The 25 best current NBA players under the age of 25

Age: 24 years old 

Unlike most superstars, Anthony Edwards' ascent to greatness has been fairly linear as he's improved each of his five seasons in the NBA, culminating in last season's performance: 27.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 4.5 APG on 45-40-84 shooting splits. After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ant Man has as strong as any claim as the best guard in the league. 

Age: 21 years old

He's one of the youngest and least accomplished on this list, but Victor Wembanyama is clearly destined for greatness and might even get some MVP votes this season if he stays healthy. After overcoming a scary blood clot issue last season, the 21-year-old apparently may have grown another inch or two this summer , which would make him damn near seven-and-a-half feet tall with and ungodly wingspan and a reminiscent to a young Kevin Durant on offense and a prime Rudy Gobert on defense. 

Age: 22 years old

While he doesn't possess the same passing instincts or top-end speed, Paolo Banchero is probably the closest facsimile to a young LeBron James. At 6-foot-10, 250 pounds, Banchero can overpower just about any player he's matched up against. And perhaps the best thing about Banchero is he's better in the playoffs than he is in the regular season, and has averaged 28 PPG, 8.6 RPG, and 4 APG on 45-42-71 shooting in 12 career games. 

Age: 24 years old

Cade Cunningham's position on this list improved greatly this past season after he finished seventh in MVP voting and averaged 26.1 PPG, 9.1 APG and 6.1 RPG for the surprisingly solid Detroit Pistons. The 6-foot-6 point guard still has plenty of room to improve around the rim, in his floater game and from three-point range too, so the four-year pro might just be scratching the surface of the type of player he'll ultimately be - and the Pistons must be thrilled about that!

Age: 24 years old

In last season alone, Jalen Williams made his first All-Star team, made an All-Defensive Team, an All-NBA team, dropped a 40-piece in the pivotal Game Five Finals win for the Thunder, and won the NBA Championship. That's one helluva year! Williams is the first second option on this list, but that's merely because he's playing with the MVP and arguably best player on the planet in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Age: 24 years old

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is a stud on the rise who made Second-Team All-NBA in only his fourth season last year for the top-seeded Cavaliers. Unfortunately, the Cavs fell apart yet again in the playoffs for the third straight postseason, so Mobley gets a small ding for that. If he continues to improve his three-point stroke (37 percent on 3.2 attempts per game last year) and secondary playmaking (3.2 APG last season), he could vault his way into contention for the best two-way player in the league.

Age: 24 years old

Tyrese Maxey is everything you could want in a lead guard in today's NBA. He can score at will (26.3 PPG last season). He's a good shooter (38.1 percent from three for his career). He's developed into a decent distributor (6.1 APG last season). And he's arguably the fastest player in the NBA with the ball in his hands. For his sake, let's hope that Joel Embiid and Paul George stay healthy enough for Maxey and the 76ers to have a fighting chance this season.

Age: 23 years old

Though his young career has been plagued by injuries - a foot injury caused him to miss his true rookie season, and a hip injury kept him out of all but 32 games this past regular season - Chet Holmgren proved himself to be a playoff guy in the postseason, helping the Thunder win their first NBA Championship. He was rewarded with a massive five-year, $240M contract this offseason.

Age: 23 years old

The Rockets' 23-year-old All-Star center, Alperen Sengun, is about to find himself under quite the microscope this season. Now that Kevin Durant is in town, Houston is a Finals contender. While that sounds daunting, I believe he's up for the challenge because he's supremely skilled - in the mold of Domantas Sabonis or even a little Nikola Jokic. Sengun's post-game and passing ability will lead to plenty of open shots for Durant and the rest of Houston's supporting cast. 

Age: 24 years old

Franz Wagner is another young player who is an All-Star-level player today, but could become a superstar if he started knocking down threes at a league-average level (he only hit 29.5 percent of his threes last season). He and Paolo Banchero are the Eastern Conference's new version of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and should compete for titles in the near future.

Age: 22 years old

Amen Thompson is already one of the best all-around athletes to ever play in the NBA. And he's only 22 years old. He took a huge leap last season, becoming one of the league's top wing defenders and expanding his offensive game immensely after his rookie season. If he makes a huge leap this season, it'll likely reveal itself in efficiency and playmaking, as there will probably be fewer shots to go around this season with Kevin Durant's arrival.

Age: 24 years old

If you weren't paying attention to the Blazers late last season, you missed a massive leap from Deni Avdija, who averaged 23.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 5.2 APG with 51-42-78 shooting splits during the final 20 games of the season. Avdija is also one of the hardest-playing players in the league, so this season could really open some eyes around the NBA.

Age: 24 years old

Is LaMelo Ball just a circus that is going to pass through our lives and never amount to anything important? Or is he going to mature into the All-NBA-caliber point guard he has the God-given talent to actually become? Is he ever going to stay healthy enough for us to find out? Whatever the answers to these questions are, Ball still belongs squarely in the middle of this list. 

Age: 24 years old

Do I like his contract? No way! But that doesn't mean Scottie Barnes isn't one of the best young players in the NBA. Barnes averaged 19.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 5.8 APG with 45-27-76 shooting splits in 65 games last season. If he can improve his shooting, he would play himself right off that worst contracts list and into All-NBA contention someday.

Age: 23 years old

After two uninspiring seasons, Jalen Johnson made a massive leap in his third season and continued that upward trajectory last season, averaging 18.9 PPG, 10 RPG, 5 APG, 1.6 SPG, and 1 BPG. The only issue that has plagued Johnson has been his health - he's only appeared in 184 of a possible 328 career games.

Age: 22 years old

After a very promising rookie season, Brandon Miller seemed poised to take the next step, but a serious wrist injury ended his season after only 27 games. Miller has the chance to become his era's version of Paul George - a smooth, high-level two-way player capable of being the best or second-best player on a contender. 

Age: 24 years old

Jalen Suggs is another player who has struggled to stay on the court during his young career - appearing in only 211 of 328 possible games. However, when he's on the court, he is an excellent defender and is developing into a very solid off-guard alongside the Magic's talented wings, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

Age: 20 years old

Stephon Castle is the youngest player on this list, but earned his spot by delivering a Rookie of the Year performance for the upstart Spurs. Castle is already a good defender and has the chance to be a Jrue Holiday or Andre Iguodala type of two-way, elite do-everything player for San Antonio. He's an ideal teammate for Victor Wembanyama moving forward.

Age: 23 years old

Despite appearing on the 25 Worst Contracts list, Jalen Green is still an electric young lead guard and still belongs on this list. Right now, he's trending towards becoming another Zach LaVine-type of player - a great offensive player with an occasional superstar-level ceiling. Most players with his type of talent hardly ever fulfill it completely, but Green is still young enough for us to give him the benefit of the doubt for another couple of years before we declare him another version of LaVine.

Age: 22 years old

Dyson Daniels emerged out of nowhere last season to lead the NBA in steals (3 SPG), make First-Team All-Defense and win the Most Improved Player award after increasing his scoring from 5.8 PPG to 14.1 PPG, playmaking from 2.7 APG to 4.4 APG and rebounding from 3.9 RPG to 5.9 RPG. His and Jalen Johnson's emergence has changed the Hawks' trajectory from a perpetual Play-In team to a frisky contender in the East.

Age: 24 years old

You probably did a double-take at Christian Braun's inclusion on this list...but you really shouldn't. He made a big leap from a production standpoint last season, averaging 15.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG with 58-40-83 shooting splits. He's also a very good defender and a proven playoff performer alongside Nikola Jokic. Lastly, Braun is extremely durable - through three seasons, he's only missed nine games.

Age: 23 years old

It's hard to believe that Josh Giddey is only 23 years old, as he's already had an eventful career through four seasons. During his first two seasons in Oklahoma City, he played very well and appeared to be a foundational piece. However, almost every player in the Thunder's organization outplayed expectations and accelerated their timeline much quicker than anticipated - especially their main offensive creators, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams - so Giddey became expendable, especially when it became clear that opponents weren't going to guard him in the playoffs. He'll likely return to Chicago and continue to be a lead guard, and hopefully develop a reliable jump shot in the near future.

Age: 24 years old

Though he has the reputation as a ball hog - which makes his market value difficult to determine - Cam Thomas is one of the best scoring guards in the game. He's built like a fire hydrant and uses his strength and quickness to get by defenders and get buckets or draw fouls. In the past two seasons, he's averaged 22.9 PPG in 91 games. 

Age: 23 years old

Though he's a bit of a gunner and ball-stopper in the league's most fluid offense, Bennedict Mathurin proved he could be a big game playoff scorer numerous times this postseason - scoring 20 points or more on five separate occasions. His best game came in Game Three of the Finals, which put the Pacers up two games-to-one. In that game, he put up a preposterous 27 points in only less than 23 minutes. 

Age: 22 years old

We're going off the beaten path a little with this last guy - Blazers youngster, Shaedon Sharpe. Sharpe is the best leaper in the NBA and has had a half dozen or so of the most jaw-dropping dunks in the league over the past couple of seasons. And while he's an inefficient scorer thus far, averaging 18.5 PPG as a 21-year-old, like he did last season, is nothing to scoff at.