The most intriguing player on every NBA team

We're about two-thirds of the way through the NBA season. As teams prepare for the home stretch, it's time we re-examine who the most intriguing player is on every team. For contenders, the most intriguing player could be an X-factor or younger player who will be thrust into an important role for the first time in his career. For teams at the middle or bottom of the league, the most intriguing player is more likely to be a rookie or second-year player who will get an increase in minutes and opportunity to establish himself as an important player for the franchise moving forward.

Notes: My early-season choice for most intriguing player on each team is denoted in italics. All statistics are accurate as of All-Star Break.

Original: Jalen Johnson

Jalen Johnson is still the Hawks' most intriguing player long-term, but Trae Young is their most intriguing player short-term because of the impending crossroads coming this offseason. Despite having insane numbers (26.7 PPG, 10.9 APG, 43-37-86 shooting splits), Ice Trae's style of play just isn't driving winning, at least during the regular season, as the Hawks seemed destined for another Play-In Tournament. There's also a ton of noise recently about Young being the guy the Lakers plan on pursuing with their increasing chest of assets this summer. Will the noise get so loud that it impacts Young's and the Hawks' ability to focus down the stretch? Or will it galvanize the team to start playing up to its potential? 

Original: Jaylen Brown

Kristaps Porzingis is having another very good season, averaging 20.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 1.9 BPG with 53-37-85 shooting splits. When he plays, the Celtics look like the best team in the league and the prohibitive title favorite. In fact, the Celtics are 31-9 with him in the lineup. The issue is, as it always seems to be, whether Porzingis will be healthy when it matters the most, whether he'll remain healthy during a long playoff run. It not only makes him the most intriguing player on the Celtics, but one of the more intriguing players in the NBA the rest of the way.

Original: Cam Thomas

There are nights where you watch Cam Thomas and think you are watching the best scoring guard in the NBA - he's had nine games with 30 or more points through 45 games this season. And he exploded out of the gates this season and was averaging 26.9 PPG with 48-32-85 shooting splits through his first eight games before spraining his ankle. He can catch fire at any time, but also gets to the free throw line at a decent clip for someone playing under 30 minutes per game (4.7 FTA per game) — a skill he's possessed since college. On the other hand, he can get serious tunnel vision and only averages 2.6 APG, and can get on the nerves of his coach (typically for defensive purposes). The Nets would love to see him use the last portion of this season improving upon his consistency.

Original: Mark Williams

After a slow start in the NBA Summer League, many people (myself included) were quick to chide the Hornets for passing on Scoot Henderson to select Brandon Miller (whoops!). Turns out, the freshman phenom from Alabama, was, in fact, the right pick and is looking like a young Paul George this season. For the season, he's averaging 16.1 PPG and 4.1 RPG with 44-39-84 shooting splits. And, if the last 10 games (23.8 PPG and 4.8 RPG with 48-42-89 shooting splits) are a sign of things to come, he could be poised for a Year Two leap into stardom next season.

Original: Alex Caruso

I cannot believe that I'm writing this, but the last segment of the NBA season will help the Bulls decide whether Coby White is a franchise player. That's right - Coby White went from being a rotation player with a little upside to a borderline star this season and is averaging an eye-popping 22.4 PPG, 5.7 APG, 4.8 RPG to go along with 48-42-83 shooting splits in his past 40 games. If he continues his ascend, the Bulls can move forward with him as their unquestioned point guard of the future.

Original: Darius Garland/Donovan Mitchell

The Cavs have stumbled out of the gates this season, then lost Darius Garland and Evan Mobley to injuries, then became the best team in basketball, going 18-2 in their past 20 games - most without Garland or Mobley. Garland and Mobley are supposed to be the Cavaliers' building blocks, and still are, but their respective stars have lost a little luster as of late. Garland is an excellent point guard, but is somewhat redundant with Donovan Mitchell. Mobley is an excellent defender and decent offensive connector for a big man, but needs to improve his perimeter game to reach his full potential. Both will need to find a way to enhance the team and help Cleveland perform better than last year's early (and ugly) playoff exit.

Original: Dereck Lively II

Dereck Lively II's college stats: 5.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.1 APG, 2.4 BPG in 20.6 MPG

Dereck Lively II's NBA stats: 9.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.5 BPG in 25.7 MPG

Good for the Mavericks for believing in Lively, because I sure didn't think he'd ever amount to anything more than being a Willie Cauley-Stein replica. Instead, he's got some Tyson Chandler potential in him, and he's already producing for one of the better teams in the NBA thus far. It'll be interesting to see how much Dallas trusts in the 19-year-old as it gets closer to playoff time.

Original: Nikola Jokic

This is ironic because Nikola Jokic goes out of his way to avoid being intriguing to anyone. Yet, he's one of the most fascinating players in the league because he might be one of the top-10 players in NBA history in the middle of his prime. Seriously, after winning two straight MVPs in 2020-21 and 2021-22, he led the Nuggets to a championship, won Finals MVP, and became the consensus "Best Player on the Planet." This season, he's once again the MVP-favorite and averaging 26.1 PPG, 12 RPG, 8.9 APG, and has 58-35-81 shooting splits. If he leads the Nuggets to another title this year, we're looking at no worse than a top-20 player of all-time. If he collects a couple more MVPs and titles, who knows how high he could rise up the rankings.

Original: Ausar Thompson

The lesser-known twin to Amen Thompson has some Andrei Kirilenko potential from the wing position. While his numbers don't jump off the page, much of that can be blamed on hitting a bit of the rookie wall as well as Monty Williams' bizarre coaching decisions in Detroit this season. His per-36 numbers are pretty impressive still: 13 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks. He jumps off the screen from an athletic standpoint and sees the court extremely well for a 20-year-old. I know Detroit fans were bummed out when they didn't land a top-three pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, but they got a good one in Ausar T.

Original: Andrew Wiggins

Turns out, calling out your coach publicly as a 21-year-old can really cause your career to take off!! It's true - Jonathan Kuminga told reporters that he had "lost faith" in Steve Kerr on January 5, 2024. In the 19 games since then, he's averaging 20.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.7 APG, and has impressive 57-39-78 shooting splits. He's emerged as the Warriors' second-best player, and given then renewed hope that they just may have another run in them this spring.

Original: Alperen Sengun

One of my favorite NBA memes is the one that compares Alperen Sengun, Domantas Sabonis and Nikola Jokic to the evolutions of the fire-breathing Pokémon: Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard. It was so apt... last season. This season, Sengun has evolved into Charmeleon and is no longer a poor-man's version of Sabonis — he's arguably better than the Kings star. Sengun is the best player on the upstart Rockets and is averaging All-Star numbers (21.2 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 5 APG on 54.1 percent FG shooting). 

Original: Tyrese Haliburton

Are you aware of what Tyrese Haliburton is doing this season? He's averaging an efficient 21.8 PPG and a league-leading 12.1 APG with 49-40-85 shooting splits. He's got Indiana on pace to post one of the best, if not the best, offensive rating in NBA history. If he keeps up this torrid production, any conversation about the best point guard in the NBA will have to include his name on the short list. 

Original: James Harden

James Harden's tenure with the Clippers started off horribly - 0-5 in his first five games to go along with some awful on-off court numbers (negative-15.5 per 100 possessions when this slideshow originally ran). Since then, the Clippers have been the best team in the NBA, and Harden is back to playing like an all-world guard. None of this matters, of course, if Harden has his usual flameout in the playoffs this spring.

Original: Austin Reaves

It was the Summer of Austin Reaves, who parlayed an excellent postseason into a nice contract and a spot on the Team USA roster, and excelled in the FIBA World Cup. Unfortunately, his ascent hit a bit of a wall to begin this season, and he was moved to the sixth man role for the meandering Lakers for a while. However, once he was moved back into the starting lineup, he started looking more like the Austin "I'm HIM" Reaves that we saw in last year's postseason as he is averaging 17 PPG, 6.2 APG and has 51-38-85 shooting splits over the past 22 games as a starter. The Lakers will need more of that to make another deep run this postseason.

Original: Ja Morant

Memphis' season has been destroyed by injuries, so let's go with a deep cut here: GG Jackson - the youngest player in the NBA. Jackson was a highly-touted recruit who reclassified and entered college a year earlier than expected, attending South Carolina last year. Unfortunately, his stock plummeted after an uneven season, and he fell to pick no. 45 in the 2023 NBA Draft. After spending much of his season in the G-League, Jackson was called up for most of January and February, and has shown a ton of promise, averaging 14.6 PPG and 4.3 RPG while shooting 42.1 percent from three on 5.6 attempts per game over the past 17 games. By the end of the season, the Grizzlies should know whether they have another hidden gem in the 6-foot-9 power foward.

Original: Duncan Robinson

As things currently stand, the last year's Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat, would once again start their postseason in the Play-In Tournament. While Jimmy Butler and company certainly don't have any issues punching above their seed once they get into the playoffs, the added variable of the Play-In, is always cause for concern. Butler, who is 34 years old, has missed a number of games already and isn't quite as impactful on a night-to-night basis in the regular season. The big question for the Heat will be whether he can summon Playoff Jimmy consistently enough in the playoffs to keep this impressive run by this iteration of Heat Culture alive.

Original: Khris Middleton

Remember Khris Middleton from the 2021 NBA Finals? Where has that guy been the past two seasons? Middleton was excellent during the playoffs and that series — a borderline Finals MVP candidate. Two-and-a-half years later, he can't recover from nagging injuries and is the fourth-option at best for Milwaukee. Is he in the process of regaining his legs? Or is this version of him who is currently averaging 14.8 PPG in only 26.3 MPG the new Middleton? The answer to that question will have an outsized impact on how deep of a run the Bucks can make this season.

Original: Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards is in the midst of a leap to superstardom, and there's no telling just how high he's going to ascend and how far he might carry the T'Wolves. He possesses elite NBA athleticism and is proving to be one of the game's best competitors despite only being 22 years old. If you told me he made an All-Defensive Team and First-Team All-NBA this season, it wouldn't shock me at all. If you told me he led Minnesota to the Western Conference Finals, it wouldn't shock me either. Edwards could and should be one of the faces of the NBA for the next decade. 

Original: Zion Williamson

He still looks like Zion Williamson, and moves like Zion Williamson, and plays like an All-Star... but something about this version of Zion Williamson is different than the player he was during his previous 90 games from 2021-23 in which he averaged 26.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 4 APG with a ridiculous 61 percent field goal efficiency. Through his first 44 games this season, he's averaging 22.4 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 4.8 APG, and he's only shooting 58.5 from the field. Considering the majority of his shots come around the paint, it would seem to suggest that he's either lost some athleticism or is still figuring out how to coexist with New Orleans talented roster. The Pelicans hope it's the latter! 

Original: RJ Barrett

RJ Barrett gets replaced by the player he was traded for here: OG Anunoby. Although he's missed the last nine games (and counting) with an injury, Anunoby was a major difference-maker for the Knicks from the moment he arrived in the Big Apple. In the 14 games he's been active, the Knicks are 12-2 and have one of, if not the best, defense in the league. Anunoby is also putting up an efficient 15.6 PPG on offense with 52-39-84 shooting splits. If he can return and continue to have this type of impact for New York in the playoffs, this team will be a serious contender in the Eastern Conference.

Original: Chet Holmgren

Chet Holmgren is obviously still a very intriguing player for the Thunder, and the guy who may ultimately decide how deep of a playoff run OKC makes. That said, their most intriguing player the rest of this season is Jalen Williams, a 22-year-old, who is making a massive leap and is a star, right now. His development story is Kawhi Leonard-esque, and he's averaging 19.2 PPG, 4.6 APG, and 4.1 RPG with 54-45-81 shooting splits. Compare that to Kawhi Leonard's age 22 season: 12.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2 APG with 52-38-80 shooting splits. Leonard made Second-Team All-Defense that season, and Williams will certainly be in the running for similar honors. I'm not saying he's the next Kawhi Leonard, but...wait, actually, I am!!

Original: Jalen Suggs

I must admit: I thought Jalen Suggs was going to be a burgeoning star by this point in his career back when he was drafted. He had an NBA-ready body and good athleticism, he rose to the occasion in big college games, and he seemed to be a tenacious competitor. Turns out, he's a stud defender, but his offensive game was nowhere near where it needed to be for the Magic to put the ball in his hands to run their offense. Now that he seems more settled in his role and shooting the ball with more confidence from deep (38.4 percent from three), he's starting to develop into a Marcus Smart-type of high-level role player for Orlando.

Original: Tyrese Maxey

Mr. Maxey began the season as the Sixers' most intriguing player, and remains the team's most intriguing player for the stretch run as most of that stretch run will be without Joel Embiid. Maxey made the leap this season, made his first All-Star team, and is the betting favorite for the NBA's Most Improved Player award. The Sixers will need him to, at the very least, maintain his his excellent production - 25.7 PPG, 6.4 APG, 3.7 RPG with 45-38-85 shooting splits - in order to maintain playoff positioning until the big fella comes back.

Original: Kevin Durant

Well, this damn sure wasn't going to be Bradley Beal. Unlike Beal, who rarely plays, Durant has played in 48 of the Suns' 55 games thus far and is the main reason the team isn't in Play-In territory. The 35-year-old basketball deity is as unstoppable as ever, averaging an eye-popping 28.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 5.7 APG with 54-44-87 shooting splits. Durant remains a fascinating player because the Suns should be trying to keep him healthy and peaking for the playoffs, but they'll probably need 65-70 games from him — something he hasn't done since 2018-19 — in order to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. What's going to give?

Original: Shaedon Sharpe

It's been a rough season for Scoot Henderson. The NBA game was a little overwhelming for him at his size and age, and he struggled to stay healthy early in the season. Those circumstances, combined with the franchise's bizarre insistence on keeping and playing Malcolm Brogdon over him, have caused Henderson to struggle much more than expected. That said, this last third of the season is a great chance for Scoot to get back on track. And if the past 14 games are a sign of things to come - 14.6 PPG, 4.4 APG, 40-35-94 shooting splits - then Scoot seems to be on the right trajectory after a very slow start to his career.

Original: De'Aaron Fox

Fox is the most intriguing player on Sacramento because he's the best player, and the Kings will go as far as he can carry them in the playoffs. We all saw last spring that Domantas Sabonis isn't the monster during the postseason that he is during the regular season, and that Fox, and to a certain extent, Malik Monk become the teams' two most important players. Can Fox be the 30 PPG, 6.1 APG stud with 48-40-72 shooting splits like he was through the first 26 games of this season during the playoffs? The Kings' hopes will depend upon it.

Original: Victor Wembanyama

The Spurs stink, but Victor Wembanyama is arguably the most intriguing watch in the NBA. Like the prospect he's so often compared to, LeBron James, he's going to have to endure a lot of losing this season, which will be tough on him, but it'll allow him to work through his mistakes, which will be important for him. Thus, the best thing to do with Wemby this season is to enjoy all of the insane stuff he does — like dropping 38 points while playing like a 7-foot-4 version of Kevin Durant versus Kevin Durant and posting a triple-double with blocks in a recent game against the Raptors. 

Original: Scottie Barnes

This season is and has always been all about Scottie Barnes' development in Toronto. They've run their offense through him more than previous seasons, and then traded Pascal Siakam away. Now, they have no chance of making the playoffs or the Play-In Tournament. The trade-off, of course, has been that Barnes has taken an All-Star leap as a player, and is averaging 20.1 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 6 APG, 1.5 BPG and 1.2 SPG with 47-35-78  shooting splits. He also made his first All-Star team, and has answered most questions people had about his sophomore slump. 

Original: Jordan Clarkson

The best player on the Jazz is obviously Lauri Markkanen. Their best prospect is Keyonte George. Their most intriguing player for the rest of the season, though, is Collin Sexton. After putting up somewhat empty numbers early in his career in Cleveland, Sexton has refined his game and re-emerged as an efficient scoring guard in his second season in Utah, posting an impressive stat line: 17.9 PPG, 4.6 APG and 49-39-87 shooting splits. He's found the right balance to also play alongside two other shot-first guards, Clarkson and George, too. After looking like he'd be an eventual trade piece, Sexton has a legitimate shot at becoming a building block for the Jazz moving forward.

Original: Bilal Coulibaly

The Wizards have two interesting players on their roster: Bilal Coulibaly and Deni Avdija. The rest of the lot are rubbish (besides Kyle Kuzma, who seems content to chill in DC and continue to put up meaningless numbers). Coulibaly is obviously a keeper, but is still a very raw player, especially on offense, so he ultimately isn't too intriguing the rest of this season. Avdija, on the other hand, has enjoyed a recent breakout, and is looking like a high-level role player, averaging 19.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 3.5 APG with 59-56-71 shooting splits the past 12 games. If this leap is a sign of things to come, the Wizards could have their wing situation - often the hardest type of player to obtain -  for the future already figured out, and can some bigger swings on high upside guards and bigs in the draft moving forward.