Five must-watch players with NBA League Pass

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The first Wednesday of the season is the official start of the League Pass season, when the knuckleheads get their chance to watch… well, any team or player they want.

There are two good games on ESPN, with the Bucks in Philadelphia (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Suns visit the Clippers (10 p.m. ET). But there are also eight games on League Pass, including a big Eastern Conference (Magic-Heat) game in Miami and the NBA debuts of eight of the top 11 picks in the 2024 draft.

To celebrate, we’re highlighting five players to keep an eye on when you launch League Pass over the next six months. Yes, every player – including LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama – will have more than half of their games on League Pass.

However, this list is reserved for players from the 12 teams who have 12 or fewer national TV appearances (including those on NBA TV). Those teams are Atlanta, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, Toronto, Utah and Washington.

We’ll skip over the five guys featured in this section a year ago and the two fourth-year players – Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green – featured in a film study last month.

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1. The ceiling lifter: Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks

Johnson is the type of forward — 6-foot-4, tall, athletic and versatile — that every team would like to have. Now all that matters is how much of his potential he realizes.

In his third season, Johnson saw big jumps in both minutes per game and usage rate. And he coped well with more responsibility and saw a jump in efficiency thanks to significantly improved shooting from outside the field.

The 22-year-old is at his best in transition, where his athleticism and body control are on full display…

With Dejounte Murray gone and Dyson Daniels replacing him in the starting lineup, the Hawks could ask Johnson to handle the ball more. That was the case in the preseason, when he recorded an assist/turnover ratio of 5/12 and threw the ball up both when trying to put it on the floor and when trying to thread the needle. He’s also not used to firing off dribbles, having only attempted 108 pull-ups in more than 3,000 minutes of his career.

Trae Young will still handle the ball as well as anyone in the league, but the secondary playmaker is a crucial role. Johnson’s development with the ball could determine whether Murray’s departure was an addition-by-subtraction situation.

The Hawks start the season with two very winnable games, the Nets (Wednesday) and the Hornets (Friday). Both games take place at 7:30 p.m. ET on League Pass.

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2. The veteran winner: DeMar DeRozan, Sacramento Kings

DeRozan has been in the NBA for 15 seasons and we have all seen him score countless goals for the first three franchises that employed him. But his effort in Sacramento is something new and still a lot of fun to watch at his craft.

According to Second Spectrum tracking, Sacramento was one of two teams (Indiana was the other) that ranked in the top five in both ball movement (second) and player movement (third) last season. DeRozan averaged nearly as many isolations per 100 possessions as the Kings as a team, but his Bulls actually ranked seventh in ball movement, so he shouldn’t make much of an adjustment.

The Kings’ offense often runs through Domantas Sabonis in the high post. DeRozan gives them another man to take handoffs, and an open midfield jumper is often just a dribble away…

The Kings open the season on Thursday, hosting the Timberwolves in a game (10 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass), where DeRozan’s skills in the middle could be an important factor. They then visit the Lakers on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV).

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3. Defensive Threat: Jalen Suggs, Orlando Magic

There is no player in the league who plays defense with more consistent energy than the 23-year-old Suggs, who is entering his fourth season.

If the opponent has a guard who can get buckets, Suggs has the job. He’s one of the best in the league at simply staying in front of his man, but also has the combination of great anticipation and pushy hands…

Of course, Suggs has been representative of the Magic as a whole in recent seasons: much better on defense than offense. Last season, he shot just 27 of 80 (33.8%) on pull-up 2-point shots, the fourth-worst mark among 127 players with at least 75 attempts.

But he’s come a long way as a 3-point shooter, sinking 39.7% of his attempts last season (up from 32.7% in 2022-23 and just 21.4% as a rookie). Suggs is the nominal starting point guard, but he won’t handle the ball as well as Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Instead, he primarily has to block shots from the catch.

The Magic start the season with a good test, visiting the Heat on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass).

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4. Breakthrough sophomore?: Brandon Miller, Charlotte Hornets

Last but not least, the Charlotte Hornets have the largest backcourt in the league, two extremely talented top-three picks with a height of 1.90 meters and an age of 23 and 21, respectively. LaMelo Ball is already one of the league’s best passers, while Brandon Miller, at 21 years old, is one of the league’s best young shooters.

Miller, who finished third in the Kia Rookie of the Year voting last season, became just the fourth rookie in 45 seasons at the 3-point line to hit at least 400 3-point attempts or 37% achieved more.

He has a shot that looks smooth and light even when he shoots well outside the arc.

Miller’s next step is to improve his dribbling game and use his size to get to the basket more often. He shot a solid 47.1% (a touch better than DeRozan) on pull-up 2-pointers last season and looks good shooting pull-up 3-pointers as well.

But he shot just 50.2% from the field, with those outside shots making up just 37% of his total field goal attempts. Those numbers were both much lower in the preseason, although he did show a glimpse of his finishing potential with a nasty dunk against Myles Turner.

Miller certainly has the size to be a multi-level scorer and get to the free throw line more often. The fact that he is such a great shooter at 21 years old is a sign that he is willing to put in the work, and the fruits of that work should be a big part of the Hornets’ offense going forward.

Miller and the Hornets begin the season on the road, visiting the Rockets on Wednesday (8pm ET) and the Hawks on Friday (7:30 p.m), with both games on League Pass.

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5. Rookie with Intrigue: Donovan Clingan, Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers have a plethora of playable centers. Deandre Ayton is their starter, Robert Williams could be available soon after playing just six games last season, and Duop Reath has been surprisingly helpful in Williams’ absence. But it might not be long before the Blazers clear the way for No. 7 pick Donovan Clingan.

Clingan is huge: 7-foot-2 and 280 pounds. He used that size (along with a clear desire to dominate the glass) to block 3.5 shots per 36 minutes and ranked second in rebounding percentage (24%) among 322 players who averaged at least the preseason Spent 15 minutes in two or more games.

Although Clingan totaled just six assists in his 82 preseason minutes, those assists weren’t simple handoffs or obvious passes. He has visions…

The Blazers won’t be running their offense through Clingan any time soon, but he’s a player who dominates the glass, protects the rim, shoots a bit from the perimeter and is a willing (and capable) passer. This is a fascinating project.

The Blazers’ first eight games all come against teams that had winning records last season. The first game is on Wednesday against the Warriors (10 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass).

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John Schuhmann is a senior statistical analyst for NBA.com. You can email him here, his archive can be found here and Follow him on X.

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