Underrated NBA players who are having great seasons

In the interest of saving slides, we've consolidated the three outstanding Pacers — Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner and Bojan Bogdanovic — into one slide. Sabonis is putting up a highly efficient 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench on 61 percent shooting. He's a new age super-sub. Next, Turner is averaging 13 points, seven rebounds, shooting 39 percent from three and leading the league in blocked shots (2.8 per game). Finally, Bogdanovic is quietly scoring 16 points and shooting a scorching 43 percent from three.

Montrezl Harrell is another new age sixth man who is absolutely killing it this season, hustling and dunking his way to 16 points, seven rebounds and over a block and a steal per game. He's one of the most efficient scorers inside the arc in the NBA, shooting 63 percent on two-point shots. And if watching him dominate other teams' second units doesn't help you understand his impact on games, his 12th-best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the NBA will.

The Nets are right up there with the Kings and Mavericks as the most surprisingly entertaining League Pass teams in the NBA. They're young. They play their asses off. And they have a number of intriguing young players. Joe Harris makes almost every other three he attempts (47 percent) and has developed into one of the best three-and-D wings in the league. Spencer Dinwiddie is looking like a potential star point guard, averaging 17 points and five assists and enjoying his fair share of clutch moments. His fourth-quarter performance against James Harden and the Rockets last week was particularly impressive.

Unlike the rest of the guys on this list, Derrick Rose is probably going to make the All-Star team. (Who knew there were so many D-Rose "stans" still out there?) Does he deserve to play in the All-Star Game? Definitely not as a Western Conference representative. However, Rose is having an excellent season nonetheless, averaging 19 points and five assists per game. Even more stunning has been his shooting efficiency this season: He's shooting a hair under 45 percent from three! Hopefully, this season becomes the norm for Rose because he's still a fun player to watch when he's confident and healthy.

Watching Julius Randle bulldoze his way to the basket 10-15 times a night makes you feel bad for the players guarding him. Of the 30 players averaging 20 or more points per game, Randle is the only player who plays less than 30 minutes per game. If he were in the Eastern Conference and averaging 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists a night, he'd probably be in the mix for the All-Star team. 

Sophomore slump? Jumpin' John Collins has no idea what you're talking about. The former Demon Deacon has nearly doubled his scoring output from his freshman to sophomore season and is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds to go along with an impressive 21.6 PER. Collins' game mostly consists of using his athleticism to finish in the paint and above the rim on pick-and-rolls right now, but he's flashed the occasional ability to keep defenses honest from beyond the arc. He also has some semblance of a post game. If his game continues to evolve, he could be one of the top scoring big men in the league in a few years.  

Lost in his teammate De'Aaron Fox's leap has been Buddy Hield's jump. All of a sudden, Hield has transformed into a 20-point per game guy for the up-and-coming Kings. Hield's shooting splits are among the best in the NBA (48/46/86), and he's coming off one of the best games of his career this past Saturday — Hield scored 35 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and his three-pointer at the buzzer won the game. Together, he and Fox already form one of the most lethal backcourts in the league and should be a force in the West for years to come.

Pat yourself on the back if you called Kyle Kuzma emerging as the best of the four baby Lakers this season, because he was third or fourth in most people's power rankings at the beginning of the year. Kuzma and his score-first mentality has fit in nicely with LeBron James, as he is averaging 19 points and six rebounds in just his second NBA season. He still has a long way to go as a defender and playmaker, but he's shown flashes in those areas from time to time this season. It'll be interesting to see if he ends up being a long-term fit alongside LeBron or merely trade bait to get another superstar to L.A.

Here's a secret not many casual fans realize: Marcus Morris has been the best wing and second-best player on the Celtics this season. Seriously, check his stats and watch the enigmatic Celtics play. In fact, only Jayson Tatum could even make an argument that he's been better than Morris. Morris is averaging a super-efficient 15 points and six rebounds per game on 48/44/87 shooting splits while playing his usual effective defense. The team has thrived when he has started too, winning 15 of its first 20 games with him in the starting lineup. If the Celtics advance deep into the playoffs, we'll look back and point to Morris as one of the main culprits behind the team's turnaround this season.

The NBA's best free-throw shooter (95.7 percent) has put on an absolute shooting display this year. In half of a season, Malcolm "The President" Brogdon is comfortably on pace to join the 50-40-90 Club . Brogdon has developed into a perfect complement to Giannis Antetokounmpo as a highly efficient, multipositional guard who scores almost 16 points a game, collects some assists and rebounds and competes hard on the defensive end.

In his seventh NBA season, Jeremy Lamb is finally delivering on some of the promise he displayed as a prospect out of UConn. He has developed into Charlotte's only dependable secondary scorer and is averaging 15 points and about six rebounds a night. Whether he sticks with the Hornets or gets moved at the trade deadline, Lamb is a legitimate starting two-guard in the NBA (finally!).

Keeping with the UConn propaganda, Rudy Gay is another player quietly having a good season. After spending much of his career as the poster child of the tantalizingly talented small forward who never reaches his full potential (shout-out, Jeff Green!), Gay has carved out a niche as a small-ball four under coach Popovich. Despite tearing his Achilles as a 30 year old, Gay is still more athletic than most of his counterparts and able to use his offensive gifts to score 14 points and grab six rebounds per game on highly efficient shooting (52/41/85 shooting splits). Gay's emergence under Pop makes you wonder what could have been had he spent his prime in San Antonio.

Looks like somebody found the fountain of youth. After having his production and efficiency drop for a couple of seasons, a move to small-ball center seems to have rejuvenated Serge Ibaka's career. While he'll never be the rim protector he was at the beginning of his career with the Thunder, Ibaka can still make a significant impact on every game — as seen by his 16-point, seven-rebound nightly averages. The crazy thing is that Ibaka is still leaving some meat on the bone with his sub-30 percent, three-point shooting. Imagine if he got his long distance shooting back up to the 36 percent he shot last year.

Justice Winslow is beginning to show flashes of becoming the do-it-all stud whom Pat Riley thought he was drafting back in 2015. Playing in more of a point guard capacity, Winslow has increased his scoring from eight to 12 points per game and assists from two to four per game. He's playing bulldog defense and even shooting 38-percent from long range. Has Winslow finally turned a corner? Or, when Goran Dragic returns to the lineup, will Winslow regress to being the player he was during the first three seasons of his career?

Jerami Grant might be the least-known player on this slideshow, but he's an underrated one who has taken his game up a notch this season. Grant is an athletic, rangy and multipositional defender who fits perfectly in the Thunder's defensive frontcourt alongside Paul George and Steven Adams. Grant's game also has improved on offense, as he has upped his scoring from eight to 13 points per game while showing a more confident stroke from behind the arc (29 to 34 percent). The Thunder will need him to continue to put up consistent numbers to have any chance at contending the rest of the way.