Cavs: 3 competitors of Darius Garland for Most Improved

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Collin Sexton, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images /

Cavs: 3 competitors of Darius Garland for Most Improved – Who won’t win the award

Players who have already broken out

The NBA’s Most Improved Player award tends to go to players who don’t have a previous breakout season to their name. That doesn’t mean they were simply productive in a previous season, but that they took a major leap forward and were part of the conversation for the award in a prior year. Players in this category include Collin Sexton or De’Aaron Fox.

Players too far down the pecking order

Being buried on your own team in terms of shots and scoring is a surefire way not to win this award. The recent winners were all the top or second option on their team. That eliminates players like Nicolas Claxton from the Brooklyn Nets, DeAndre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks or Malik Beasley of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Second-year players

Players are expected to improve from their first season to their second, and enough voters around the league have a hard “no second-year players” rule that it eliminates such players from the equation. That means no Tyrese Haliburton or Anthony Edwards, nor a surprise campaign from James Wiseman or Patrick Williams.

Players on tanking teams

A team that is absolutely scraping the barrel just to find wins is going to find it difficult to get their candidate voted on for the award. How improved can a player be if their team is a dumpster fire? That seems to be the narrative, and it eliminates players such as Kevin Porter Jr., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (he would be the favorite if not for this rule) and anyone on the Orlando Magic.

Gotta score points

To get the notice of voters, you not only have to be an established player on a decent team in the right situation, you have to be the sort of player who scores points. Defensive specialists don’t win this award. That eliminates Matisse Thybulle and Robert Williams III.