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20 NBA Players Who Were Even Better Than You Remember
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- 20 NBA Players Who Were Even Better Than You Remember
Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond dribbles in 2018. | USA TODAY Sports
How do we make a list of underrated NBA players interesting? Well, we do it by dividing it into two parts: the first ten names (20-11) on this list are non-All-Stars, guys I think had better careers than their lack of awards suggests or have something intriguing or notable to point out about them. The back ten (10-1) are much better players, some All-Stars (10-8), some all-time greats (7-2) and one ... interesting case (1), who I personally believe are underrated for various cultural, analytical or philosophical reasons. This is very much a Millennial/Gen-Z NBA era list, because that is the era that I actually watched, and I'm not going to lecture you about why Jerry West is underrated just because I scrolled through his Basketball Reference page. There is one guy I didn't watch, though, but I think you'll forgive that one. Onwards!
20. Lou Williams
"Oh hey, Lou Williams won Sixth Man of the Year again" became this strange experience in the late 2010s-he won it in 2015 while on the Raptors and then twice in a row on the Clippers, and the Lou Williams PR department was absolutely cooking for a while there. He was a very solid scorer, a decent shooter and just your basic above-average two-guard ready and able to run an NBA-caliber offense. Those guys do not grow on trees, and Williams had a way better career than you probably remember, but he also confronts one of my great biases as an NBA fan: I do not respect the "awesome bench guy" role. If you're so good, just start.
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19. Reggie Jackson
Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson handles the ball. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The second-most-famous Reggie Jackson in sports history but more famous than the other basketball Reggie Jackson, this Reggie Jackson was actually an excellent player in his day and one of many non-All-Stars who I will look back on and say "damn that guy was pretty solid." Jackson had a long and meandering career through the league, but there was this epic, 17ish points-6ish assists-4ish boards version of Reggie Jackson that appeared a few times, first on Detroit and then on the Clippers. He had real athleticism, showed some 3-point shot development later in his career too.
I just can't help but wonder if there's a version of Reggie Jackson's career where he's a multi-time All-Star. Still a great career, greater than you probably remember, and he found himself in the right place at the right time to get a ring with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
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18. Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe had this reputation among my generation of teenage fans, probably because of NBA 2K , of being budget Russell Westbrook. That's a completely inaccurate description of Eric Bledsoe's game, and don't go around telling people that, but he was a hyper-athletic scoring guard in his day that would have some visual reminders of Westbrook on offense specifically with the ball in his hands. He was a prolific scorer on the Suns, but never cracked an All-Star team before being traded to Milwaukee-he was also a two-time All-Defense selection, and while I think that might slightly overrate his defense historically, he was a pretty good shot-blocking guard for his day.
17. T. J. Warren
I am going to struggle to explain the "T.J. Warren is Michael Jordan" arc for my entire life. Quick historical background: Warren was a solid slashing wing on the Suns for a while, he never really passed the ball and wasn't a great shooter, but the guy could score. Nobody doubted that. He got traded to the Pacers, COVID-19 happened and suddenly T.J. Warren finds himself in the NBA Bubble. With the entire country having nothing else to do but watch Pacers vs. 76ers on August 1, 2020, T. J. Warren was like "what if I went 20 for 29 and scored 53 points?" It's not the most unlikely 50 bomb in NBA history ( looking at you Malachi Flynn ), but it was so public because none of us had anything else to do. Warren was amazing for the rest of The Bubble too and made the All-Bubble First Team.
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16. Avery Bradley
You're not going to believe this, but Avery Bradley was the second-best player on the Boston Celtics for four years in a row, including three playoff teams. Other than a Jeff Green-captained 25-57 disasterclass in 2013-14, Avery Bradley sat through the entire Pierce-Garnett-Rondo to Kyrie-Tatum-Brown transition period, just sorta ... hanging out with Isaiah Thomas, making the playoffs every year, doing their thing, hitting big shots, playing great defense and endearing himself to me, a young Celtics fan at the time. He was cut loose when the final form of the late-2010s Celtics finally came into being with Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but I got an Avery Bradley jersey for my birthday when I was 11 in 2014. What, was I supposed to buy a Tyler Zeller jersey?
15. Bojan Bogdanovic
Bojan Bogdanovic's career was like a chicken thigh you leave in a plastic bag in the fridge overnight; don't take it out early, don't mess with it, just let it marinate. Bogdanovic's best seasons came after he turned 30, a true rarity in a league where we assume your physical prime is basically between 26 and 30. But he discovered his scoring form later, and was a big part of some successful Utah Jazz teams and was the major in-season trade for an ambitious 2024 New York Knicks team, though he missed most of the playoffs with a season-ending injury. Could he have been the difference against Indiana? Could that Knicks team have beaten the Celtics? I don't know, but Bojan's career was quite impressive relative to his historical stature.
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14. Dennis Schroder
I heard Bill Simmons say once that we were in a "Schroderssaince," and I think that was when he was on the Nets ... but I'm not sure because Schroder has played for basically every team in the NBA at this point. My man just keeps finding homes in the NBA simply because there aren't that many competent point guards in the world and he is one of them. Full disclosure: I wasn't the biggest fan of his on the Celtics, but that was mostly because he didn't fit the kind of pace the team needed to play with and does really like to dribble, dribble, dribble before anything happens. But he's pieced together quite the career for himself on 13 NBA stops and counting.
13. Marcus Morris
I'm realizing I may have accidentally put a lot of mid-2010s Celtics on here. Hmm. Well, in any case, Marcus Morris is mostly remembered for his time on the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George Clippers, always a big part of those teams as they fought valiantly on the court (and ... apparently not-so-valiantly behind the scenes) to win an NBA championship. I thought Morris was a nice player and a premium role player on lots of good teams. He probably could have scored a lot more if he were on a team where he could get more shots, but his career afforded him the proper position. I consider him above many of the other "naming guys" All-Stars of the era, like Jeremy Lamb, Rodney Hood, you know the type.
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12. Kendrick Nunn
Woah WHAT is Kendrick Nunn doing on my damn list what is going on here? Well, we have to have something that differentiates us from all the other lists, and for me that's going to be Kendrick Nunn, who had two very promising seasons for the Miami Heat and then just ... disappeared. Except, he didn't! He went to Greece, and signed with Athens Panathinaikos and has been tearing it up ever since, signing the largest contract in EuroLeague history for three years and 13.5 million euros! What a beast; in terms of NBA success, Nunn was an undrafted rookie who had 1.5 cool years on weird Heat teams but never could carve out a consistent role after that in the NBA. But it's really cool that he has had so much success in Europe-there isn't one path to being a basketball success.
11. Jonas Valanciunas
It appears Jonas Valanciunas' NBA career has finally concluded, but what a career it was. A walking double-double for over a decade, Valanciunas is king of the kind of institutional center that dominated the 2010s NBA-big, rebounder, shot blocker; the league really overrated interior players back then, but Valanciunas was also a crafty scorer and that's why he stuck around for so long and differentiated himself from the Amir Johnsons and Marcin Gortats of the world. It sucks for him that he was traded from the Raptors mid-2019 for Marc Gasol, a big part of why that squad won the 2019 Finals. I think he probably still deserved a ring in the mail, but it can't feel good.
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10. Brook Lopez
Bucks center Brook Lopez fights off Nikola Vucevic. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Ok, part two of the list here we go, All-Stars are officially allowed. Brook Lopez is the all-time leading scorer in Nets franchise history. Boom, knowledge bomb. He leads Buck Williams by, get this, four points. Most people my age will remember Brook Lopez as this Milwaukee Bucks stretch five/drop coverage shot blocker, but Nets Brook Lopez was a whole different beast. None of those teams were very good, but Lopez was stacking points for much of his early career. Nobody is going to sit around and tell you he's one of the best players in the league, but he's objectively one of the best players in Nets history. For that reason alone, he's probably underrated.
9. Andre Drummond
Basically from when I started middle school until I was a junior in high school, Andre Drummond led the league in offensive rebounds. That's seven straight years. I'd read something on the ESPN app every day in 2016 that was like "Andre Drummond grabs 30 rebounds," or "Drummond gets ANOTHER 20-20 game." You've heard of a walking double-double, but for like five years Drummond was a walking 15 and 15 .
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He's had an amusing late career as a backup. He started shooting threes, which is cool. He's one of the worst free throw shooters ever. But man there was something captivating about Pistons Drummond grabbing so many rebounds you thought he was Wilt Chamberlain.
8. Kevin Love
Kevin Love's career was ruined by LeBron James. Well, not ruined, but changed irreversibly. Go watch some Timberwolves Kevin Love highlights and you will find this rebounding, post moves force of nature who was a bona fide MVP candidate before he was traded to the Cavaliers to complete the Big Three with Kyrie Irving and LeBron. While he became beloved for sticking around while the other two decamped for greener pastures and is today one of the great Cavaliers ever, what does the non-Big Three Kevin Love look like? Well, we know. We saw it: he would have been a solo superstar.
7. James Harden
Starting this all-time great group with Harden: arguments can be made that Harden is one of the most effective offensive players in the history of basketball purely in terms of impact. As a scorer, shooter, passer and ability-to-get-fouled-er, nobody has combined all of the most numerically valuable things you can do on a basketball court into a single human person like mid-2010s Harden did. There is a reason that Daryl Morey staked his career and reputation on this man.
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Harden is underrated because of how he behaved toward his teams. He's not someone who it was ever fun to get into business with, and quit on 3.5 teams, surely an NBA record. He never won a title, he never made the Finals (as a first option, I don't really count that 2012 Thunder team), but his achievements in Houston are historically notable and I hear people hand-wave them like they don't exist.
6. Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis' career once he got to the Lakers and won the Bubble Championship feels like it's gone almost as poorly as it could possibly have gone. There was a real sense that Davis was ready to be the best player in the league in 2020, but it never materialized. The fact that Anthony Davis' name will never be mentioned in "The Luka Trade" like he was just ... some kind of throw-in feels crazy. This is one of the most impactful interior presences we've ever seen; defensively, there was no limit. As a force in the post and paint, nothing could stop him. He tied himself to the king, but never became king himself-that doesn't mean we have to groan in the first sentence.
5. Klay Thompson
The perfect guy to include in this section of the list, Thompson is going to be remembered by all as one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA history. The second Splash Bro. Can drain a three from anywhere. But I will not allow this to be all we remember about Klay Thompson. He was the secondary force of gravity who, along with Stephen Curry, turned each half court set into a hellscape for opposing defenses. Without Thompson's defense, though, I don't think the Warriors are nearly as successful as they are-Curry was a clever defender but not a good one, and having Thompson and Draymond Green (also eventually Kevin Durant, another incredible defender) behind him enabled the true final form of the Dubs. Klay Thompson was not just a sharpshooter.
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4. Kevin Durant
Okay, bro, Kevin Durant? I know, but I still think Kevin Durant is underrated, at least by my generation of NBA fans because of how damaging the decision to sign with the Warriors was for his reputation. Durant was beloved in the league before he did that, and most NBA fans thought of LeBron James as the real villain for The Decision. Well, I forgot all about The Decision once Durant signed with Golden State, which was the true WWE heel turn move.
But Durant the player is undeniably one of the 15 greatest of all time. He's basically been averaging 26 points per game for 18 years, and has remained so consistent in the quality of his play on the court that if Walt Disney woke up from his cryostasis and just looked at Durant's Basketball Reference page without knowing any of the lore, he'd probably think he's better than his current reputation. Maybe this is a massive straw man, but I don't think it is.
3. Paul George
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George dribbles in 2018. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
This is a very specific Paul George I'm talking about here and that is 2019 Oklahoma City Thunder Paul George, who was pretty irrefutably one of the three best players in the league at that point. Why am I telling you this? Well, because when the Los Angeles Clippers traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a cool but mostly unknown quantity, and their entire draft future to the Thunder for Paul George, it was not a good trade; it was a great trade. It's impossible to think of objectively because we know now how bad it went, but it legitimately would be like if today the Chicago Bulls traded for Jayson Tatum and then signed Nikola Jokic. George was incredible in 2019 and all the seasons before, and how poorly the Clippers and 76ers tenures went has discolored his legacy.
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2. Moses Malone
The one single player on here that I did not actually watch play, but I refuse to make a "most underrated players" list and not put Moses Malone on it. He won three MVP awards, carried the 76ers to the 1983 championship and is one of the defining players of NBA history and I swear to god half the NBA fans my age don't even know who he is! It's very unclear to me why this is; perhaps it's because most casual NBA history enjoyers are just told everything before 1980 was just "Bill Russell," the 1970s didn't exist and everything from 1980 to 1990 was just "Celtics and Lakers." Moses gets lost in the shuffle, but he's not even one of those "you had to be there" type players to understand. You can just scroll through his stats and awards and you'll be confronted with irrefutable evidence that you are staring at one of the greatest players of all time. It is a persistent injustice how little the younger generation (my generation, I'm ... 23) knows of Moses Malone, and I'll continue to try to fix that whenever I can.
1. Ben Simmons
Yeah, I ended the list with Ben Simmons. Bet you didn't expect that. It's hard to even picture pre-injury/holdout/breakdown Simmons these days, and everything that's happened since has been as bad an NBA story as it gets. But rookie Ben Simmons ... was like watching LeBron; he glided in transition, he was so explosive and had such a feel for how to create offense. He just couldn't shoot free throws, and it eventually broke his basketball brain that everyone would just foul him the second he got into the paint. He was a legitimately transformative defender-so much size, so agile, an absolute game wrecker if deployed properly. Yet he has the single clearest Achilles' heel of any player I've ever seen; once teams started fouling him more than he could handle, that was just ... it. He wouldn't even look at the hoop. I'll never, ever forget that Hawks playoff series. We watched someone's career end in slow motion, and we all knew it in real time.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/superlatives as 20 NBA Players Who Were Even Better Than You Remember .
