Key NBA players who have made leaps in 2025-26

2025 isn't a leap year on the calendar, but it sure has been in the NBA. So many players are markedly better than they were last season that it's difficult to even keep track. 

To highlight a few: 

• Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen is putting up career-best scoring numbers (30.6 PPG). 
• Minnesota Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels (17.7 PPG on 55-50-85 shooting) has stepped up in a big way to keep his team from losing much ground amid early season injuries.
•  Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (21.9 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 9.7 APG) looks like an All-Star. 
• Portland Trail Blazers wing Deni Avdija (26 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.8 APG) has maintained his post-All-Star leap from last season. 
• Players like Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell (16.7 PPG) and Milwaukee Bucks guard Ryan Rollins (16.9 PPG and 5.4 APG) have emerged from NBA obscurity and are important cogs in contenders' rotations.
• Various youngsters like Washington Wizards big man Alex Sarr (18.3 PPG), Jazz guard Keyonte George (22.2 PPG) and Miami Heat wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. (17.5 PPG) have all made serious scoring jumps. 

The following guys, however, have made even more important leaps —the type that will have major implications for contenders this season and the seasons to follow. 

Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs

Aptly nicknamed "Area 51," this Spurs duo has the future looking extremely bright in San Antonio. Wemby has taken his offensive game to new heights this season and is starting to realize his full potential — a symbiotic blend of Giannis Antetokounmpo's length, Kevin Durant's skill and Rudy Gobert's defense. 

In his third season, Wemby is averaging career-bests in points (26.2 PPG), rebounds (12.9 RPG), assists (4.0 APG) and is leading the NBA in blocks (3.6 BPG). Wemby's leap also passes the eye test. 

Everything about his body and game looks more mature, more forceful — he seems to have an improved understanding of when he can take a game over. It's been a big leap from Year 2 to Year 3, and the best part about it is that it certainly won't be his last one. 

With most of the attention focused on his extraterrestrial teammate at the start of the season, reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle caught everyone by surprise with his massive second-year leap. 

Not only has he improved his scoring (from 14.7 PPG to 17.3 PPG), efficiency (from 42.8 percent to 49.7 percent shooting from the field) and rebounding (from 3.7 RPG to 5.8 RPG), but he's emerged as a legitimate lead guard with a huge jump in his playmaking (from 4.1 APG to 7.5 APG). 

He appeared to be on the Jrue Holiday-Andre Iguodala trajectory after his stellar rookie season, but this immediate second-year leap suggests there's even greater potential in him. Perhaps we're looking at Scottie Pippen to Wemby's Michael Jordan.  

Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers

Can a player win the Most Improved Player Award twice in his career? Tyrese Maxey, winner of the MIP Award in 2023-24, has gone from being an All-Star-caliber player to a fringe MVP candidate this season. 

Maxey, who is leading the league in minutes (40.3 MPG), is putting up career-highs across the board: 32 PPG, 7.8 APG, 5.1 APG and shooting a scorching 41.8 percent from three on 9.2 attempts per game. His dominance, along with VJ Edgecombe's encouraging play, has allowed the Sixers to begin to transition out of the Joel Embiid era. 

Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets

It took all of one game to realize that Sengun was different this season. In the NBA's opener, Sengun dropped 39 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists while nailing five of his eight three-pointers. The new three-point stroke has been a revelation (44.7 percent). 

The jump in playmaking (7.4 APG) is obvious as well. And the fact that he's comfortable being the go-to guy in big moments (on a team that features Kevin Durant) suggests that the 23-year-old's ceiling is much closer to Nikola Jokic than Domantas Sabonis.

Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers

Well, it turns out that Austin Reaves can, in fact, be the No. 2, and maybe even the No. 1 offensive option on a decent team — as seen by him averaging 28.3 PPG, 8.2 APG and 5.1 RPG for the Lakers through 11 games. 

His production will obviously take some sort of hit with LeBron James returning, but he is playing with the confidence of an All-NBA guard right now, and that tends not to disappear even with a reduced usage rate. 

Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons

Despite only turning 22 years old later this week, Duren gives off serious "grown man" vibes. After having pretty similar numbers in his second and third seasons, Duren has exploded in his fourth season and is looking like one of the best young big men in the game, averaging 19.4 PPG, 12 RPG and shooting 64.7 percent from the field. He isn't just a nice rim-running, rim-protecting big man; he's a franchise cornerstone along with Cade Cunningham. 

Bonus: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

Yes, the best player in the world made another leap this season, and it's absolutely terrifying. He's taken his game to a level that, quite frankly, might put him in the GOAT discussion if he keeps this up. 

He's averaging a triple-double (28.7 PPG, 13 RPG, 10.8 APG) with 67-43-88 shooting splits and leading the league in RPG, APG and nearly every advanced stat — highlighted by a 37.9 player efficiency rating (which would destroy the previous 32.9 record he set in 2021-22). The Nuggets appear to be the only team capable of matching up with a fully healthy Oklahoma City Thunder (13-1) team that is tearing through the NBA right now. Be sure to watch as much Joker as you can this season because there have only been a handful of guys who have ever reached this plateau!