Jimmy Butler and Paul George are no longer in the Eastern Conference. As if the East needed to get any worse.

Eight of the nine best players in the NBA already were in the Western Conference going into this year, and the West held a 246-204 edge on the East last season in head-to-head matchups. Since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls, the West has won 13 of 19 championships.

The one equalizer: LeBron Raymone James. The man who has towered over the Eastern Conference in winning the past seven conference titles is also the only steadfast presence for the East among the NBA’s best players. He’s been the Eastern Conference’s best player for 11 years, an insane run.

Butler probably was the second-best player in the East last season, when he really showed what he can do. George wasn’t far behind. So with the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers dumping their stars on the Western Conference, who’s No. 2 in the East now?

Let’s break it down, first getting out of the way the guys who aren’t really in this conversation.

The young guys: Kristaps Porzingis, Joel Embiid, Myles Turner, D’Angelo Russell

This group of guys gives the Eastern Conference some hope, though the Western Conference’s list of young talent might be better. Still, these guys are not yet up to the level of one player from their age range who we’ll get to in a minute. At least another year is necessary.

The old guys: Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose

A case could be made for Millsap and Horford still being in this conversation, but Horford’s no longer a go-to player and Millsap’s efficiency took a sharp dip last season. The other four don’t really have much of an argument now. All six of these guys — Wade especially — spent time at the front of this list in their primes.

The big men: Kevin Love, Hassan Whiteside, Andre Drummond

These double-double machines simply haven’t proven themselves to be quite on the level of the others above them on this list. Drummond, at 23, is still young enough to turn that around, but he’s struggled to find his niche on offense and took a step back last season.

The scorers: Isaiah Thomas, DeMar DeRozan, Kemba Walker, Bradley Beal

There surely will be objections to not including Thomas and DeRozan on the final list. That’s understandable. They’re sort of the inverses of Millsap and Horford, though; they contribute in one notable way and don’t do enough else to help their team. Walker’s the trickiest one to place on this list because he’s a smart, hard-working defender whose size is his only limiting factor. But all four of these guys are elite scorers who don’t quite meet the criteria to be actual candidates.

The real candidates

4. Kyle Lowry, Raptors

Lowry is the East’s Chris Paul, a 6-foot, 31-year-old point guard whose teams win a lot every year and who thrives when measured by advanced statistics. Over the past four seasons as a whole, there’s no argument against Lowry being the second-best player in the East — which is particularly remarkable because he had the best season of his career last year. The issue is that his performance has consistently dipped in the postseason, made especially obvious by those same advanced statistics.

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

Nobody will be surprised if “The Greek Freak” makes this an open-and-shut argument a year from now. He’s only 22 — younger than Embiid — and coming off his first All-Star appearance and a very strong first-round playoff series in which his team let him down. That all highlights why he’s not at the top of this list quite yet. It’s about track record and consistent success now for Antetokounmpo, who has a real shot to leap James and everyone else and one day become the best player in the entire NBA.

2. Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers

1. John Wall, Wizards

Oh, boy. These two have been compared for years, since Irving was the No. 1 pick of the NBA Draft in 2011, a year after Wall. They’re really great, exciting players with proven track records in both the regular season and postseason. Irving’s obviously been helped by playing with James, but Wall’s been able to carve out his own place because he’s the clear star for his team.

The differences are obvious. Wall’s a better athlete, Irving’s a better ballhandler. Wall’s a better passer, Irving’s a better scorer. Wall’s a proven top option, Irving’s an NBA champion as a No. 2. Even breaking them down by advanced statistics doesn’t help much: Wall has a slight edge in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus, while Irving holds the small lead in Basketball-Reference’s Win Shares. Their Player Efficiency Ratings were 0.2 points apart (with Wall ahead).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz7rh8KAK1Q

Even the defensive edge that Wall typically gets credit for is probably a bit overstated. Thanks to Wall’s heavy offensive load, he’s struggled to consistently showcase the elite defense we know he’s capable of playing, as Bullets Forever broke down earlier this season.

So why are we giving the edge to Wall? We’re splitting hairs here, but the biggest difference is a matter of circumstance. Wall is forced to carry a larger load in terms of both his team’s reliance on him and the leadership he must show. He’s busted every negative notion about him to become an NBA superstar. Now, Irving easily might be in the same position right now if he were playing on a team built around him.

But here’s the tradeoff: Play with LeBron James or get to be No. 1 on this list of No. 2s. Irving will take that any day.