What defines an underrated player? For the purposes of this exercise, I went with the following rules...
This is not about LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry or Giannis Antetokounmpo. Rather, it's focused on the players who are playing well enough to receive serious consideration but aren't quite locks to play in the All Star Game.
There's certainly a lot of variance with this season's trade deadline. On one hand, we could see some of the league's best players get traded (Anthony Davis, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Kevin Love).
Because of the stiff competition in each conference, there are more questions than answers as we approach the trade deadline and All-Star Game. Let's focus on 25 of the more intriguing ones.
How many NBA coaches who led his team to the most regular-season victories each year since the 1989-90 season can you name in five minutes?
The ultimate outcome of the 2018-19 NBA season still might feel inevitable to most fans. However, that is not to say this season hasn’t been without surprise.
As of the start of the 2019 season, the Kentucky Wildcats have 28 former players currently playing somewhere in the NBA. How many of the 28 can you name in five minutes?
Are Julius Randle, Domantas Sabonis, Montrezl Harrell and Marvin Bagley simply outliers? Or are they pioneers for a new age, star sixth man?
Throughout NBA history, 25 players have averaged 15 points, five rebounds and four assists during their first season in the league. How many of the 25 can you name in five minutes?
Believe it or not, we’re a quarter of the way through the NBA season already. As with any season, there have been a number of surprises, both good and bad, after the first 20 games.
Pegging the best pure shooter on every NBA team is easy in some instances (Kyle Korver on the Cavaliers) and extremely difficult in other instances (Danilo Gallinari over Tobias Harris on the Clippers).
The NBA trade deadline is one of the most exciting times of the year. There's a blitzkrieg of Wojbombs and Shamsbombs in the week leading up to it. Some years there's a ton of trades; other years, we just hear about how close so many trades came to happening.
Superstars, front offices, head coaches, prospects, future draft picks and cap space, but not necessarily in that order, were all factored into these rankings.
The holy trinity for winning championships in the NBA is made up of (i) great players; (ii) great coaches; and (iii) great front offices. While the players component is the most important of the three, rarely will you ever find a championship team that doesn't have high achievers at the other two.
Over the course of the 2017-18 NBA season, 33 different players had at least one game where they totaled 40 or more points. How many of the 33 can you name in five minutes?