The 10 players in the NBA with the highest 'Beerability' are ...

For the uninitiated, "Beerability" is a brilliant concept created by former theScore employee Derek Snider. Here's theScore's Justin Bourne with an explanation:

Beerability (BEER-ah-bill-ih-tee): A measurement that quantifies how much fun it would be to sit at a pub with a person and drink a bunch of beer. They should seem likable. Subjective.

It's pretty simple. You're at the bar, sitting and drinking with any NBA player. Here are our 10. 

Spoiler Alert: Nick Young didn't make the cut. It's true. "Swaggy P" talks a lot, but doesn't really say anything. 

10. Ron Artest Metta World Peace

I don't care that Mr. World Peace is no longer in the NBA, because he has to be on this list. If anyone belongs on this list, it's Metta. We can start there, actually: from Ronald William Artest Jr. to Metta World Peace. He's seen it all: from the stabbing death - with a broken-off table leg - of a player at a YMCA tournament, to majoring in mathematics at St. John's, to the Malice at the Palace. What isn't there to talk about? World Peace has taught us many things - most importantly, to thank your psychiatrist. It would be some night at the bar with him.

9. Steve Nash

Steve Nash is from Canada - he probably loves beer. His story - from high school ball in British Columbia, to Santa Clara, to Phoenix, Dallas, and back to Phoenix, and back-to-back MVP awards - is an incredible one. There's also his love for soccer, and his very open and honest discussion about the end of his career: 

I'd love to ask Nash over a beer: "Will you ever play NBA basketball again?" I can't promise I wouldn't cry.

8. Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant seems to be going through an emotional transformation of late. He's crying, he's vulnerable, he split with his fiancee, he's becoming a man. At 26, the reigning MVP is dealing with injury issues for the first time in his career, as well as some of life's bigger questions, which paralyze us as the years add up: 

I want to talk to KD about life. And free agency. Definitely free agency. 

7. Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard was selected sixth overall in the 2012 draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, but to watch him play with such a massive chip on his shoulder, seemingly the perennial underdog, it's as if he was never drafted at all. That's because he's embraced a "yellow-tape mentality:"

The people I work out with in the summer would always push me harder at the end of the workouts. They say, finish strong, kill it. The term they would use is "yellow tape." You know, when it’s a homicide, they bring the yellow tape out? I embraced that. At the end of games I enjoy that part. I have a yellow-tape mentality. Finish hard. Kill 'em off.

There'd be a lot to talk about. Lillard wears No. 0 because it signifies his journey: Oakland, to Ogden (Weber State University) to Oregon. His work ethic and desire to improve is legendary. What motivates Damian Lillard? I'd love to ask over a pitcher. 

6. Robin Lopez

Sticking with Rip City, I imagine a night out with Robin Lopez would be a college-like good time. One of the league's brighter personalities, with one of the best Twitter accounts, Lopez seems like he'd be a lot of fun to kick it with. Plus, you want Lopez on your side in case things get a little heated at the bar, especially - and I hate when this happens - if someone's dressed up like a mascot. 

5. Gregg Popovich and Stan Van Gundy

I'm going off the board again, but tell me you wouldn't want to be at a table for three with Gregg Popovich and Stan Van Gundy. You can't. Imagine two of the best basketball minds after some beer and, for Pop, some very expensive wine. Arguably the greatest coach of all time, and the guy who waived Josh Smith. Yeah, I think I'd learn some life lessons. 

4. LeBron James

LeBron James seems like an obvious, almost boring pick for this list, but conversing over a few with one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game is a no-brainer. From high school, to Cleveland, to The Decision, to Miami, and back home to Cleveland - what's it been like? How does he deal with the pressure? How did it feel to go from the most beloved athlete in America to the most hated, and back? There are so many questions.

3. Paul Pierce

Sign me up for a night at the bar with "The Truth." A 17-year career has likely afforded Paul Pierce countless stories about life in the Association, and being stabbed 11 times and having a bottle smashed over his head at a club probably makes for an excellent topic of over-beer conversation. It's almost easy to forget Pierce is the second-highest scoring Celtic of all time, with more points in green and white than Larry Bird. What would be better than getting at the truth from "The Truth"?

2. Kevin Garnett

I have a love-hate relationship with Kevin Garnett. There's no denying his abilities on the court, but the trash-talking really gets to me - especially the clapping in dudes' faces. "The Big Ticket" has some explaining to do, and what better scenario than over a few pints? I'd love to ask him about cup-checking Channing Frye during a jumper, and what exactly he said to Glen Davis that made "Big Baby" cry on the bench. Drunkenly shouting "Anything is possible!" a couple of times at the top of my lungs would be an excellent way to end the night.

1. Kobe Bryant

It had to be Kobe Bryant, for his sheer villainy alone. I'm not sure how much he'd talk at the bar - Kobe seems like he hates everything, and everyone, except basketball. But if a recent interview in GQ with Chuck Klosterman is any indication, "Black Mamba" has a lot to say, and wants to say it. Bryant, in that interview, comes off as incredibly self-aware. He knows he can be an asshole, a terrible teammate, and a less enjoyable person than others, without friends, but he's okay with that. He wants to win. He'll do whatever it takes to win, and it's that drive that I'd love to talk to him about. 

"I've shot too much from the time I was eight years old," Kobe told Klosterman. "But 'too much' is a matter of perspective." 

Honorable Mention: Russell Westbrook

This list would be markedly incomplete without Russell Westbrook, so he's on it. Too bad. He has to be. What he's doing this season is nothing short of extraordinary, and instead of "Beerability" in its true sense, what I'd like to do at the bar with Westbrook is watch a Thunder game with him - one that's already been played, in which he recorded a triple-double. I'd want him to break down the game for me, tell me why he attacked when he did, passed when he did, or pulled up when he did and rebounded when he did. There's nothing in 2015 quite like watching Russ play basketball, and I'd like to do it at the bar with the man himself.

Other Honorable Mentions

• James Harden
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Tim Duncan
• Vince Carter
• Matt Bonner
• J.R. Smith
• Nate Robinson