The NBA kids are doing well.
Damn, they’re better than okay. As a collective, they’re awesome, intriguing, polarizing, beacons of hope, all that.
They are also numerous. The league has so many great kids right now that whittling the field down to five Standouts is a twisty game of mental gymnastics, self-doubt, and existential disgust.
But this is the mission I was asked to accomplish. I chose, reluctantly, to accept it. And to properly frame it, I have concocted a set of criteria that both narrow the field and, I believe, faithfully reflect the spirit of the term “prospect”. The inclusion criteria are as follows:
- Players must not be over 22 years old.
- Players cannot be or have accepted their second contract.
- It is not a career ranking or the rest of this season. For me, it was these children who shone the most. so far in relation to expectations and their antecedents.
- You must be logged in at least 50 minutes total this season to make the cut. That leaves us with a field of 300 people under the age of 23 to choose from.
- Bigger, more proven names are eligible, but the bar for inclusion is higher, as they must rise above already glitzy or inflated reputations.
That covers everything. Let’s highlight some #young people.
Notable players aged 22 and under who have already agreed to their second contract
- LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets (signed maximum five-year extension)
- Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves (signed maximum five-year extension)
Players who would attract more attention if we wrote about Career Ceilings rather than early season strengths versus expectations and resumes
- Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
- Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
- Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic
- Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
These players are over 22, so please don’t be that person who goes crazy and/or inexplicably enraged, they don’t appear here
- Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
- Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers (23 years old)
- Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics (25, not 19)
Handing much of the offense to Scottie Barnes hasn’t always gone smoothly for the Toronto Raptors. But it allowed him to present a more complete package, reflected in the 21.5 points and 6.0 assists he averaged per game.
Barnes’ passing has improved. He is more patient when monitoring the floor from a standstill and more comfortable and decisive when dribbling live in traffic.
The scoring arsenal is both deep and effective. He could accept more contact and give up some fadeaways below the free throw line, but he’s more comfortable using his body to create separation on downs and backs to the basket.
His growth from the perimeter is a potential franchise changer. His three-point clip still sits above 38 percent and features an effective mix of spot-ups and pull-ups it’s heavy for attempts above the break. He also completed 68.4 percent (!) of his two pull-ups. Defenses will eventually play him tighter on these looks, but he’s past the full-throttle 0 speed needed to exploit crowded contests.
Speaking of defense, Barnes looks like a difference maker on the rise. He doesn’t guard the perimeter as often, which suits him. But he turns fence blocks into catnip. He made a league-leading five treys, according to PBP statistics.
Nationally, Scottie Barnes’ mega leap has many people wondering if the Raptors should trade Pascal Siakam. Really, the progress the 22-year-old has made should have us thinking about how many All-NBA teams he’ll make over the course of his career, across multiple iterations of a Toronto franchise built around him.
So many people gave the 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year award to a spindly giant from San Antonio before the season even started.
It turns out Chet Holmgren has other ideas.
The 21-year-old fits the Oklahoma City Thunder like a glove, averaging 16.8 points and 2.5 blocks per game on…(Prepare yourselves)—71.9 true shot. His floor spacing opened new frontiers for an offense that suddenly ranks seventh in points scored per possession. He won’t knock down more than 55 percent of his triples forever (54.2 percent above the break!), but the defenses are already closing in on him while he is far from the ball.
Holmgren regularly uses this attention to move into a hot-knife ground game. Defenders look genuinely disconcerted when he puts the ball on the deck and blows past them, sometimes adding a little courage to his handle for good measure. His 0.85 points per drive ninth rank among the 80 players who have completed at least as many as him.
Although he can be overpowered by larger front lines, Holmgren fights – and harder than he looks. He rumbles with thicker bodies on the glass, and he’s done a good job leveraging his hips to create separation when screening bigger bigs.
Then there’s its shot-blocking radius, which extends into interstellar space. It obliterates field goal attempts from every conceivable angle and spot on the floor. These are not simple cuttable reflections either. Holmgren leaves a significant defensive gap, instilling the kind of fear in opponents that causes them to take down mid-rangers rather than risk the three-point attempts he can hit or challenge him to the basket.
Alperen Şengün League Pass addicts predicted they would finally be here. And that accelerates the present and future of the Houston Rockets.
More of the offense is being run by the 21-year-old this season, and it appears that great on the player and the team. Şengün continues to set up teammates from all over the field. He can catch and go, facilitate out of the post and elbows, guard or attack from midfield, throw passes out of the short roll, throw entry lobs from the wing – the list goes on and on , potentially endless.
Equally important is Şengün’s development as a goalscorer. He shoots 14 out of 20 on drives and scoring 0.83 points by post-touch (from 0.53 last year) And 0.74 points by elbow contact (against 0.52). Nikola Jokić is the only one other player who made so many shots and distributed so many assists with his elbows.
Talking about free throws (60.9%) and three-pointers (33.3) would be very useful. But Şengün hits more triples than last year, which alone helps open up the field. His 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists 62.7 true shot are numbers that will make him soar, if not downright crash, into the party, the All-Star conversation if they take place.
Most important of all, the Rockets outperform their opponents of 15.8 points per 100 possessions with him the court. The team’s net rating without him? Minus-8.1. It’s still early, but this differential matches the eye test: Şengün was one of the most influential players in the NBA, bar none, early on.
Cam Thomas will be missed at least two weeks with a sprained left ankle, which is both disappointing (it was so much fun!) and relieving (it could have been worse). This absence, hopefully short, does not detract from the intrigue he has been fomenting so far.
If Thomas will continue to average around 27 points on career best live shot is questionable, not only because early-season noise remains a thing, but because it enters uncharted territory. His minutes have nearly doubled and his overall volume has skyrocketed. Scoring at this level all year is a tall order when you’ve never played 1,200 minutes in a single campaign.
And yet, the 22-year-old’s rise isn’t limited to raw numbers. It’s also about the methods by which they arrive. As we have already discussedThomas displays composure and patience with his live dribbling, monitoring and reacting to defenses in a way that suggests complete control.
Even a uncomfortably heavy mid-range workload – and suboptimal three-point shooting – don’t warrant fear of serious regression. Thomas explores different levels of the middle, varying the depth and speed at which he attacks on catches and gets around ball screens. From 15 players who have completed 100 practices, he leads the field in points per play.
It’s not immediately clear what the next frontier will be for Thomas. Live dribble passes are a big problem. Same for an enhanced clip from the depths. His defensive energy can always fluctuate. But the extent to which he shined without monopolizing the Brooklyn Nets’ offense is nothing more than a harbinger of more good things to come.
Look, in all honesty, I’m at a loss for words to describe Victor Wembanyama’s experience. He entered the NBA as one of the most highly touted draft prospects of all time, a surefire generational talent whose only obstacle to transcendent longevity was the qualifier “as long as he stays healthy” which, literally , applies to everyone.
Even by these almost unprecedented standards, Wembanyama exceeds…annihilate-expectations.
The counting statistics speak for themselves. And frankly, they scream “an all-time wonder in the making.” Wembanyama averages 18.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 2.4 blocks… in less than 30 minutes per game. His efficiency can increase from virtually anywhere, but he still drills nearly 52 percent from his twos, and while the sub-30 percent clip from threes is far from divine, the shape, fluidity and comfort of shooting both catching and shooting. dribbles are all positive.
Perhaps most captivating is the variability in the way Wembanyama plays. The San Antonio Spurs did not give him a finishing role. Most of his buckets take out assists, but he has the freedom to self-create. He also operates, on and off the ball, from everywhere: from the wing, from the middle of the field, from the post, around the basket, in transition, etc.
Wembanyama’s defense, for its part, is as advertised: supernatural. The blocks are cool and unreal and mind-blowing, but the way he moves has substance. He is already one of the players in the league most effective rim protectors.
What we are witnessing now are projectable universes. Wembanyama, at age 19, in his second NBA appearance, took over a game featuring Kevin Durant. He is someone, a child, without limits.
Honorable mentions: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Jalen Johnson
Unless otherwise stated, statistics provided by NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Statistics head Or Clean the glass and specific entry games on Friday, November 10. Salary information via Spotrac.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to Hardwood shots podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes.
