Preseason Breakout Players

NBA season officially begins today, and before it starts, I’d like to look back at the preseason and highlight some younger players who made some splashes trying to confirm spots in their teams’ rotations.

Today, I’ll be discussing 4 players who’s impressive preseason play will hopefully earn them a spot in nightly rotations. This is a bit of a prediction for most of them, but I hope that all of them get more playing time on their than they did last year (if applicable).

Dalton Knecht

Preseason Stats: 18.0/4.2/2.0/1.4/0.8
Shooting Splits: 43.7/36.0/83.3

Alright, let’s get the big one out of the way; Dalton Knecht looks like he’s been in the NBA for years. He’s confident with the ball, hunts for his own shot, and has been playing phenomenally. New HC JJ Redick was already drawing up plays for him, and it showed in the Lakers’ second to last preseason game. There, he proceeded to go 35/7/1/2/2, shooting 10/18 from the field and 8/13 from 3, including the final 20 points for the Lakers en route to an overtime win over the Phoenix Suns. Certainly a lot better than another Lakers rookie. Shoutout to Quincy Olivari for earning a 2-way contract for his play in the final few games.

Moses Moody

Preseason Stats: 15.5/3.2/1.5/0.7/0.5
Shooting Splits: 45.6/39.4/94.7

Through his tenure with the Warriors, Moody showed signs of potential when the team was dealing with injuries (particularly absences from Andrew Wiggins), but often was completely written out of the gameplan when the rest of the team was active. With Klay Thompson’s departure, there seems to be more wiggle room for Moody, as HC Kerr made a point to put the ball in Moody’s hands this offseason, and with positive results. 39% from 3 on 5.5 attempts per game is efficient, and Moody’s preseason play earned him a contract extension prior to next year’s free agency as he led his team in scoring in a preseason where the Warriors went 6-0.

Julian Strawther

Preseason Stats: 18.8/2.6/2.6/0.2/0.6
Shooting Splits: 52.6/50.0/77.8

Julian Strawther looks like what the Nuggets drafted him to be last year. He looks significantly more confident in his shot, and 50% from 3 is certainly a far cry from the 29.7% on 3 pointers he averaged last season. Through the preseason, he has shown to already have chemistry with new addition Dario Saric, his teammates and the coaching staff rave about his shooting, and in the preseason finale, Strawther led the Nuggets in scoring with 33 on 5/8 from 3 and 12/13 from the free throw line. He looks ready to contribute to a Denver team that certainly needs help from outside following the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Luka Garza

Preseason Stats: 16.0/5.8/0.8/0.4/0.6
Shooting Splits: 61.7/44.4/66.7

Through the preseason, the Timberwolves’ primary goal was to figure out how to incorporate their new additions from the KAT trade into their schemes. Due to this, younger players like Garza were given very limited minutes, and (as has been his career), he was able to make the most of them. Garza was able to be effective in his minutes, scoring in double figures 3 times in the first 4 games, and only in one of those games did he play over 20 minutes. In the final game, however, he showed why he was a 2 time College Basketball’s National Player of the Year award winner, leading the team in scoring with 29 shooting 64.7% from the field. Despite this, however, he seems to be the least likely of anyone on this list to get any boost in playtime. Shoutout to Josh Minott, who also had a very productive preseason with the Timberwolves despite adjustments for the new additions.