The full 2024 Naismith Memorial
basketball Hall of Fame class is set to be revealed on Saturday, Apr. 6. This naturally got us thinking: Who are the active players, across each current NBA roster, most likely to get the Hall-of-Fame nod one day? This exercise is an inexact science. Certain teams have multiple Hall-of-Fame locks—or at least no-brainer candidates. Other rosters? Not so much. In the case of squads without numerous Hall-of-Fame inevitables, we will shine the spotlight on a single name. This becomes a dicey proposition for franchises populated by veteran role players and largely unproven prospects. We push forward anyway. To that end, this speculative party isn't necessarily meant to compare candidates on other rosters against one another. It's more about measuring their candidacy relative to history and then competing for inclusion among other in-house options So, which player(s) on every NBA team has Hall-of-Fame stock worth purchasing if you haven't already? My crystal ball is whirring to life, just itching to take a stab, sometimes blindly and in the dark, at telling you. Even as perception of Trae Young has veered from reverent to skeptical, he remains on an elite trajectory. Bagging three All-Star selections and an All-NBA nod before your 26th birthday is a big deal. And there's a real chance Young finishes his career clearing 25 points and nine assists per game—something only ever done, so far , by Oscar Robertson. Jotting down anyone else from the Atlanta Hawks doesn't quite feel right. Dejounte Murray is maybe now sniffing fringe-All-NBA territory. Jalen Johnson's Most Improved Player candidacy (prior to missing too many games) glitzes up his outlook but not to Hall of Fame extremes. Bogdan Bogdanović has (or will) perhaps do enough with the Serbian national team to earn consideration. I'm not sure. Clint Capela's runs with the Swiss national team are pretty nondescript. If there was a "Remains Way Too Important To His Team's Perimeter Defensive Scheme" Hall of Fame, Wesley Matthews would be a first-ballot entrant. But alas... The issue with the Boston Celtics isn't spotting Hall of Fame candidates. It's deciding on how many. Tatum is a lock. He's about to make his fourth All-NBA team. You won't find someone with that many nods outside the Hall of Fame. Brown's case is slightly more complicated. Then again, maybe not. He isn't the middle-of-the-ballot MVP candidate Tatum has become, but Brown earned an All-NBA bid last year and might get another one this season. He won't suddenly disappear from the annual discussion, and his status as a perennial All-Star bodes well. We are venturing into murkier waters with Holiday. But again, perhaps not. He's a two-time All-Star with five All-Defense cameos (and counting) and an NBA title under his belt. Holiday might be on the periphery now. Another championship, which isn't out of the question, probably seals it. Horford is the shakiest of this quartet. And yet, I'm confident he'll eventually get the call. Five All-Star selections to go along with one All-Defense and All-NBA selection apiece amounts to a splashy resume. Without considering the prospect of winning a title in Boston, Horford's case gets further strengthened by longevity and versatility. The latter, in particular, looms large. He is among the contemporary bigs who typified holding their own in space and against smalls, which prompted wide-spread searches for tall dudes of a similar ilk. Half a decade ago, Ben Simmons would have made this decision beyond easy. Back issues and general, perhaps-not-unrelated regression ensure that's no longer the case. Absent a smack-you-in-the-face option, we default to the Brooklyn Nets player most likely to enter the All-NBA discourse and/or be an impactful member of championship-winning squads. So, Mikal Bridges. Perennial All-NBA expectations have cooled on the 27-year-old. He could re-enter that fray if and when he develops better counters to double-teams and packed paints. Ending up in a different offensive role altogether would help Bridges, too. It'd free him up to resume contending for All-Defense every year, and slotting into Khris Middleton-type usage and status is both better suited to his (current) offensive portfolio and still conducive to racking up All-Star appearances and flirting with All-NBA honors. Ankle issues have derailed the past couple of seasons for LaMelo. He'll need to stay healthier moving forward to meaningfully enter Hall of Fame talks because, well, duh. But let's not pretend he hasn't established himself as a transcendent talent with a near-limitless. Players standing 6'7" who can pass and shoot like him don't grow on trees—not even interplanetary ones. And LaMelo's numbers already imply he's on a special path. Here's everyone who averaged at least 20 points and seven assists per game through their first four seasons: Tiny Archibald, Luka Dončić, Tim Hardaway, Ja Morant, Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas. If you're keeping score at home, that's four Hall of Famers (Archibald, Hardaway, Robertson, Thomas) and three active players with, at worst, Hall of Fame trajectories. Brandon Miller's inclusion isn't my attempt to be contrarian. Indeed, he hasn't yet wrapped up his first season, and his numbers don't scream "historically great rookie." Miller has, however, made good on preliminary Paul George comparisons. The work he's put in on defense combined with an operable three-pointer and pull-up mid-ranger signals future stardom. Hinting at the chance to develop into an All-NBA-debate mainstay so early is enough to earn Miller an honorable mention inside an exercise as inherently speculative as this one. Six All-Star selections and three All-NBA nods leave DeRozan just short of the baseline "inarguable Hall of Famer" criteria. But the combination of both coupled with his longevity should erase any doubt. Ditto for his career numbers. DeRozan is wrapping up his sixth season averaging over 20 points and five assists per game. Of the 23 other players with as many or more of these campaigns, Stephon Marbury is the only one outside the Hall of Fame or not considered a lock to make it once he retires. Include someone else from the
Chicago Bulls roster at your own risk. Zach LaVine will have the per-game lines to put himself in esteemed company, but he has a ways to go in the individual-honor and "clearly contributes to winning" departments. Nikola Vučević isn't a viable option even when factoring in his ties to the Montenegro national team. Coby White has a lot of ground to make up in the years to come even after entering the Most Improved Player running. Lonzo Ball might've been worth a dice roll if not for his left knee. Alex Caruso could command a cursory look...if he amasses a few more All-Defense selections...and titles. Mitchell doesn't yet have the accolades necessary to consider him a lock. Emphasis on yet . Five All-Star selections and one All-NBA appearance is a great start. If not for games missed this season, he'd be a shoo-in for a second All-NBA nod. Whether he pads his All-Star and All-NBA tallies isn't necessarily irrelevant. But his career production suggests he'll get in regardless. It also implies that he will, in fact, continue adding to his All-Star and All-NBA totals. Ten players have averaged as many points (24.8) and assists (4.6) as Mitchell through their first seven seasons. Seven of them are in the Hall of Fame: Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Tiny Archibald, Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade. At least two of the other three—Luka Dončić, LeBron James, Trae Young—are headed in that direction. The Cleveland Cavaliers have two other possible stabs if you're feeling frisky. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley have the opportunity to compile career portfolios that grant them entry into this discussion. But between Garland's uneven play since Mitchell's arrival and the continued search for Mobley's offensive ceiling and best overall use, adding them to the official list goes a touch too far. For now. Don't you just love it when the mission at hand is this easy? Dončić could retire today and be a viable Hall of Fame candidate once eligible. By the end of this season, he'll have a scoring title, five All-Star selections and five All-NBA appearances to his credit. But wait! There's more. Every one of those All-NBA bids will come at the First Team level. That is bonkers. There is not a soul with five or more First Team cameos who isn't or won't one day be in the Hall of Fame. And did I mention he's not done? There are more All-NBA nominations in his future. (He could break LeBron James' record 13 First Team honors.) League MVPs and titles could eventually follow. And his contributions to Slovenia's national team will offer further cover against a #CountTheRingzzz culture that, again, he has more than enough time to placate with actual ringzzz. Kyrie's status is more complex—subject to what-if rabbit holes galore. As things stand, though, he will have no trouble getting into The Hall. His resume features an NBA title, a gold medal during the 2014 FIBA World Cup, eight All-Star selections, three All-NBA appearances and one of the most pivotal made shots in NBA history. Not much time needs to be spent on Jokić's Hall of Fame case. He is an NBA champion and Finals MVP who's about to earn his sixth All-NBA selection and, most critically, third league MVP. That third (now-)Michael Jordan Trophy cements what was already an airtight first-ballot case when weighing not only Jokić's NBA accolades but all-time-great passing and even his play for the Serbian national team . Jordan himself (five), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Bill Russell (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four),
LeBron James (four), Larry Bird (three), Julius Erving (three), Magic Johnson (three) and Moses Malone (three) are the other players with a trio of Most Valuable Player victories. So, yeah, we're done here. Sort of. I grappled with whether to include Jamal Murray. He doesn't have any All-Star or All-NBA nods, but he's a champion with a smattering of big-time playoff moments and performances already in the rear view. Giving the benefit of the doubt to players with more of their careers in the books is easier. If Murray is healthier in the years to come, his candidacy gets more intriguing. Two cracks at All-NBA have arguably been derailed by Murray's availability. He missed all of 2021-22 with an ACL injury and won't reach the 65-game criteria this year. And even if you think he's a cut below All-NBA material at his best (debatable), he's shaping up to have a resume right in line with, if not slightly stronger than, someone like Mike Conley. This is the only choice amid a labyrinth of non-options. Spotty availability (and questionable roster decisions around him) have obfuscated Cunningham's long-term outlook. Almost his entire sophomore campaign in 2022-23 was torpedoed by a left shin injury. Cunningham's third go-round has been more encouraging. He's delivered encouraging signs as a scorer, passer and game manager after a rocky start and amid less-than-ideal circumstances. "Can he be The Guy ?" is a question that endures. And he hasn't exactly answered it in the affirmative. But the hope for him to transform into The Guy hasn't dissipated. LaMelo Ball, Luka Doncic, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and Trae Young are the only other players to average at least 22 points and seven assists in a single season before their 23rd birthday while making as many threes as Cunningham has this year. Two teams currently house four Hall of Fame certainties. The Golden State Warriors are one of them. Counterarguments for Curry and Paul aren't worth entertaining. Steph has four titles, two league MVPs, a Finals MVP, two scoring titles and nine All-NBA nods, with the opportunity for a 10th this year. CP3's case may enrage championship purists, but, like, you know, it shouldn't. He has 11 All-NBA selections, nine All-Defense appearances, six steal titles, five assist 'chips and two Olympics gold medals . His career isn't just a Hall of Fame formality. It puts him inside the greatest-of-all-time point guard debate. Green and Thompson have similarly airtight cases, though they might receive some push-back independent of their four championships. Any opposition will ultimately prove futile. Green is a one-time Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time All-Defense recipient who will go down as one of the most impactful and versatile stoppers in league history. He adds two All-NBA appearances and an Olympics gold medal for good measure. Thompson has racked up two All-NBA cameos himself to go along with one All-Defense nomination. If his official individual accolades pale in comparison to Steph and Draymond, that's only because, well, they're Steph and Draymond. What Klay "lacks" in formally recognized honors relative to his two running mates he makes up for in reputation as no worse than one of the five best shooters to ever step foot on the court. Anyone selected from the Houston Rockets will be in the infancy of their careers or a massive reach. There might be a slight push for Fred VanVleet. But one NBA title and All-Star selection apiece doesn't cater to logic when, at age 30, his heyday is either behind him or unlikely to last much longer. Amen Thompson is among the most appealing rookie-year temptations. He has "perennial All-Defense member who might dominate his way to a Defensive Player of the Year victory or two" written all over him. Still, despite his progression as an off-ball scorer, we don't have nearly enough information on his offensive trajectory to push his ceiling this high. That leaves Şengün. And even he hasn't played enough to instill much confidence. This is just his third season, and it's the first in which he was deployed as a high-volume focal point. On the bright side, shouldering that centrality looked pretty damn good on him. No other big man on record has cleared 20 points and five assists per game before their age-22 season. I went back and forth on whether Siakam has the current credentials and outlook to make the "Well, maybe him" cut. Two All-NBA appearances, a Most Improved Player award and a championship is a good start. But he probably needs another two or three All-NBA nods, at minimum, to beef up his case. Having just turned 30, time isn't his friend. It's not his sworn enemy, either. He's developed into a perpetual 20-plus-points-per-game scorer with the playmaking and defensive chops to unlock all sorts of lineup combinations that drive high-level team success. His window to become more than a long shot won't be open much longer, but it is, indeed, open. Haliburton is a more bankable option. His play post-hamstring injury may end up costing him his first career All-NBA berth, but at just 22, he has plenty of time to string together the necessary accolades. The plane of transcendence he reached for much of this season is the more important harbinger. For roughly half the year, he looked like a First Team All-NBA and top-five-on-the-MVP ballot lock. That doesn't happen by accident. Averaging more than 20 points and 10 assists while committing no more than 2.5 turnovers per game is no fluke, either. Not only is Chris Paul the lone other player to maintain those benchmarks for an entire year, but nobody aside from Hali has done the same more than once. Welcome to our second team with four Hall of Fame locks. Yes, locks. Kawhi is a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year who's about to bag his sixth All-NBA selection. His pinnacle is so transcendent it makes you wonder how he's never won a full-on league MVP. (The answer: availability, mostly.) Speaking of MVPs, Harden has one of them to go along with seven All-NBA nods, three scoring titles, two assist titles, an Olympics gold medal and Sixth Man of the Year award. His playoff foibles, both real and exaggerated, aren't keeping him out of The Hall. Westbrook has an MVP himself as well as nine All-NBA bids, three assist titles, two scoring titles and an Olympics gold medal. He is also almost single-handedly responsible for regularizing—and, therefore, numbing us to—triple-doubles. George has the shakiest case of the quartet, which is to say, he has no league or Final MVPs on his CV. Big whoop. Six All-NBA teams and four All-Defense selections is megastar stuff. He won the 2012-13 Most Improved Player race, too. Please forgive me for not rattling off the full breadth of LeBron's credentials. It would take all of eternity, and his Hall of Fame probability isn't up for debate. That won't stop me from marveling at his blend of longevity and megastardom. Four MVPs speak volumes. His NBA-record 19 (and potentially soon-to-be 20) All-NBA selections might be even louder. No one else has more than 15 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.) And then there's the whole all-time-leading scorer thing, a somewhat surreal feat when you consider he's known more as a playmaker than a scorer and the crowning play of his career is a chase-down block that helped secure the third of his fourth titles. Davis will engender some debates among those who care about...stupid-ass things like his head-to-head record versus Domantas Sabonis. Don't overcomplicate this. The bar for entry into the Hall of Fame isn't exactly backbreaking. And with a championship, four All-NBA selections, four All-Defense nominations, three block titles and an appearance on the league's top-75-all-time list , he is both guaranteed and deserves a spot. (He's also not close to done yet.) Early-career Derrick Rose pieced together enough accolades to earn the Memphis Grizzlies' pole position. He earned Rookie of the Year, an MVP and one All-NBA, plus three All-Star selections, before seeing his trajectory get blown up by knee injuries. Productive, albeit sub-star seasons, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and
New York Knicks help round out his chances. Personally, I'd rather bet on the unfinished portion of Morant's career. He's only five years into his NBA tenure and battled various availability issues (injuries and suspensions). But he has already scooped up an All-Star selection, All-NBA appearance, Rookie of the Year award and Most Improved Player honor. Not even 25, he should have tons of opportunity to expand upon his resume. Jaren Jackson Jr. earned more-than-brief consideration. A Defensive Player of the Year award, two All-Defense selections, one All-Star appearance and two block titles in six years is nothing at which to sneeze—particularly when he's labored through his own injury issues. Steadier offensive peaks on top of additional defensive accolades are Triple J's ticket to more serious candidacy. Right now, he comes across as too much of a reach. You can stretch the Miami Heat's pool of options to four if you believe midseason signing Patty Mills has accomplished enough with the
Australian national team . I can't quite get there. Mills' NBA resume is too modest even after accounting for the championship he won with the San Antonio Spurs. Butler is a lock. Five All-NBA and All-Defense selections apiece make sure of it. Love is far enough from removed from his best basketball that he won't be portrayed in the same terms. He should be. He helped write the book on floor-spacing bigs who rebound like whoa and belt out double-doubles in their sleep. The combination of an NBA title, two All-NBA bids, five All-Star selections, an Olympics gold medal and a FIBA
World Cup gold medal should solidify his shot at entering The Hall. Full disclosure: I don't have a great feel for what to do with Adebayo. Anecdotally speaking, he is a generationally versatile defender with standout two-level scoring and passing chops for a big man. Will he end up with the credentials to match the perception? I'm not sure. He has four All-Defense appearances, three All-Star selections and an Olympics gold medal but zero All-NBA nods or, through no fault of his own, Defensive Player of the Year wins. Possibility continues to abound for Adebayo. He improves by increments on offense every season, and a lack of appreciation in DPOY talks shouldn't create an illusion that he's anything other than an elite fulcrum. He gets the benefit of the doubt from me. Imagine trying to build a case against Antetokounmpo entering the Hall of Fame. I'm pretty sure you'd combust into flames mid hatchet
Job. Soon-to-be eight All-NBA selections are complemented by two league MVPs, a championship, a Finals MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year award, five All-Defense appearances, a Most Improved Player victory and, oh yeah, a championship. Giannis will continue adding to his achievements from here, but his Hall of Fame case is written in Sharpie. Lillard is less of a given. But he's still a given. Let's assume he doesn't win a title before retirement. That leaves him with, as of now, seven All-NBA teams, an Olympics gold medal and a series of clutch moments tattooed to everyone's memory that, in some cases, reshaped the entire NBA landscape (i.e. this one , and this one ). Some may be prepared to make cases for Khris Middleton or Brook Lopez. The latter's argument is a hair stronger. No one saw Lopez turning into an All-Defense mainstay, let alone a Defensive Player of the Year runner-up. Is that plus an NBA title and one All-Star selection enough to get him in? What about Middleton's three All-Star bids, NBA title and Olympics gold medal? In a league that shines the brightest lights on offensive feats, Gobert's defensive credentials arm him with the strongest Hall of Fame probability (so far) on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Three Defensive Player of the Year awards are already on his resume. A fourth is expected to follow at the end of this season. If the voting plays out in his favor, he will join Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the league's only four-time winners , and his Hall of Fame chances go from feasible or likely to automatic. Everyone else here is debatable. Conley's one All-Star and All-Defense selection apiece is underwhelming. But he has an extensive track record of starring on or tying together exceptional teams. If he keeps standing out into his late 30s, the longevity could play. Towns is often boiled down to the caricature of a star. People don't like his limited playoff track record (fair) or his declaration that he's the greatest big-man shooter of all time (he may not be right, but he's not egregiously wrong). None of this negates what he's accomplished. He is one of 15 players to have seven or more seasons of averaging at least 20 points and nailing 100-plus threes. Not only does his company generally read like a who's who of current and future Hall of Famers, but KAT is the only big man among these 15 names. Edwards lands here by virtue of his potential. He's probably going to make his first All-NBA team this year, but more than that, he continues to look like someone who can be the primary scorer and playmaker for an offense while contending for multiple All-Defense appearances. Excluding CJ McCollum feels dirty when he's averaged over 20 points and four assists for roughly a decade. But the complete absence of any All-Star and All-NBA selections works against him. Cases for Ingram and Zion aren't particularly convincing themselves. They're more imaginative than they should be for players with over three years of experience. Neither has an All-NBA nomination to their credit, and they have record three All-Star selections between them (two Zion; one for Ingram). Still, it's not hard to envision either of them getting over the All-NBA hump on multiple occasions. Zion's mystique is the strongest. Availability works against him, but when he's healthy, he's effectively the embodiment of "What if Shaquille O'Neal had on-ball wheels?" Zion also has a track record of reaching top-10-player status. That peak may have been short-lived, but he was a shoo-in for All-NBA and MVP-ballot-love in 2022-23 before suffering a hamstring injury that ended his season. Adding Julius Randle to this could-be-might-be ballot is fine. He may be a divisive talent, but two All-NBA selections don't happen by chance. I struggle to include him anyway. His skill set is such that it's mission critical under a very specific set of circumstances—like those championed by the New York Knicks. Brunson is an oddball candidate relative to the field. He just secured his first All-Star selection and is tracking toward his first All-NBA nod at the age of 27. But this season of firsts could be marked by a top-five finish on the MVP ballot, and his All-NBA case seemingly bottoms out at the back end of the Second Team. Registering as one of the 10 most valuable players in any given season is not something that happens by a stroke of luck. If these past two years are a sign of things to come, this won't be the last time Brunson party crashes the All-NBA and fringe-MVP discourses. He has now churned out multiple seasons averaging at least 24 points and six assists with a turnover rate below 10—something only ever accomplished by Michael Jordan. Brunson may have cannonballed into superstar waters late, but entering them at all changes everything. Less than two years ago, Gilgeous-Alexander's inclusion here would have been mostly conceptual. It is now plausible, bordering on a given. SGA is about to net his second First Team All-NBA selection and second top-five finish on the MVP ballot. Piecing together these accomplishments when he's operated as his team's focal point for three seasons is stupid ridiculous. Statistically speaking, there are a bunch of different ways to frame SGA's outlook. His combination of 30-point First Team All-NBA seasons feels like the most effective for both its simplicity and profoundness. *Clears throat.* Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić are about to become the seventh and eighth players to have multiple 30-point, First Team All-NBA seasons through their first six years. Their company: Oscar Robertson (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four), Michael Jordan (four), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (three), Elgin Baylor (three) and Jerry West (three). Including Holmgren won't sit right with everyone when he's yet to wrap up his first campaign. But he has a real chance to join Abdul-Jabbar, Manute Bol, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and, I assume, Victory Wembanyama as the only rookies to earn All-Defense honors. Even floating around the periphery of that discussion warrants this mention. (Scary aside: Jalen Williams might belong here, too.) This would be a far more substantive discussion if we could fast forward five years into the future for both Banchero and Wagner. We can't. Yet, they remain the only sensible options on the Orlando Magic anyway. Has Joe Ingles done enough for the Australian national team to get his own nod or beat out Wagner? Perhaps. But Wagner's peak in the NBA should exceed Ingles' pinnacle. The 22-year-old also just picked up a gold medal for
Germany during the 2023 FIBA World Cup, a feat that frankly anchors his inclusion. Banchero's way-too-early case is more cut-and-dry. Big men who handle the ball and attack with a meld of force, finesse and footwork artistry like he does are basically unprecedented. And the counting stats he's compiled in Orlando are special, right down to his ability to draw to fouls and function at an All-Star level without much complementary
shooting around him. Four players have averaged over 20 points per game through their first two seasons while matching or exceeding Banchero's assist and free-throw-attempt rates: Tiny Archibald, Grant Hill, Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade. Concerns over the prospective length of Embiid's prime are fair game. But he already has the catalog to be treated as a Hall of Fame lock. Seven All-Star selections, five All-NBA bids, three All-Defensive nominations, two scoring titles and a league MVP have that effect. And Embiid's not done. Lowry will not garner a Hall of Fame guarantee from everyone. That's closer to not OK than acceptable. He's a six-time All-Star and NBA champion. His criticality to really good teams over the past 15-plus years should offset the lack of All-League credentials (one) on his CV. "Does anyone else on the Philadelphia 76ers belong here?" is a question I'm still asking myself. Tyrese Maxey is among the scant few players who have averaged at least 25 points and six assists for an entire season before their 24th birthday. That matters. But his bar for entry is higher when there are two other certifiable options on the roster. Another couple years at this level, and this becomes a different conversation. Meanwhile, I won't pretend to know whether Nicolas Batum's extensive career on France's national team—and the handful of medals that come with it—necessitates his inclusion. Durant arms the Phoenix Suns with at least one Hall of Fame lock. Bouncing from market to market after leaving Oklahoma City does less than zero to detract from his case. He is a one-time MVP, two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and four-time scoring champion with 14 All-Star selections and 10 All-NBA nods (and counting) to his resume. He should finish his career a top-five-all-time scorer . And he has two Olympics gold medals to go along with a World Cup title. Deciding whether to include Booker or Bradley Beal was more of a chore. Beal somewhat immediately got the boot. His best days are behind him, so there's a real chance he closes his career with the three All-Star selections and one All-NBA appearance he has now. Contributing to a multi-time champion in Phoenix would go a long way toward boosting his case, but the Suns' current title window is finite by design. (And this presumes it's even open.) Booker graduated to non-negotiable status after some contemplation. He will earn his second All-NBA appearance this season, and at 27, he's only just entering his prime. If he retires with fewer than five to six All-NBA selections, I'll be floored. And that's before considering the statistical company he keeps. The list of players averaging or are averaging at least 24 points and five assists for their career is populated exclusively by current and eventual Hall of Famers. (Trae Young is the lone potential exception.) This is the default option for a Portland Trail Blazers squad without any entrenched names for consideration. (Apologies to Dominayton.) Including a rookie (non-Victor Wembanyama division) will always imbue a sense of awkwardness and prematurity, but Henderson is the lone semi-reasonable option. Running through this exercise prior to his NBA debut actually would've painted him in more favorable terms. Henderson was billed by many—including my Hardwood Knocks cohost and Bleacher Report teammate, Grant Hughes —as a generational prospect and the inbound floor general with the highest ceiling since Luka Dončić. A rookie season to forget amid right ankle (and left adductor) issues and plus-minus shenanigans is enough to prompt slight recalibration. It shouldn't rewrite the book. The Blazers did not have the talent, spacing environment or consistent roster availability to even begin maximizing Henderson. It's not like he hasn't provided exciting teasers, either. Crummy efficiency in mind, Henderson has shown the ability to score at every level, with changes in live-dribble speeds that allow him to find or create space in traffic. The vision is undeniable, the pull-up jumper looks good, and he deserves, let's say, a cubic zirconia medal for reaching the basket at an above-average rate relative to Portland's floor balance and the defensive attention he faces. Choosing between the Sacramento Kings' two stars is too difficult. They both, for the most part, exist within the same star tier. And they are both young enough to reach the unofficial threshold of four All-NBA appearances that seems to sew up Hall of Fame entry. Sabonis' case, as of now, is stronger. His contributions to the Lithuania national team give him a leg up, and this year specifically, he has the better All-NBA case. Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player to average as many points (19.3), rebounds (13.7) and assists (8.3) in a single season. That should be enough to wrap up Sabonis' second All-NBA cameo. And the comfort with which he makes it will be a good barometer for how he'll fare in future runnings now that the three teams are positionless. Fox has just one All-Star selection and All-NBA appearance and didn't add to that tally this year. I'm undeterred. He's juiced his utility as a perimeter scorer, by and large, over the past few seasons, but his entire-career numbers chart a course that should include plenty more All-NBA opportunities. Here's the list of every player to clear 20 points and five assists through their first seven go-rounds while hitting 50-plus percent of their twos: Fox, Larry Bird, Stephen Curry, Luka Dončić, Clyde Drexler, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade. (Ja Morant is on pace to join them.) Um, obviously. Wemby is
BREAKING basketball as a rookie, along with abstract notions of limitlessness, as a rookie. Offensive holes persist. His operating speed can be on the slower end when handling the ball. Whatever. He's a 20-year-old, 7'4" big man who has thrown some mesmerizing live-dribble passes and who ranks among the league's most efficient pull-up three-point shooters since the San Antonio Spurs began running him at the 5 all the way back in December. This says nothing of his defensive impact, which is ubiquitous and goes beyond the highlights (of which there are plenty) and total stocks (steals plus blocks). Wemby's very existence is restrictive. He disrupts simply by being on the floor. Winning Defensive Player of the Year right out of the gate isn't happening. Rudy Gobert has made sure of it. But Wemby could be the first player to nab First Team All-Defense honors in his debut season. And we know he's going to run away with Rookie of the Year at a time when there's another historically significant new kid on the block in Oklahoma City. Regardless of what awards he grabs this season, Wemby has established himself as an interstellar anomaly, the type of dominant force who, when all's said and done, could have multiple seasons in which he wins both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. And the body of success he's bound to turn in with France's national team makes an already-effortless call that much easier. Basically, when it comes to Wemby, it's impossible to speak in hyperbole. Unless you believe RJ Barrett or Kelly Olynyk will cobble together a body of work with Canada's national team that fuels Hall of Fame entry, there's only one reasonable answer here. For the time being, anyway. It's Scottie Barnes. Projecting forward is difficult even after the 22-year-old made an All-Star team and spent most of the year contending for Most Improved Player honors prior to his left hand injury. It feels like Barnes has already lived through three separate careers—three different versions of himself. If this season's version is any indication, though, his All-Star selection and Most Improved Player flirtation are the firsts of many individual feats. Combo forwards who can jump-start the offense and score at every level without shrinking the floor away from the ball while registering as their team's most important non-big defender aren't just rare. They are functional anomalies—the building-block dream inside many, if not the majority of, front offices. Barnes established himself as an up-and-coming version of this archetype...in Year 3. And even with usage that verged on existential crisis as a sophomore, his career returns still keep googly-eyed company. Michael Jordan and Ron Harper are the only other players to average as many points (16.6), assists (4.7), steals (1.1) and blocks (1.0) through their first three years. Absent an inevitable Hall of Famer, you're free to go the younger-player route when scouring the
Utah Jazz roster for this exercise. That would entail focusing on Walker Kessler, Keyonte George or, yes I'm going here, Taylor Hendricks. I'll stick with the 26-year-old who, in addition to being a mainstay on the Finland national team, has recently steered himself into All-NBA territory. Granted, this meteoric rise is only two years old and will culminate in zero actual All-NBA selections. But Markkanen is a Most Improved Player who has already earned All-Star love in a Western Conference that doesn't dole it out to just anyone. This is also the second season in which he will average north of 23 points per game while knocking down more than 55 percent of his twos and 39 percent of his threes. Across league history, just five other players have spit out more than one of these campaigns: Kevin Durant (five), Stephen Curry (four), Kawhi Leonard (three), Karl-Anthony Towns (3) and LeBron James (two). Landing on Kyle Kuzma or Jordan Poole for the
Washington Wizards might be the safer bet in a minefield of long-shot risks. Both already won a title and have the time and offensive skill for their 100th percentile seasons to generate All-Star love. Eh. Give me the player who, at 19 years old, has even more time. And whose even more of a mystery box. Coulibaly doesn't profile as a primary offensive engine, but he moved well enough off the ball, hit enough of his threes and provided glimpses into capable driving. Coupled with his defensive disruption—Andre Iguodala was the last rookie shorter than 6'7" to finish with as many steals and blocks—the Frenchman has the impact skill necessary to float "Is he second- or third-best player on a recurring title contender?" material. And speaking of
France, Coulibaly has the opportunity to be part of some special, medal-winning, Victor Wembanyama-headlined squads in the decades to come. Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on
Twitter ( @danfavale ), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes . Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com , Basketball Reference , Stathead or Cleaning the Glass . Salary information via Spotrac . Draft-pick obligations via RealGM .