10 Most Intriguing Players in the Eastern Conference, 2025-2026
Oh my, can you feel it? That's the NBA season, and it is tantalizingly close!!! Christmas come early, some might say. So it's time for my favorite recurring piece. I wrote this piece in 2023 and 2024, and we're back again. Hat tip, as always, to Zach Lowe, as this is his construct. He doesn't restrict his to the East, and he doesn't consider star-level players, which are two differences. Also, he gets paid to write about the NBA, and I write when I absolutely have to have a break from my real job. So there's that. Plus, he talks to people around the league to get its pulse, and I talk to precisely nobody. Other than that, we're basically the same, ha.
I did this thought exercise twice, once on July 24th and once on October 5th. The second time I did it blind just to see if I would come up with the same names. There were five people I came up with both times. We'll do them second through sixth here. But as always, we start with a Celtic.
Josh Minott
The Celtics signed three players in free agency who appear likely to get playing time: Chris Boucher, Luka Garza, and Josh Minott. I have a good read on who Boucher is, and a decent read on Garza. I have no idea what to expect from Minott. He has played 10+ minutes in only 12 of the 104 NBA games he's played. Is that because he's just not very good? Is it because Minnesota didn't trust him, or because he became redundant positionally after the Rudy Gobert trade? Or is he a diamond in the rough? John Hollinger said "free Josh Minott!" on Zach Lowe's podcast earlier this week. I don't read Hollinger that much, but he said it with the tone of something he (and others?) say a lot. Maybe Brad Stevens has been waiting to sign Minott for a long time. Or perhaps he was the best he could do trying to put this team together on a budget for the first time. I'm just finishing watching the C's first preseason game as I edit this, and I liked what I saw tonight overall. I'm intrigued to see more!
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
The reason I am bearish on the Timberwolves and bullish on the Hawks this season is because of the same person – Nickeil Alexander-Walker. I think he was the most important free agent signing of the summer, and I think he is the last piece to unlocking the Trae Young Hawks. Last year, Dyson Daniels showed how the Hawks could thrive with a bulldog defensive guard next to Trae. But Daniels couldn't play all the time, and while Trae did show better defensive effort, he still got picked on when he was in and Daniels wasn't.
Now, with NAW, the Hawks can always have a plus, bulldog defender on the court next to Trae all 48 minutes. And you can go one step further and see a closing lineup of Young-Daniels-NAW-Jalen Johnson-Kristaps Porzingis that is super dynamic on both sides of the ball. It has the rim protector Clint Capela was supposed to be but never really was for Atlanta, plus three guys in NAW, Daniels, and Johnson who can cover basically any non-center on the court. And while none of those four is especially dynamic offensively, Young makes everyone better offensively.
Throw in second year Zaccharie Risacher, an improving Onyeka Okongwu, Luke Kennard, Caleb Houstan (I'm low key high on him), rookie Asa Newell, and holdovers Vit Krejci and Mouhamed Gueye, and I think Atlanta has a ton of quality depth. They were just missing one piece. One more highly capable defender who can hit his three pointers (.385 the last three years for NAW). One who takes care of the ball. Over the past two seasons, there were only 17 guards who played at least 3,500 minutes and turned the ball over fewer than 200 times. NAW is one of them. He can be trusted in all situations. Minnesota didn't always do that, and I think a lot of that had more to do with internal dynamics than his actual talent. In the Conference Finals, he was the only one on Minnesota who was able to guard his cousin, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
I think Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the missing piece for the Hawks, and while the Cavaliers may win more games in the regular season, I like Atlanta's chances in the playoffs better because of his presence.
Davion Mitchell
I love to mock "Heat Culture." You love to mock "Heat Culture." We all love to mock "Heat Culture." Until it sneaks up on you. Until the Heat land the living embodiment of "Heat Culture" in a single person named Davion Mitchell. After he landed on Miami, Mitchell was a revelation. He averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 points, with a .504 FG% and .447 3PT%. There were only two players who posted 10-5-.500-.400 or better for the entire 2024-2025 season: Nikola Jokic, and Mitchell's old teammate Damontas Sabonis.
Now, I'm not suggesting Mitchell is suddenly in that caliber of player. I doubt, for one, that he's going to hit 40% of his threes. But if he can hit 38% of them, and hit the other three benchmarks? You are going to have a player who is going to get the All-Star consideration that Sacramento thought they were getting when they drafted him ninth in 2021. And honestly, is it that hard to believe that Mitchell was not optimized on Sacramento – a team that had several other high-profile guards – and Toronto – which has been a disaster for a few years now? I don't think it is. I think there's a decent chance that Miami did it again.
RJ Barrett
Speaking of Toronto, I feel powerfully bad for RJ Barrett. The Knicks optimized themselves by trading him, and the rumors are already starting about the same happening in Toronto. I think that's unfortunate, because I see him as the adult in the room. I think Scottie Barnes is horribly overrated, and him believing he's NEXT has exacerbated the Raptors' fit issues, as has their management's mystifying talent procurement process. And holding it together as best as he can is Barrett, who quietly shifted his game right when he got to Toronto.
Barrett's Defensive Rebound % in his first four seasons in New York was 14.7%, and was 13.5% in 2023-2024 before his trade. The remainder of the season with Toronto, he put up a much better 17.8%, and then did it again last season, at 17.9%. The trend was even more clear with assists. His Assist% was 13.5% his first four seasons with NY, and then 12.8% before the trade. After the trade, it shot right up to 19.5%, and then was 27.3% last season. That ranked 26th in the NBA overall, and ninth among players 6'6" or taller, just ahead of Jayson Tatum, Franz Wagner, and Draymond Green.
One thing we don't talk enough about is just how much New York fans color a player's perception. In 2019, Knicks fans thought they were getting Zion Williamson or Ja Morant. Instead, they got Barrett, and when Barrett wasn't immediately the savior they felt they were entitled to, they soured on him, and he's always seemed vaguely disappointing since. But here we are six seasons later, and Barrett ranks first in his draft class in minutes played, first in total points scored, third in rebounds, fifth in games played, and sixth in assists. He's played 387 games. Zion has played 214. Ja has played 307. I know who I'd rather have. I hope someday Barrett lands in a situation that is a good fit for him and is able to change his narrative. I doubt it will be this season in Toronto, but I do believe that the only way Toronto will be successful is because Barrett levels up the team-friendly elements of his game once again.
Mikal Bridges
Speaking of New York and not meeting expectations, Mikal Bridges was about to be hog tied and roasted over an open flame last spring until he came up with two very clutch plays in Boston. He didn't do much of note the remainder of the playoffs. He hit some of those funky fadeaways that look tough but are just kind of his natural shooting motion. His 2.3 steals per game in the Boston was an aberration – he dropped right back to 1.2 against Indiana, who ran him and his teammates off the floor just as a media landscape that had completely ignored the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals was crowning the Knicks as runaway favorites against the Pacers. Oops.
In other words, Bridges had the kind of season that might cause a team to exercise a little caution. To ask him to prove it on the floor this season, and then we'll talk contract. But the Knicks are a) all-in on him because of the draft picks they gave up to get him, and b) were likely worried that Bridges was in his feelings about being a scapegoat (which they should have been, because he kind of was). So instead they gave him a four-year, $150 million contract that is just going to be incredibly, incredibly difficult to justify in this second-apron era. It matters less whether the Knicks end up over the second apron or not and more that spending $33 to $41 million on a non-All-Star player is a complete non-starter.
If Bridges doesn't immediately become an All-Star, this is going to look like an incredibly foolish contract that could cripple the Knicks just as they were getting their groove back. Bridges is now being paid like a top three player, and you could build a pretty good case that he shouldn't even be starting. If you put his production and Josh Hart's production in a blind sample, would you really take Bridges? You'd have to think about it. Bridges starts because he makes more money. That was true last year, and it will be true moving forward. One thing you can be sure of though, if his play starts to slip any further, NY fans are not going to tolerate it quietly.
Alex Sarr
Possibly you haven't given the Washington Wizards any thought recently. I wouldn't blame you. They have been bad for awhile, and are incredibly likely to be bad this season once again. But they are now an interesting team that has collected a lot of intriguing talent. In Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, AJ Johnson, Tre Johnson, Dillon Jones, Will Riley, Alex Sarr, and Cam Whitmore, they have nine players who were first-round picks in the last three NBA Drafts. Eight of those players range in height from 6'4" to 6'8". One is taller. That's Alex Sarr, who is seven feet tall.
Sarr was pretty raw as a rookie last season, but the team started giving him more responsibility in the second half. He averaged 26.9 minutes per game in the first half and a nearly identical 27.4 MPG in the second half, but his Usage% increased from 20.7% to 28.3%. Again, the numbers are raw, but Sarr is also in a category by himself. The list of 7'0" 19 year olds in NBA history who have averaged 10 points and five rebounds per game is two players long: Alex Sarr and James Wiseman. The only other 7'0" 19 year old to even play 1,500 minutes in a season was Andrew Bynum back in 2006-2007, and he only averaged 7.8 points per game. He'd grow a lot starting the very next season though, and five years later he was an All-Star and made second-team All-NBA before injuries derailed his career. Will Sarr realize the upside Bynum did? Will he be like Wiseman and flame out? Will he be like both and see his promise cut by injuries? I will honestly tune in to some Wizards games to find out.
De'Andre Hunter
The Cavs consolidated some depth to acquire Hunter last season. That put a little more pressure on him to perform in the playoffs. Instead, he vanished. In his three playoff seasons with Atlanta, Hunter averaged 12.5 field goal attempts per game. With Cleveland, he averaged just 7.9. Yes, he played fewer minutes, but that definitely was not the plan when they traded for him.
Now he's had a full offseason to get Cleveland's system, and he better, because there's going to be even more pressure on him this season. Max Strus is going to miss quite a bit of time to start the season. News came down this week that newly acquired Lonzo Ball is a) on a minutes restriction, and b) won't play back-to-backs at least for the beginning of the season. Though if I had to bet, I'd say that will last all season. The most reliable thing about Larry Nance Jr. and Dean Wade is that they won't play 65 games – Nance has done it just three times in 10 seasons, and Wade has done it zero times in six seasons.
I haven't done a hardcore breakdown of the Cavs' minutes projections, but add all of that up and it sounds like there's going to need to be a lot more De'Andre Hunter, and that just has never been a recipe for success. And if it isn't, the Cavs may not be as sure thing as people think.
Jaden Ivey
If there was one player who had a lot of Ewing Theory potential last season, it was Jaden Ivey. When Ivey got hurt last season, it was in a game where he was really great – 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting – but the win brought the Pistons to just 15-18. They would go 29-20 for the remainder of the season, and give the Knicks all they could handle. I am certain there are a wide swath of Pistons fans who believe that if Josh Hart had been called for that one foul, and if the refs had seen Jalen Brunson push Ausur Thompson out of the way on that one shot, that the Pistons would have beaten them. Alas.
The question is whether Ivey is going to help the Pistons level up into a top-four team, or if his presence is going to hinder the Cade Cunningam-centric team they became down the stretch. I believe it will be the former, because I think the real reason the Pistons lost to the Knicks is that down the stretch, the Knicks just isolated OG Anunoby on Cunningham and suddenly the Pistons had zero offense. Ivey changes that equation. And Ivey was playing a lot better last season when he got hurt. But as long as he's fully healthy, he's out of time and excuses. If he continues the leap it looked he was taking last season, Detroit is a dangerous, dangerous team. If he doesn't, I think he's traded in February. Either way, it's a pivotal season for him.
Jalen Suggs
At the start of last season, I wrote "One thing I am pretty sure of is that Jalen Suggs is not a point guard." Suggs then went out and averaged a paltry 3.7 assists per game. And yet, the Magic seem poised to roll him out as the starting point guard once again, alongside Paulo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Franz Wagner, and a big. The team signed Tyus Jones to move the ball around a little more, but Jones does not have the build to fit their ultra-aggressive defensive mentality, which leaves me doubting that he plays fourth quarter minutes, as I wrote back in June. That leaves the ball back in Suggs' hands. I'm pretty convinced that is going to work out poorly for the Magic offense. Suggs is entering his fifth NBA season, but if you want to be generous, you could say in his first four seasons he's only really played two and a half seasons worth of games. So maybe he has some room to grow as a playmaker. The Magic certainly have to hope he can.
Andrew Nembhard
Here's my theory. It's a very simple theory. My theory is that Andrew Nembhard is capable of being an All-Star. The question is which sample of his three-point shooting is more real. In three regular seasons, Nembhard has attempted 609 three pointers, and hit 33.5% of them. Solid, but very far from All-Star worthy. In two playoff seasons, Nembhard has attempted 146 three pointers, and hit 47.3% of them. That is otherworldly. In fact, it is No. 1. In NBA playoff history, there are 287 players who have attempted at least 140 threes, and Nembhard's 3PT% is literally No. 1. Which is real? If you have to pick, you'd pick the regular season, because the sample is much larger. But how do you explain the gap, and can Nembhard shoot better in the regular season? If he can do so, and combine that with his excellent defense, tight handle, and overall floor general skills...watch out.
Other Players Considered
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