am see the same things in the future.
2. Kevin Durant
2022–2023 Stats: 29.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 5.0 APG, 0.3 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Kevin Durant started the 2022–23 season with the Brooklyn Nets and finished it with the Phoenix Suns. Together, he had one of the best scoring seasons in NBA history. He scored more than 29.0 points per game and shot 55/40/90 percent, which was the first time.
Even though the 2023 season finished with a disappointing loss to Denver in Game 6 of the second round, Phoenix is one of the favorites to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the 2023-24 season. The main reason is that Durant will be playing with top scorers like himself, like Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, to make the best Big 3 in 2023–24.
Durant has become more than a top scorer as he gets older and gets better at defense and making plays. With all the attention he will get on offense, Durant can work on his skills to get the other two players more involved and make the scoreboard light up. If he and his teammates can fully buy into this three-headed monster they made and improve their general defensive play, the Suns can do anything this year.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2022–23 Stats : 31.1 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 5.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Giannis Antetokounmpo, our number one power forward for 2023–2024, was the easiest choice we have had to make in our category rankings. Giannis has been one of the best players in the NBA over the last few seasons, and he is the best at his position by himself.
Giannis is a great player on both ends of the court, which only some NBA players can do right now. For the first time in his career, he scored more than 30 points per game in 2022–203 and continued to be one of the best rebounders and defenders in the league. Do not tell Antetokounmpo that the season was a huge failure because they lost to the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
This offseason, Giannis gave the Milwaukee Bucks and their management an ultimatum. He said they had to fight for a championship every year if they wanted to keep him in Milwaukee. Well, that trip starts with his ability to play and ends with his health since his injury in the playoffs in 2022-23 kept them from winning. As long as Giannis is in the running for MVP, which he will be this season, the Bucks are just as likely to win the title as any other team. He will have to retake charge of the situation if he wants to win the NBA championship again.
