The 2023 draft class was a massive success, with rookies like Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller looking like stars for their respective teams. The depth and variety in last season’s rookies was noteworthy, with some like Jaime Jaquez and Brandin Podziemski impressing for playoff contenders as later and older draft picks, while others like Amen Thompson and Dereck Lively shouldered big minutes as younger players.
That doesn’t even factor in Chet Holmgren, who missed what would have been his rookie season in 2022/23 with an injury. In most years, the competition between Wembanyama and other rookies would’ve been nonexistent, but Holmgren stepped forward as another star rookie who helped the Thunder secure the No. 1 seed.
In an article for ESPN+, Jeremy Woo takes a look at and ranks the NBA’s 10m most interesting sophomores. Woo’s list is subjective, so he didn’t include players like Jaquez, Podziemski and Lively since they don’t have as much to gain as others on this list in his eyes, focusing instead on players who hold more intrigue due to their upside
Unsurprisingly, Wembanyama (No. 1), Holmgren (No. 3) and Miller (No. 4) all rank highly. Woo has Houston’s Thompson twin ranking in at No. 2 though, explaining that he has the highest potential of any player on the Rockets and opining that he’s in an ideal situation for his development. Orlando’s Anthony Black also ranks highly as an impact player who has the potential to help shape the Magic’s future.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- After ranking other positions, HoopsHype released their power forward rankings ahead of the 2024/25 season. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the obvious pick at No. 1, but both Zion Williamson (No. 2) and Paolo Banchero (No. 3) rose after successful seasons. GG Jackson came in at No. 22 in the rankings following an impressive rookie season as a second-round pick. Jackson came in at No. 10 on Woo’s list of intriguing sophomores.
- The Celtics rank as an early favorite to become repeat champions after an offseason in which they retained all their key pieces and extended some. However, health and general luck could work against them next season, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report opines. No team has repeated as champs since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, so a Boston repeat is far from a given, even though they had a tremendous offseason. Pincus ranks the top 10 contenders in the NBA and offers arguments against each one winning next year’s title.
- Based on current projections, only the Nets and the Wizards will have enough cap space to offer a max contract next summer, as Danny Leroux of The Athletic observes. Leroux looks over the projected 2025 cap sheets for all 30 teams across the league, identifying the Rockets, Heat and Bulls as some of the more interesting cases in 2025. The Rockets could keep the roster together or might be inclined to part with Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green while opening up as much as $69MM in space. Meanwhile, the Heat’s situation is dependent on what Jimmy Butler wants to do, while the Bulls could create space if they move off Zach LaVine or Nikola Vucevic.
The bulls have to stop acting like they can find a way to move Lavine without giving up assets, they need to go all in and bring additional players in to make them a serious contender, remember they were a top tier seed before Lonzo went down. Though Lonzo is coming back and probably won’t be the same player, giddey is an upgraded version of Lonzo and can lead that offense.
That was with Derozan and Caruso on the team too lol they will be nowhere near contending