PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe lists his favorite NBA players and includes Kevin Durant after sitting courtside to watch the Nets’ win over San Antonio… but there’s no place for Steph Curry or Nikola Jokic in his top five list!
- The Frenchman was at Barclays Center with teammate Achraf Hakimi on Monday
- He chose LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Giannis as the league’s best players
- Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum came in fourth and fifth over league MVP Nicola Jokic
- Steph Curry, Joel Embiid and Donovan Mitchell were all omitted from the list
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French superstar Kylian Mbappe has revealed his top five NBA players, soon after he and PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi were spotted courtside watching the Brooklyn Nets beat the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.
Shared by NBA France on Twitter, the 24-year-old listed LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum at the top of his NBA player rankings.
However, the 2018 World Cup winner stunned basketball fans on Twitter by omitting two players who have dominated the league over recent years, including last year’s MVP — Nikola Jokic, of the Denver Nuggets.
French superstar Kylian Mbappe revealed his top five NBA players while visiting New York City
The high-profile soccer stars were both courtside in Brooklyn for the Nets’ win over the Spurs
The other player is the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who is currently out with a wrist injury, but is averaging 30 points in 34.4 minutes this season.
‘Strangely only guys team Nike/Jordan,’ a French basketball fan tweeted, while another wrote: ‘Disastrous ranking but it’s Mbappe.’
‘And Pat Beverley plays ping pong,’ a different NBA fan living in France shared.
‘Complicated to choose a top 5, you chose according to your preferences: Jokic, Morant, Curry, Embiid, Mitchell… The individual level is stratospheric this year,’ another fan pointed out.
NBA fans on Twitter speculated that Mbappe purposefully only chose Nike-sponsored players
Mbappe was gifted a signed jersey from none other than Nets star Durant after Monday night’s win and shared a picture of himself with Hakimi and the two-time NBA champion along with the caption: ‘Special Night’.
Hakimi and his 24-year-old teammate both reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with France knocking out Morocco before losing to Argentina in the final. In that game, Mbappe became only the second player ever to score a final hattrick, after Sir Geoff Hurst in 1966.
The duo then quickly returned from the tournament to feature in both of PSG’s opening two games since the international break.
Mbappe and Hakimi (2R) were afforded time off by PSG this week after a 3-1 loss to RC Lens
The French champions suffered a defeat in their latest match, shockingly losing 3-1 to Ligue 1 minnows, RC Lens, on Sunday.
Following that match, PSG manager Christophe Galtier said that he would agree to give time off to Mbappe and Hakimi in order for them to properly recover after being rushed back from Qatar.
The French coach could line up a starting XI without Mbappe and Hakimi to beat Chateauroux in the French Cup on Friday. PSG’s next Ligue 1 match is against relegation-threatened Angers on January 11.
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