NBA players who are making the leap this season

The halfway point of the 2018-19 NBA regular season has come and gone, and contenders for playoff spots and individual honors are separating from pretenders. While the NBA Playoffs are roughly three months away, as of the typing of this sentence, it already appears the Most Valuable Player Award race will be a two-man affair, at best. Meanwhile, conversations about who should win Most Improved Player versus who observers believe will actually win that award should make for fascinating debates on social media platforms and national sports talk programs. 

All should remember that players making leaps during the 2018-19 campaign may not necessarily be performing all that better than advertised or ahead of schedule. After all, fans and analysts alike expected the two front-runners to win MVP as of the middle of January would enjoy successful seasons all the way back in October, but their efforts shouldn’t be discounted just because they’re playing as well as hoped by fans of their clubs. 

Not all next steps are equal, but those taken by two MVP candidates over the first half of the season have us wondering just how much better they'll get between the coldest winter days and the start of the postseason. 

1. James Harden 

James Harden is a 29-year-old reigning MVP who not only deserves to be spotlighted here, but who also may be making a historic leap while carrying the Houston Rockets up the Western Conference standings. As explained by Bleacher Report’s Joseph Zucker on Jan.14, Harden broke a record once held by Kobe Bryant when he scored at least 30 points in 17 consecutive games, the longest streak since the ABA-NBA merger that occurred in 1976. Harden is not only on pace to finish well above his career-best 30.4 PPG, the number he tallied last season, but he also has some wondering if this will be the year he takes the Rockets past the Golden State Warriors and to an NBA title. 

2. Derrick Rose

While the other players mentioned here are making forward leaps, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Derrick Rose jumped back to his best days during his single season with the New York Knicks. By now, Rose’s fall from winning MVP and the betrayals of his own body are well-known among even casual fans. Those multiple injury setbacks that prevented the 30-year-old from ever reaching what appeared to be a high ceiling in the spring of 2011 are why his return to form and the fact that he may average more PPG over 60-plus games than he has since his 2010-11 MVP campaign make him one of the best stories of the basketball year. 

3. Pascal Siakam 

The most improved player on the team holding the best record halfway through January should be the favorite to win MIP, right? After starting in five of 81 contests last season, 24-year-old Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam averaged 15.2 PPG, well above his career-best average of 7.3, and nearly seven boards per game while starting 43 of 44 outings. The days of Siakam spending time with Toronto’s D-League affiliate feel like long ago. His growth at both ends of the court has been downright staggering. Per Sportsnet’s Josh Weinstein, Siakam began Jan. 14 12th in field-goal percentage among players averaging 25-plus minutes (57.2 percent), and he was 18th in the league in win shares (5.0). 

4. Julius Randle 

The New Orleans Pelicans hoped not having to deal with the pressure of sharing the rock with LeBron James would do wonders for Julius Randle when the club signed the 24-year-old last July. Granted, playing alongside Anthony Davis, a different type of superstar than the three-time NBA champion and all-time great, certainly hasn’t hurt Randle’s production. Randle, nevertheless, deserves credit for making the most of improved looks in his new system. He may finish the campaign scoring at least 20 PPG for the first time since he entered the league via the 2014 NBA Draft. He’s draining 30 percent of his three-point shots after shooting 22.2 percent from beyond the arc last season. Maybe the Los Angeles Lakers shouldn’t have let Randle depart in the first place. 

5. Spencer Dinwiddie

One couldn’t have blamed fans of the Brooklyn Nets for throwing the figurative towel in after guard Caris LeVert suffered a gruesome injury, one that fortunately wasn’t as serious as it first appeared, in November as he was headed toward a career season. Brooklyn, however, remains a playoff team as of the middle of January thanks largely to the leap made by fellow guard Spencer Dinwiddie. The 25-year-old who comes off the bench for the Nets should be a Sixth Man of the Year candidate even if his club finishes the season under .500, as he’s on pace to post career highs in PPG and field-goal percentage while also improving his three-point shooting from 32.6 percent last season to nearly 37 percent since October. In late December, Bryan Fonseca of Nets Daily suggested Dinwiddie could win Sixth Man of the Year and also be an All-Star in 2019. 

6. Zach LaVine 

It’s easy to forget guard Zach LaVine missed 11 months rehabbing a torn ACL before he made his official debut for the Chicago Bulls last January. LaVine’s extended preseason up through April 2018 barely gave glimpses of what was to come from the 23-year-old this season. He’s back to shooting nearly 46 percent from the field, where he was before suffering the injury that ultimately ended his tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he’s well on pace to finish with career highs in PPG, RPG and APG. He also attempted more free throws (218) in 37 games than during any other season to date, and he shot 86.7 percent from the charity stripe. As Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago wrote earlier this month, LaVine more than answered the call when both Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen were sidelined.  

7. Nikola Vucevic

Aaron Gordon generates more Orlando Magic headlines than teammate Nikola Vucevic, which is understandable since he, and not Vucevic, is guaranteed to be on the roster past the upcoming trade deadline. Theoretically, Vucevic is posting career bests in multiple offensive categories at the perfect time ahead of becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The 20.1 PPG, 11.9 RPG and 3.8 APG he tallied across 42 contests should make the 28-year-old an intriguing trade target, assuming there’s a market for him as explained by The Ringer’s D.J. Foster. We’d like to see the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers or Los Angeles Clippers call Orlando about acquiring Vucevic’s services.  

8. Jusuf Nurkic 

We in the sports world are often prisoners of the moment, but that shouldn’t lead you to ignore how well Portland Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic has played since the start of the new year. Yes, Nurkic had a fine opening half to the campaign, but he’s been on a different level in January, shooting over 58 percent from the field and averaging 17.3 PPG, 11.5 RPG and 1.9 BLK in eight contests, per ESPN. During Nurkic’s hot stretch, Eric Rigby of Rip City Project wrote that the 24-year-old is playing at an “All-NBA Level.” He’s right. Jason Quick of The Athletic (subscription required) also recently offered high praise for the center in his fifth NBA season. 

9. Giannis Antetokounmpo  

The only leap Milwaukee Bucks unicorn Giannis Antetokounmpo could make, as of Oct. 1, was into MVP status. That’s exactly where the 24-year-old who averaged 26.7 PPG, 12.6 RPG and 5.9 APG over his first 39 games sits in the middle of January. He shot nearly 58 percent from the field, well above his career average of 51.5 percent, over that same period, and he was tied with Rudy Gobert for the league lead in defensive box plus/minus (5.1) as of the afternoon of Jan. 15, per Basketball-Reference.com. Those not voting for Harden to win MVP in midseason awards have some explaining to do if they didn’t pencil Antetokounmpo’s name into that slot.  

10. De’Aaron Fox

Remember when the Sacramento Kings won 27 games and weren’t worth missing out on sleep for fans on the East Coast last season? Don’t look now, but the Kings are a legitimate playoff contender and also pretty fun to watch, thanks largely to the play of guard De'Aaron Fox. The 21-year-old became a revelation halfway through his second campaign, as he averaged 17.9 PPG and 7.3 AST while shooting over 47 percent from the field and converting 37.6 percent of his three-point attempts over his first 44 games, all starts. Fox’s blinding speed and offensive production are known to all who watch him compete on a nightly basis. As Richard Ivanowski of Sactown Royalty wrote earlier this month, Fox’s defensive contributions shouldn’t go unnoticed.