If there’s a dead time on the year-round NBA calendar, it’s early August. As we all sit in a Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving-Donovan Mitchell holding pattern, all we can do now is start looking ahead to the information currently available. So I’m going to list the 10 players I’m most excited to see in the 2022-23 season. They’re all for slightly different reasons, but they all have a larger plot. Let’s get to it.
After playing in just 85 games over his first three NBA seasons, Williamson was given a five-year contract extension this summer that pays him $193 million guaranteed and is worth 231 It can be up to million dollars. There is a weight clause in the deal. Williamson could lose a portion of the guaranteed money if his body fat ratio and weight exceeds 295, but that is only triggered if the Pelicans waive him. If that happens, things will go completely off the rails.
For all intents and purposes, the Pelicans are willing to pay a guy who has struggled mightily to stay on the court for a big payday over the next five years. They are doing this because when Williamson Start He practically did not stop in court. His scoring performance has fluctuated between exceptional and downright historic. His ability to get downfield to the left, often starting the at-bat before the catch, when everyone knows where he wants to go, is extraordinary. The second jump doesn’t come any faster or more explosively than that.
Anyway, we don’t need the Zion scouting report. He is very good. And the Pelicans might as well if he plays 65-70 games. To me, he is the most exciting player in the league this season.
Enter it under the “For obvious reasons” ledger. After last season’s drama, Simmons’ expected return to the court may not have been much anticipated. First, is he mentally ready to play? The Nets teased that Simmons could return at the end of their playoff series against the Celtics, but then cut him off when they went down 3-0. Was it really just a physical problem?
I’m not sure anyone, even within the Nets, has a firm grasp on what to expect from Simmons. If Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving stay in Brooklyn, it would look like a great situation for Simmons, who won’t have to be the main creator/scorer and can focus on defense, transition, cutting/rolling and secondary creation. can. But does he have it in him to commit such a peripheral offensive role? So many questions.
If Simmons is on the court, everyone will be watching closely early on, and for me, I’ll be rooting for him. It’s weird for me to say. I’ve never particularly liked Simmons’ game and, like most people, I hated the way he handled his exit from Philadelphia. When everyone couldn’t stop raving about how unique he was, I couldn’t stand all the “I’m smarter than you” talk. Now that everyone thinks it might stink, especially in a playoff setting, I’ve flipped. Now I’m rooting for it. It is strange, but a number. The 1 overall pick at the maximum contract has actually become something of an underdog. I dig it.
If Murray suits up for Denver on opening night, it will be nearly 18 months since he last played in an NBA game after tearing his ACL in April 2021. Personally, I can’t wait to see him play again. Murray could be one of the most electrifying players in the league, and if he’s right — and especially if Michael Porter Jr. Also healthy — the Nuggets will be a top title contender. But how long will it take for Murray to get back up to speed? One thing Denver doesn’t have to worry about is continuity. Murray and Nikola Jokic should pick up where they left off as a tandem.
There are a handful of very interesting rookies that we’re all going to be tracking closely, but Holmgren is the most interesting to me. If you’ve seen him in summer league, you’ll know that his skill set is uncanny for his size. Will he maintain physicality? Are we making too much of his thin frame like we did with Kevin Durant? I can’t wait to see Holmgren take the floor for SGA’s drives and Josh Giddey’s demise. If he is the type of rim protector experts say, he may be very special right now.
Edwards is on the cusp of stardom. There is no more breathtaking athlete in the league and the charisma with which he scores is intoxicating. This guy legit believes he’s unstoppable, and he might be right. Let’s get that 35 percent 3-point number closer to 40 percent in the playoffs and we’ll be talking serious business. With the addition of Rudy Gobert, Minnesota is going for it. How great Edwards can be on a consistent basis, on both ends, will go a long way toward whatever “it” means.
Lillard basically took last season off. He says he is healthy now. The Blazers reshuffled their roster with Jeremy Grant and Gary Payton II to provide Lillard. Expected Adequate defensive support. Still, the only way the Blazers can become halfway relevant in the West is if Lillard becomes a superhero. We’ve seen him do this before. I’m betting he’ll use his powers again. Lillard is the closest thing to Stephen Curry. When it’s hot, drop whatever you’re doing and tune into it. And he’s on a mission to stay hot as often as possible this season.
Same deal as Lillard and Murray. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Leonard, who took all of last season off to recover from a torn ACL. There’s the excitement of just seeing him play again, and the question of whether he’ll still be a top-five player in the league. This is because he will be at least on given nights. Yes, there’s a cumulative injury history in the game here, but he’s still only 31 years old. With Paul George healthy and perhaps the deepest roster in the league, the Clippers are probably primed to move to the top of the contender rankings.
This is the third year for Wiseman. His rookie season left a lot to be desired. He sat out his second season. It’s time to see if all the hype the Warriors have thrown about Wiseman’s supposedly limitless potential is even halfway warranted. He won’t be Golden State’s starting center. That distinction goes to Kevin Looney. But he needs to be at least a real partner.
The Warriors have a big tax bill and potential contract extensions for Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole. Don’t rule out making a trade to avoid one or two of those long-term commitments, and Wiseman could certainly be included in such a transaction depending on the return. Either as a core piece moving forward or a key asset moving forward in a trade, there are plenty of eyes on Wiseman this season.
The Lakers, as currently constructed, and assuming LeBron James can still play like one of the best players in the league, have a chance to compete for a top-four seed: Davis. To be a superstar. For starters, it has to be on the court. He has played in just 76 games over the last two seasons. Limit his minutes to five. That’s right until playoff time. But he has to be great at all four.
Defensively, he has to cover a lot. Offensively, it mostly comes down to his shooting. If he continues to shoot 3s, it may not be at the 19 percent clip he logged last season or even the 27 percent from 2020-21. Bubble Davis was an anomaly, but the guy started last season as the league’s worst shooter with over 150 attempts.
Davis ticks off his performance on paper by attacking the post and rim more, but I believe there is an element of protection at play here. Hanging around the post all season is a lot to ask, especially in two big lineups without much shooting around the stars. The midrange is Davis’s cushion. He tends to over-resolve it and end up needlessly, but he often needs to stay in that area for practical purposes. There isn’t much room for error on this Lakers squad. Davis has to be consistently great. Frankly, this applies whether or not the Lakers get Kyrie Irving, though obviously if they don’t.
No one is quite ready to call Brown a superstar, but he’s not far off. He’s not so great that he can’t be included in trade discussions, but at the same time he feels too big, and too young, to actually trade. It’s a very fine line Boston is considering moving him at the potential cost of parting with a core star or giving up too early on a Brown-Tatum tandem that could provide more than a decade of real contention. But if they can get Durant? It’s hard not to think about it.
To me, Brown can make another leap this season. Whether that makes him attractive enough to the Nets to lower their asking price on additional assets or closes the door on Boston officially dealing him, who knows. But Brown has a superstar game. There are many nights when he is Boston’s best player. I love watching him play despite his (sometimes) butterfinger ball handling. To me, Brown is one of the hardest players to rank in the league. He is somewhere between All-Star and All-NBA. This season offers another batch of evidence that I’m eager to consider.
