The Under-24 All-NBA Team
To say that the NBA has some great young stars under 24 would be the understatement of the century. As I go through some of my picks for the best guys under 24 years old, you'll see why such a statement sounds so ludicrous. Many of the players below will likely have multiple all-star nods (some already one), and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these players become cornerstones to their respective franchises. I left all 2017 draftees off of the list because I want to wait and see what those guys show on the court before crowning them as All-NBA under 24. Markelle Fultz, Jayson Tatum, and Lonzo Ball all seem like they could potentially make this list next year, but we will have to wait and see.
The Cornerstones:
Karl-Anthony Towns - Minnesota Timberwolves - Age 21
Starting off the list is Karl-Anthony Towns who could make his first all-star team as early as this year. If he played in the East I would give it a guarantee, but with the West being such a bloodbath, I could see Towns getting squeezed out by other bigs. Either way, KAT is one of the most promising up and coming stars of this league. Towns is a seven-footer whose game is primarily around the rim, but has increased his range since entering the NBA. Towns has flown under the radar to casual fans due to him playing on the Timberwolves who have been bottom dwellers in recent history, but with the additions of Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, and most importantly Jimmy Butler, the Wolves are poised to make a run for a top seed in the West. While Towns may not be the most polished of the players on this list, he is likely the guy I would want to build a franchise around.
Giannis Antetokounmpo - Milwaukee Bucks - Age 22
The Greek Freak seems like he's been around for so long that he would have aged out of this list, but entering the league at 18 means that he has played a few full seasons already, but still has many more to come. Antetokounmpo is know for his length and athleticism and boy does he use them to his advantage. Being one of the few players in the league that can make a legitimate claim for playing the point-forward position, Giannis has become one of the best two way players in the league. Antetokounmpo is the only player on this list who as already made an All-NBA team as well as having been an all-star this past year. As if that wasn't enough to convince you that he belongs on this list, Giannis is the first player in NBA history (yes, HISTORY) to finish in the top 20 of the five major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game). Give me the Greek Freak all day, everyday.
Kristaps Porzingis - New York Knicks - Age 22
The Latvian Assassin is the perfect combination of shooting range and rim protection that is so heavily sought after in the NBA these days. Despite the fact that Porzingis plays for the most dysfunctional franchise in the NBA, he has found a way to win over the hearts of Knicks fans with his deep threes and timely challenges at the rim. Porzingis is all but a lock for this year's all-star game as he might be the best big-man in the Eastern Conference. While he needs to bring his rebounding numbers up to be considered truly elite, Porzingis gives the Knicks (if they choose to keep him) the prototypical big-man that the NBA is looking for. For his sake and the sake of the NBA, I hope Porzingis doesn't get destroyed by the Knicks organization he was so unfortunately thrown into.
The Potential Super Stars:
The guys above have already proven that they can lead their teams to potentially big things. These next couple have that potential, but haven't necessarily showed they can be "The Guy" on a playoff bound team.
Joel Embiid - Philadelphia 76ers - Age 23
Embiid is the reason I had the cutoff 24 and not 23. I've been looking for an excuse to talk about this guy because I believe he is the real deal. He's shown that he can play at a very high level, but hasn't been able to sustain that over the long-term due to injuries. Injuries can derail seasons and careers as we have seen time and time again, and for the sake of the NBA I hope Embiid can stay healthy. He is electrifying to watch on the court and has the personality to carry the load off the court (just follow him on twitter, hilarity will ensue). Embiid certainly has the potential to be in the group above and his skills might actually be the best of the list, but the health concerns are what keep in down in this second tier.
Andrew Wiggins - Minnesota Timberwolves - Age 22
Wiggins will forever be known as the guy who LeBron didn't believe in after LBJ forced the Cavs to trade Wiggins to Minnesota in exchange for Kevin Love. Wiggins has shown that he can carry the load offensively in Minnesota, but his defense has been suspect to say the least. My thought is that Wiggins will step up his game defensively with coach Tom Thibodeau and hard nosed defenders in Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson around him. The fact that Wiggins also will not have to carry the load as much on the offensive end will allow him to give more on the defensive side of the ball where he struggled so mightily last year. Wiggins will take a back seat to Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota, but he certainly could be the star on a team with solid role players around him.
The "Can they keep it going?" Guys:
Both of these guys had solid spurts of greatness last year, but will they be able to keep it up for years to come?
Nikola Jokic - Denver Nuggets - Age 22
We saw towards the end of last year the elite level skills that Jokic has. He might be the best passer on this list and one could argue that he is the best passing big-man in the NBA right now. Once Denver decided to run the offense through Jokic, they became one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA and that is a testament to Jokic's skills as a basketball player. Jokic's biggest weakness is on the defensive end of the floor and he will have to improve if he wants to move into the "cornerstone" category of young guys, but he certainly has the potential to lead an elite level offensive unit. Jokic is another guy who will have a tough time making the All-Star team this year in a brutally tough West, simply because he isn't a big name as of yet. It's only a matter of time before Jokic becomes a household name though, you can mark my words on that one.
Devin Booker - Phoenix Suns - Age 20
As the youngest on the list, Booker can also claim the title as the guy who has scored the most points in a single game due to his 70-point barrage against the Celtics this past season. Booker might be the best scorer of the bunch, but he played on one of the worst rosters in the league so the competition for scoring was quite thin. Booker still has a lot of his game to work on, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but he certainly has the skills to carry the offensive load for a middle of the pack team. Pairing Booker with an elite level big would certainly help his development as a player. Josh Jackson may be that guy, or it could be Kyrie Irving depending on how things shape out in Cleveland, but Booker certainly has the potential to make an All-NBA team in the future.
The "Question Mark" Guys:
Zach LaVine - Chicago Bulls - Age 22
After suffering a devastating knee injury midway through last year, LaVine was traded in the offseason to Chicago for star Jimmy Butler. Obviously LaVine's biggest question mark is whether or not he can return to form after the ACL tear. Chicago is all too familiar with knee injuries after a series of them derailed Derrick Rose's career, but if LaVine can return to form, he has the potential to really explode. Much like Devin Booker, there won't be much in the way of competition for buckets in Chicago. LaVine could potentially be a 20-22 points a night guy for Chicago, but it's all dependent upon him recovering from that knee injury.
Myles Turner - Indiana Pacers - Age 21
Turner may not be able to compete with the star power of Towns, Embiid, or Porzingis, but he certainly is a dependable big man who has grown his game to fit the needs of the NBA. Turner isn't going to give you 30 points a night, but he will battle in the paint, make some opportune buckets and rebound the ball. He might never make an All-NBA team, but he certainly has the potential to slide into one if a down year for bigs occurs. If Turner keeps improving his game and working hard night in and night out, he could potentially be a tier two star for this Pacers team.
All of these guys above have the potential to make an All-NBA team at some point in their career. For some that could be as early as next year and for others they may never even make an All-Star team, but all of these guys will be household names in the coming years.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Tell me down in the comments who would be on your under-24 team. If you liked this article, please follow @brandonp to get all of my posts directly to your feed!
Nice post! The NBA does have some fantastic young talent set for greatness. I agree with most of the names you discussed. I'm taking the Greek Freak as my pick for MVP this year. Kristaps and Embid will both make the all star team and one of them might even be able to squeeze their respective squads into the playoffs.
Giannis for MVP seemed really bold when I first read it, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's feasible. He would have to carry the Bucks into at least a top 3-4 seed in the East for me to believe he had any shot, but I think it could happen.
Yea, the East is not very competitive and his numbers are going to be out of this world. Should resemble what he put up in the last 30-40 games of last season. He also got a taste of playoff basketball so he'll be hungry as ever
Yea he definitely could do it. It's just hard for me to imagine him having a better year than Kawhi, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, or LeBron. Should definitely be an interesting race this year.
I think Giannis has the best skillset among the players mentioned. He's outstanding defensively, a big aspect of the game which is overlooked in today's NBA. Super athletic, durable (unlike Embid), true leader, and all around sensational player...
100% agree with you there. I have been watching highlights of him from last year and I think he could legitimately be in the MVP conversation for this year.
I would go with Wiggins and Towns since they will have good teams to shine in. For the rest, they are just not on good teams. Philly has good potential to make the playoffs this year, and maybe Embiid if he manages to stay healthy through the entire year. I would maybe add Saric to the list because he I think he will surprise many this coming year. He is only going to get better because he is a relentless worker.
Great info. Enjoyed reading. Keep it up man :)
I really only think Towns has a shot at making an actual All-NBA team though. Wiggins is just competing against too many amazing guards and wings to be able to make even a third team All-NBA squad. Porzingis has the potential to make one this year, but I think he still needs to develop more and the fact that the Knicks will be terrible won't help his case. If Melo moves away, I think Porzingis has a better shot since that would free up 20+ shots a night. Saric is solid, but I need to see more from him before I proclaim him as a potential All-NBA teamer.
Thanks for reading!
I think so too. But, I think the floor is just going to open up now for Wiggins with Butler and Crawford. He will be able to pick the defenses apart. The same for goes for Towns since they are both amazingly versatile players.
Porzingis has more athletic Nowitzki kind of potential, but the Knicks suck. It is hard to play on the team like this. I do love his potential. I think if injuries don't hinder his career he will be a Hall of Famer. I really believe so.
Well, I may be a bit biased since I am from Croatia about Saric. But I just love the way guy plays. Plus he has been a winner all his career. I think he will do incredible things even this year, and even more in the future. But, like you said he does need to show more in order to be put in consideration. :)
Thank you for posting such a great post. Finally some basketball on Steemit :)
I like Saric too and no bias for me lol. He's a very good player who will always be underated. I can envision him being an integral part of a championship team at some point in his career
I think he would be perfect for San Antonio system though. Would love to see him go there in the near future. :)
As a Spurs fan I would be 100% ok with that. To be fair though, there aren't many guys who wouldn't be better in the Spurs system.
Now isn't that the truth. I love Popovich coaching style. Incredible coach. For me best coach in NBA for years now. I love the way his team plays. It is what basketball is all about. :)
Solid post. IMO I'd move Myles Turner to the "can they keep it going" section and add more question mark guys like Justice Winslow, DiAngelo Russell, Aaron Gordon, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle. Too bad Anthony Davis and Bradley Beal just barely missed the cutoff as well. Overall, pretty spot on.
I definitely think there is a solid group of guys, all of whom you mentioned, but I still think all of them are just slightly below LaVine and Turner. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of those guys make the jump this year though.
I don't believe that Wiggins can play defense.
Some of it is his unwillingness and that he's just can't guard
i Guess we will see though
His bread and butter coming into the league was his defense so I think he just got stuck being the man on offense and he got tired. If anyone can get a guy to defend, it's Thibs.
He's also been playing out of position so he's been getting bullied by some of the larger SF's along with there not being any resemblance of a defensive scheme prior to Thibs. It'll take some time but with his natural gifts and Butler coming into the picture, Wiggins should slide back into SG role and hopefully picks up on some defensive instincts from Jimmy Buckets.
This is spot-on. I think Devin Booker might be a level up (yes he's on a bad team, but that means he's probably the focal point of the opposing team's defense every night...at age 20...scary). And I have nothing to base this on after playing zero games last year, but my gut tells me that by mid-season Ben Simmons is going to be claiming his spot on this list.
Booker definitely could become a superstar, and I think his 70 point game shows he has the stuff to be a scorer, my question is whether he can do the rest of it. Can he defend? Meh. Can he make his teammates better? Meh, maybe, but I'm not sold. I would love to be proved wrong with Booker though.
Ben Simmons will definitely be a stud, I don't have any doubts about that, I just want to see it before I crown the dude. Same goes for the rookies that will be stars (Fultz, Lonzo, Tatum).
I think you might have your next article topic! Never too early for ROY predictions. Fultz, Lonzo, Tatum, Josh Jackson, Simmons (still eligible)...maybe Dennis Smith, Jr. or De'Aaron Fox from what I saw in Summer League. I could make some decent arguments for all of them. Actually, I could make an argument that Fultz might be the lowest on that list!
I think you might be right ;)
Wiggins is a good player I just don't see him being the cornerstone of any team and I think his window as a "potential superstar" is closing. He's a good 2nd or 3rd best player on a team. His situation right now in Minnesota is ideal for him with Jimmy Buttler and KAT.
I would personally replace him with Brandon Ingram. Being a huge Lakers fan, I'm definitely biased, but he had a very underrated first season making steady improvements throughout the year. We only got to see him in one game of Summer League this past July but he didn't disappoint. I think it won't be long until most people realize he is a potential superstar in the making.
Agree with you there that Wiggins might not be able to carry a team as "the guy," but I think you're right that he's in a great position with Butler and Towns in Minnesota.
As for Brandon Ingram, I could see him being in one of the lower tiers, but I don't think he's proven to be able to carry a squad. The Lakers were dreadful last year and he looked lost at points. I see him in the LaVine and Turner group right now.
Good post man i would like to make friend with you
Thank you @rmaxhuni. I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
This post has received a 1.94 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @brandonp.
This post has received a Bellyrub and 7.24 % upvote from @bellyrub thanks to: @brandonp. Vote @zeartul for witness!
This post received a 2.1% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @brandonp! For more information, click here!
Thank you for the deposit to @bellyrubbank I have upvoted your post.
Also please consider voting me as a witness. @zeartul
Thank you! and I have voted for your as witness!
Hi, as a sign of my support for the tag #sports and #football, I vote for you and begin to follow you.
Thank you @cranium. This is #basketball, but I still love the vote and follow.
Alot of young talent! Can't wait for next season..Great post
@sportschain @mikebuch
Thank you @sportschain, glad you enjoyed the post.