#6: Donovan Mitchell
Utah Jazz youngster Donovan Mitchell is one of the more exciting players to watch in the Association with his combination of ridiculous athleticism leading to plenty of highlight dunks, functional strength, shot creation, rapid growth as a passer, and his solid defense.
Mitchell has manned primary playmaking duties a bunch already in his young career, and that has enabled him to become what looks to be a lock franchise player going forward. The 23-year-old has launched into stardom after just two years in the NBA with the way he can consistently create his own offense via pick-and-roll and in drives with his polished change of speeds, pull-ups, pull-backs, and he is a highly capable catch-and-shoot player as well.
On the defensive end, he and Mike Conley should do plenty of damage for Utah’s starting backcourt in 2019-20, too, with both being fundamentally sound there, and Conley’s defensive IQ and playmaking prowess should work wonders for Mitchell in his continued development.
#5: Bradley Beal
Bradley Beal is tremendous for the Washington Wizards, and is a fresh off a career season, as he had 25.6 points on 58.1% true shooting, to go with 5.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game (per NBA.com).
Beal has become more and more polished in the last few seasons off-the-bounce in all three levels, is always a constant threat coming around screens, snakes pick-and-rolls effectively to get mismatches, and has progressed as a playmaker steadily, too.
The two-time All-Star had to shoulder even more of Washington’s offensive load last year with John Wall only playing in 32 games last year (per Basketball Reference) due to reported heel surgery, and now Beal may have to again even more next season, as Wall will probably miss next season, too, with an Achilles rupture (per owner Ted Leonsis and h/t The Athletic‘s Michael Lee).
The key with Beal, though, is do the Wiz eventually trade him with them appearing to be in a situation where a full-rebuild seems to be the move? We’ll see.
Either way, the 26-year-old appears to be right in his prime, and I’d think his trade value couldn’t be higher than it is right now.
#4: Jrue Holiday
New Orleans Pelicans combo guard Jrue Holiday is a true two-way player, and if Lonzo Ball can be on the healthier side next season, New Orleans’ defensive backcourt could be quite a terror for opposing perimeter playmakers.
Holiday is one of the best defensive guards we have in the NBA. He is very fluid laterally, and is often in playmakers’ hip pockets, and is usually dictating where his opponents are going by sitting and sliding so well, and navigates through off-ball screens with ease against sharpshooters, and is always waiting in the wings to steal passes/get deflections.
Factoring in Holiday and Ball, the Pels will have the 10th (Holiday) and eighth-ranked defensive point guards (though Holiday is a combo guard) lining up as their likely starters in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus-Minus, which is again, going to be scary for opponents.
Offensively, Holiday is also a quality playmaker that can light it up as both a primary playmaker and more of an off guard/wing. In the pick-and-roll/isolation, he has a very good handle and makes those around him better by continuously putting pressure on defenses both as a scorer (21.2 points per game on 55.5% true shooting in 2018-19, per Basketball Reference) and as a passer (an assist rate of 31.8% last year), and I’d think the likes of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, J.J. Redick, Jaxson Hayes and others will get plenty of feeds from Holiday as the 2019-20 season moves along.