Top 10 BEST NBA Players Under 25

The NBA is coming to the end of an era. LeBron is 37, Steph is 34, and KD is 33. Don't worry, because the league is in good hands. These are the best NBA players under 25. Number 10, DeAndre Ayton. DeAndre Ayton shouldn't have been the first pick of the 2018 NBA draft. He shouldn't have even been selected in the top three. The age of traditional non-shooting big men, tied with Shaq and prime Dwight Howard, the NBA now belongs to players who can dribble, pass, and shoot. However, among all old-school centers, DeAndre Ayton is among the very best in the NBA. When he first entered the league, he had big flaws on both ends of the court. But in the Suns' 2021 run to the finals, Ayton emerged as the glue that connected everything, on both ends of the floor. Ayton's rim protection was elite. He successfully guarded and slowed down both Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic one-on-one. Offensively, DeAndre was extremely efficient around the basket, purposefully hunting and exploiting mismatches with smaller players. He was active on the boards and made great decisions in the pick-and-roll. Ayton continued playing great, and the Suns' best overall record in 2022 has a lot to do with him. DeAndre averages 17 points and 10 rebounds in just 29 minutes per game, and he's among the league leaders in shooting efficiency. Honorable mention goes to Jared Allen, another 23-year-old non-shooting big man. The Cavs center is one of the best rim protectors in the NBA, and he deservedly made the All-Star team in 2022. Number 9. De'Aaron Fox If he didn't play for the Sacramento Kings, we would talk about De'Aaron Fox as one of the best point guards in the NBA. A 24-year-old Kentucky product is averaging 23 points per game, and has proven to be one of the rare good decisions by the Kings' front office. Other than maybe Ja Morant, there isn't anybody in the league who could challenge Fox in a footrace with a ball in hands. Fox gets downhill like a madman, and his drives to the basket are a huge challenge for opposing defenses. For the past three years, he's averaging over 20 points per game, but he's also been constantly advancing as a playmaker after studying Chris Paul and his pick-and-roll mastery. Fox also added visible muscle mass, and is a much-improved finisher at the rim. The only area where he didn't improve is outside shooting. A great three-point shot would unlock some new opportunities for him and the Kings, and help Fox to finally become an All-Star. Number 8. Brandon Ingram When the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis, they should have traded away Kyle Kuzma, and kept Brandon Ingram. Kuz had his moments, but the Lakers clearly made a mistake. Ingram proved that immediately by becoming an All-Star in his first season with the Pelicans, averaging 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. Since then, he further improved as a passer, and is playing the most mature basketball of his life, with Zion Williamson, who would have been on this list if he weren't injured, and the newly added C.J. McCollum. Number 7. Shea Gilgis-Alexander Shea Gilgis-Alexander is a stud. When the dust settles, the Thunder could emerge as a winner of the trade that sent Shea to OKC, and Paul George to the Clippers. Measured at 6'6", and with a 7-foot wingspan, SGA is a point guard in the body of a wing. And even though he's not exceptionally fast nor athletic, his size and unorthodox herky-jerky dribble gets him where he wants to go almost every time. Unpredictable body feints, pump fakes, and pace changing are a big part of this deep bag of tricks. SGA shot 42% from 3 in 2021, but his jump shot disappeared in 2022. He's hitting only 29% from deep. Still, Shea is efficient in the paint, and is getting to the free throw line more than ever, which is good enough for 24 points per game, along with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. When he gets out of this shooting slump, and OKC cashes in on the gazillion picks they have, Shea might lead the Thunder to the NBA championship in the future. Number 6. LaMelo Ball Before LaMelo joined the NBA, he was just another overhyped ball. Due to all the crazy stuff his father said over the years, he was anticipated to be all style and poor game, a streaky shooter with poor defense who was only hunting for highlights. Boy, has he proved otherwise. LaMelo is already an all-star in his second season. He's a 38% shooter from 3, and his passing is off the charts. It's so effortless how he dissects the defense and finds the open man, or how he makes a perfect full court pass with a flick of the wrist. In 2022, Ball averages 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game, and has proven that driving a Lamborghini at the age of 16 didn't ruin his basketball talent. Michael Jordan has been notoriously bad at evaluating talent, but he has finally drafted a superstar he always wanted. Number 5. Bam Adebayo Bam is one of the most underrated players in the NBA today. In 2020, he was an all-star and NBA finalist. In 2022, Bam has somewhat fallen out of focus. Too little fault of his own, a few injuries, and a stacked heat roster caused his numbers to stagnate, but his game has by no means declined. Adebayo is still one of the most efficient players at his position, shooting 54% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. He's averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. Bam is still one of the most versatile defenders in the NBA, who can successfully hold his own against fast guards and bulky centers. Adebayo is the prototype of a modern athletic big man, and because he's still only 24 years old, he's going to be even more dangerous when he reaches his prime. Number 4. Trey Young He's too small for the NBA, they said. After the first few months in his rookie season, he's a bust, they said. His style wouldn't work in the playoffs, they said. It's quiet as effin' here, is what Trey responded after hitting the game-winning floater for the Atlanta Hawks to beat the Knicks in his first playoff game. He finished the game with 32 points. He averaged 29 points and nearly 10 assists for the entire playoffs, where he pushed the Hawks to the conference finals. His haters are mostly quiet for now, and for a good reason. Trey Young is bad and bougie, and one of the best players in the NBA, just like Steph Curry or Dame Lillard. Trey's range is unlimited, and the defenses have to pick him up as soon as he steps across the half-court. He is one of the most creative and most lucid passers in the NBA, who can pick any kind of defense apart. His patience with the ball manipulates defenses, and his court vision makes it seem like he has Terminator eyes, scanning and receiving information that normal humans just can't process. Even though his small, 6-foot-1 frame poses its challenges defensively, there aren't many players who are better than Trey on offense. With 28 points and nearly 10 dimes per game, he is the only NBA player in the top five in scoring and assists. His improved shooting efficiency, a deep bag of dribble moves, and magical solutions in the pick-and-roll make him almost impossible to guard. And before we get to our top three, we have to give props to some other guys who just missed the cut. Darius Garland is an all-star who emerged as a fabulous passer and a scorer. His teammate Evan Mobley plays more maturely than any other rookie big man in the last 10 years. Jaron Jackson Jr., Anthony Edwards, and Cade Cunningham deserve to be mentioned as well. Number 3. John Morant John Morant is so fast and athletic that he could have easily been a selfish player. He could have been a one-man offense with a 40% usage rate, a ton of turnovers, and a bad shooting percentage, all disguised in some flashy statistics. And even though he is arguably the flashiest player in the NBA right now, it doesn't come without substance. From the beginning of his career in 2019, Memphis' coach Taylor Jenkins wanted Morant to be a floor general and assistant player, not somebody who will squeeze the ball like an anaconda and post an ineffective triple-double. And that's exactly what he got. John is extremely unselfish and plays like a 10-year veteran, not a 22-year-old athletic beast that he actually is. Morant will reward backdoor cuts, he'll always look for bigs in the pick-and-roll, and he's extremely advanced in scanning the floor and finding the best possible solution. He's averaging 7 assists per game, along with 27.5 points, the seventh-best scoring output in the NBA in 2022. Other than a killer transition game and great playmaking, Morant is also one of the best finishers at the rim, despite his slender frame. It's unbelievable how he can twist and turn mid-air and simply wait for the defenders to drop, then make some kind of Jedi Mind trick of a layup that goes in. Ja is also an improved jump shooter, who is shooting nearly 50% from the field, one of the best marks among all NBA guards. Draymond Green called Morant one of the smartest players in the game today, which is a deadly combination with his speed and athleticism. Number 2. Jason Tatum Jason Tatum's NBA idol was, and always will be, the Black Mamba. Idolizing Kobe Bryant brought Tatum a lot of good things. He's a hard worker who was always improving his game. Tatum is a deadly scorer, with a wide arsenal of moves, and has that Kobe-esque fluidity when he attacks. Jason is also a versatile defender, who often guards the best opposing player, something Bryant always did in the first part of his career. However, copying Kobe also brought Tatum a lot of criticism. Boston's forward had a longtime love affair, with long turnaround jumpers, and wasn't attacking the rim hard enough. He can be selfish at times, and both his coach and teammate Marcus Smart publicly criticized him this year for a lack of ball movement. But it's hard to blame the guy. Jason is averaging 27 points per game, and just like Kobe, he can score against anybody. Tatum is only 24 years old, and he already tied Larry Bird for most 50-point games in Celtics history. However, Smart's criticism worked. Tatum became a much better passer in the past three months, and is no longer playing private pickup games like at the beginning of the 2022 season. He's attacking the basket much more, and overall is making better decisions, currently playing the best basketball of his career. It took Jordan and Kobe a while to mature, and learn to trust their teammates. Tatum looks like he finally made that leap too. Number 1. Luka Doncic Luka Doncic is extremely annoying. He is one of the most challenging players to play against, and he is constantly talking to the referees, which is irritating. However, the refs are also awarding him with nearly eight free throws a game. That's how you know that he is a superstar, because only superstars can get away with constant bickering to the refs. Slovenian boy wonder is in his fourth NBA season, and his current career averages are 26.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8 assists. That's better than LeBron James and Larry Bird averaged in their first four seasons. Like LeBron and Larry, Luka can manipulate the entire game with his brilliant basketball IQ, which runs a more developed software than almost every other player in the NBA. The 2021 Mavericks had the best offensive rating in NBA history, and that offense was pretty much giving the ball to Luka and letting the magic happen. If you put a smaller guy on him, he'll post him up and bulldoze through him with his big frame. If you put a big man on him, Luka will make him dance until he's dizzy. Luka is only 23 years old, and he's already a perennial all-star and MVP candidate. He's averaging 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 8.5 assists per game, and hasn't even reached his prime yet. That's scary for the rest of the NBA.