Zach Lowe of ESPN recently released his 5 most intriguing players for the upcoming NBA season, which included LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, Devin Vassell, DeAndre Ayton, and Immanuel Quickley. He explicitly mentioned the exclusion of superstars, rookies, and second-year players.
Digits will be replicating Lowe’s excellent article with rookies with the notable exclusion of any lottery picks; all NBA diehards are super excited and have locked in their idea to watch those players. The five rookies to watch while coming from outside the lottery. Note that this list will have no order.
Cam Whitmore
Once upon a time, Whitmore was expected to be a top 5 pick. Ultimately, he fell all the way down to #20, where the Houston Rockets selected the athletic freak from Villanova. In the Summer League, Whitmore must have made it an effort to prove every team who passed on him wrong, as he won Summer League MVP by averaging 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game on a 52.1 TS%. With KJ Martin being traded, that opens up some playing time for Whitmore. Just how effective can he be in year one?
Keyonte George
George likely would have won Summer League MVP had he not gotten injured. In three games, he averaged 21.7 points and 6.3 assists on a 66.5 TS%. He was just absurdly dominant offensively, getting practically whatever he wanted. The 16th pick out of Baylor could potentially put himself into conversations for a starter, as the guard room in Utah isn’t particularly strong. George’s offensive prowess seems likely to translate to the NBA level, and it’ll be interesting to see how well it translates in year one.
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Before even stepping onto an NBA court, Jaime Jaquez Jr. has survived major trade rumors. The UCLA product will be expected to play some role from day one on the Miami Heat, and the question for him coming into the season is how impactful can he be as a rookie? Jaquez was one of college basketball’s best players last season, so how well can his skill translate to make an impact on a contending Heat team? With the Heat holding onto him after striking out on Damian Lillard, there certainly are some higher expectations than originally expected.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper
Like how the Heat expect Jaquez to be able to make an impact, the Mavericks hope that the versatile, athletic Marquette product Prosper can do the same. Clearly, he has shown something to the Mavericks coaching staff, as in yesterday’s preseason game against the Timberwolves, Prosper joined Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in the starting lineup. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that he will be starting in the regular season, but it’s an awesome sign. How good can Prosper be for a team that absolutely wants to redeem their poor result last season?
Julian Strawther & Hunter Tyson
These two are grouped together because they’re a pair of teammates who will be playing for the reigning champions. Last year, we saw Christian Braun make an impact for the Nuggets as a rookie, so can either Strawther or Tyson do that this year? Strawther is a knockdown shooter who could certainly fit well in the Nuggets offense, and Tyson is coming off of a Summer League where he made All-Summer League 1st Team, as he averaged 20.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game on a 73.1 TS%. He was just absolutely awesome, so it’ll be interesting to see if that can translate to the Nuggets this season.
Charlie Spungin , NBA Analyst