Kyle Korver ranks among ESPN’s top 75 NBA players

Kyle Korver is underrated.

This is a thought that has come across the mind of every Atlanta Hawks fan in the recent past, but on Wednesday, ESPN gave Korver quite a bit of love as part of their yearly series entitled “NBA Rank”. The worldwide leader in sports accumulates votes by their legions of NBA personalities and writers, and in the end, the group comes up with a consensus ranking of each active player in the league. On Wednesday, ESPN unveiled their set of ten players between 80 and 71 in the entire NBA, and Kyle Korver came in as the 72nd-ranked player in the league.

To provide some context to the proceedings, the sharp-shooting Korver ranks ahead of players like Ricky Rubio (73), Josh Smith (75), Thaddeus Young (77) and Arron Afflalo (78), and this appears to be a great nod of respect toward the now 33-year-old Korver. Last season, Kyle Korver led the NBA in true-shooting percentage (65.3%) and three-point percentage (47.2%), lending credence to his profile as a shooter, but it was likely the realization of his all-court contributions that gave the electorate cause for this level of respect.

There are still three members of the Atlanta Hawks who have yet to be unveiled, meaning that Al Horford, Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague will all rank among the top 70 players in the league. However, this is a space to respect the accomplishments of Kyle Korver, and with some additional love this preseason, we may see a shift from “wildly underrated” to “perhaps properly rated” for Kyle Korver.