Questions? Yes, I’ve got some.
But today, they’re the good kind of questions: the ones that come up when players exceed expectations, develop rapidly or otherwise perform at an elite level. When guys blow up, the questions don’t stop; they just change, either to ask whether even more is possible … or sometimes, in a salary-cap league like the NBA, to ask about the inevitable cost of keeping an improved player around.
We have some questions like that today, but this is good news! Here are eight guys who have had emphatically strong starts to their 2025-26 seasons and the questions that they’re raising by doing so. (All stats are entering Wednesday’s games.)
How much is Jalen Duren going to cost the Pistons?
A lot, but it may not matter. The Pistons blanched at paying Jalen Duren over $30 million a year on an extension, according to reports, but that money now looks like chump change with his awesome start.
Duren has already blown right past “All-Star consideration” for the 13-2 Pistons and is moving into the All-NBA discussion; he ranks fifth in the league in PER and third in rebound rate. Have I mentioned he just turned 22 two days ago? The league is still finding out about Duren, who might be the league’s most anonymous awesome player, but he’s tracking for a gigantic season.
What’s amazing about that rebounding stat is that Duren isn’t some specialist just hunting rebounds (the two players ahead of him, Steven Adams and Andre Drummond, most definitely are); he’s a genuine second option on offense who has become increasingly comfortable generating his own shots off the dribble.
Duren is basically two different players in one: a huge, athletic center whom opponents can’t keep off the glass, and a canny elbow operator who can sling incisive passes and attack bigs off the dribble. Duren’s 23.5 percent usage rate is second on the Pistons, and he’s shooting 67.4 percent from the floor; he’s also drawing free throws at the Jimmy Butler-esque rate of two for every three field goal attempts.
Watch some of his best stuff from Detroit’s win Tuesday in Atlanta. Nothing to see here, just a 250-pound center Euro stepping into a left-hand finish:
Duren’s impact as a physical force can’t be underestimated, even though he’s theoretically short for a center at 6-foot-10. Watch here as two Hawks, 6-8 Vit Krejči and 6-10 Onyeka Okongwu, seemingly have him double-teamed on the block with nowhere to go. He powers right through for a dunk:
As for the bigger salary picture, one other reason for Detroit to pump the brakes on an extension was that Duren has an artificially low cap hold of $19.2 million next summer, which could enable the Pistons to add talent via cap space before re-upping Duren at what is likely to be max or near-max money.
Even if Detroit doesn’t use cap space (it would require some additional moves, including waiving or trading Duncan Robinson), the Pistons are set up to absorb Duren on a max or near-max deal with ease; Cade Cunningham is the only Detroit player scheduled to make more than $16 million next season, and the Pistons have no toxic money on their books going forward.
Should Scottie Barnes make the All-Defense team?
All-Defense has usually been the domain of big men and specialists, but Scottie Barnes has been so notably impactful on that end that we need to discuss the possibility of a high-usage, offensive go-to guy like Barnes being named to the squad.
One key to the Raptors’ encouraging start has been Barnes’ ability to be a malleable defensive piece who fits in almost any role, whether it’s guarding perimeter ballhandlers as a small forward or protecting the rim as a small-ball center.
The clip database of eye-catching Barnes defensive plays and rim-protection feats already consumes terabytes. I mean, look at this closeout on Evan Mobley below: Barnes commits all the way to stopping Donovan Mitchell’s drive, then recovers in time to block the big guy’s 3-point shot and turn it into a layup the other way.
Barnes has 47 “stocks” (steals + blocks) on the season and ranks 10th in the league in block rate despite standing 6-8 and only occasionally playing center. Specializing in blocking unsuspecting fools from behind with his right hand, he’s blocked 5.2 percent of opponent 2s … the same rate as Rudy Gobert and better than Mobley, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
I should point out that Barnes is also doing this while having quite a year on offense, where he’s shooting 38.9 percent from 3, averaging nearly three assists for every turnover and pulverizing any size mismatches that come his way. At 24, he’s having his best pro season and could end up dragging a shoulder-shrug of a roster into the playoffs with him.
Will Jaylen Brown make every midrange jump shot?
When we think of the Boston Celtics, we think of zillions of 3-point shots going up. But a big reason that Boston has been able to maintain a top-10 offense this season despite the absence of Jayson Tatum and the trades of Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday is that Jaylen Brown has been on an absolute heater from midrange. This matters because Brown takes a lot of shots from this distance; more than a third of his attempts have been between 10 feet and the 3-point line.
He’s also made more than half of them, an accuracy rate that would be easy to write off except that A) the sample size of shot attempts is starting to get pretty large, and B) he looks so darn comfortable dribbling into his middies and pulling up. There’s something positively DeMar DeRozan-esque about some of these attempts, minus the foul-baiting:
Everyone knew that Brown’s usage would need to scale up in the absence of Tatum, but what’s shocking thus far is how efficiently he’s done it. Instead of collapsing under a massive 35.8 percent usage rate (third in the league), Brown is thriving thus far: His 58.9 true shooting percentage is a career high, as is his 21.4 PER.
Brown’s play is encouraging for two reasons. First, he’s keeping Boston in the mix for a playoff spot in an extremely jumbled Eastern Conference. More importantly, perhaps, he’s showing that he can take on some of the scoring load when Tatum is back, easing the burden on the post-Achilles version of Boston’s injured superstar forward.
Is Austin Reaves a max guy?
One data morsel opposing personnel scouts have focused on with the Los Angeles Lakers is the rare but thrilling spectacle of Luka Dončić and LeBron James both missing the same game. What happens in those situations is that L.A. gives the ball to Reaves, and when he gets rep after rep on the ball, he cooks. Most notably, Reaves averaged 40 points and 10 assists in a dominant three-game stretch in late October when L.A.’s two iconic stars sat, earning an astounding 43 free-throw attempts in three games.
That’s notable because it makes one wonder if he’d be even more valuable on another team. While Reaves is a good secondary option in his own right, he’s not particularly scary off the ball (32.6 percent from 3 this season, 36.7 percent career), and as a secondary player, his iffy defense can be more problematic.
However, he has shown leading-man material anytime he’s had the spotlight. While some scouts question whether his body can hold up to doing this over the course of 82 games, Reaves’ play in those games I noted above, combined with his own free agency this coming summer (he has a player option for a mere pittance of $14.4 million and will almost certainly decline it), definitely has piqued the interest of rivals.
As a result, it could become an expensive proposition for the Lakers to keep him. As with Duren, L.A. hopes to take advantage of an artificially low cap hold ($20.9 million) to keep cap space open before handing Reaves his bag.
Fortunately for the Lakers, Reaves’ five years of experience still put him at the “low max” of 25 percent of the cap, an estimated $42 million for 2026-27. But a full max deal would put the Lakers on the hook for nearly $100 million annually to pay two wing players (Reaves and Dončić) with overlapping offensive roles and equally suspect defensive profiles. That’s perhaps not ideal, but neither is losing Reaves in free agency, and the way he’s played this season (28.1 points, 7.6 assists, eye-popping efficiency), he’s going to have a lot of rich offers.
Is Virginia football in first place in the ACC?
Yes. Yes, they are. Wahoowa, baby!
I’m sorry, where were we again?
Was Josh Giddey the offseason’s best contract?
Whatever you think of the trade that brought him to the Windy City in the first place, the Chicago Bulls’ decision to re-sign Josh Giddey for four years and $100 million in restricted free agency looks brilliant. He’s playing like a max-contract superstar while occupying just $25 million on Chicago’s books for the three seasons after this one; partly as a result, Chicago is set up to have max cap room this summer to bring in more talent around him and Coby White.
Giddey is off to a brilliant start that has him nearly averaging a triple-double (20.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.7 assists), and he’s playing at a level that could end in his making his first All-Star team at age 23. Some of that is because the Bulls depend on him to play a high-usage role, but he’s been a much more efficient offensive operation thanks to improved 3-point shooting (a quasi-respectable 37.3 percent) and a much greater willingness to use his body and mash smaller players closer to the basket. That latter change is a big reason he’s nearly doubled his free-throw rate from a season ago, filling a void in his statistical profile and allowing him to maintain the same efficiency in a much higher-usage role.
The Bulls inadvertently backed up the case for Giddey’s value by losing both games he missed with a recent ankle sprain, including one against Detroit’s second-stringers. Then he helped them win in Denver in his first game back.
Is Jalen Johnson the Hawks’ best player?
One slightly uncomfortable fact about the Hawks’ recent five-game winning streak without Trae Young is that Jalen Johnson has played so well that it will be difficult to put the “go-to guy” genie back in the bottle.
In 13 games, his averages of 22.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists have him threatening a triple-double every night, but the efficiency piece of this stands out as well. Despite taking on a bigger role after Young went out, Johnson has made 62.8 percent of his 2s … mostly by getting to the basket at will. More than a third of his shots have been at the rim, and he converts a devastating 80.6 percent once he’s there.
Sometimes, it’s with left-hand finishes or other crafts, but his elevation gives him other options. I’m still amazed this dunk hasn’t gained more traction:
Look where he took off from!
Anyway, in his fifth season, Johnson is also tracking to make his first All-Star team for the 9-6 Hawks. The next obstacle is maintaining his production when Young returns, and the intrigue lies in what the usage hierarchy looks like when things get tough.
Is Reed Sheppard the best player from the 2024 draft?
Reed Sheppard isn’t the only second-year player to break out after the 2024 class took its lumps. Washington’s Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle and Miami’s Kel’El Ware are all enjoying fine second seasons, among others.
However, Sheppard (the third pick in that draft) does seem the most potentially impactful, both for what it means for the 2026 title race and for how much he’s raised his own stock around the league. The elite shot-making and knack for disruptive defensive plays that were hallmarks of his one season at Kentucky have made a dramatic return after being weirdly absent during his rookie season, and the result has been that Sheppard keeps up the havoc generated by the Houston Rockets’ starting guards.
Sheppard has 20 steals in just 125 minutes; his rate ranks him fifth in the league, and his knack for deflections makes it harder for defenses to profitably hunt him in size mismatches. Meanwhile, he’s made 47.3 percent of his 3s while confidently bombing away with much greater frequency. Check out the depth on this catch and shoot.
That kind of deep spacing is what the Rockets need to open the floor for Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün, and with a paucity of shooters on the roster, Houston needs Sheppard to provide it. And he still may be leaving money on the table. One thing you’d love to see him do is hunt more 3s off the dribble via sidesteps after an initial shot fake; he tends to drive inside the 3-point line for pull-ups once he has a defender in the air. That said, the 21-year-old has answered the bell for a contending Houston team that desperately needed a guard to step up in the wake of Fred VanVleet’s torn ACL.
Can Jaime Jaquez Jr. be the guy who finally gets Erik Spoelstra Coach of the Year?
I’m linking these two items because they somewhat go hand in hand. Jaime Jaquez Jr. mysteriously cratered last season after a strong rookie year, slumping to 31.1 percent from 3 and seeing his turnovers spike. However, in Erik Spoelstra’s reinvented system in Miami, Jaquez is thriving. His life hack for an iffy 3-point shot: get to the cup.
Jaquez has only attempted 29 3s this season; instead, he’s flying up the court and attacking off the dribble every chance he gets. A lot of times, it’s to generate drive-and-kicks that start Miami’s offensive flywheel turning, but he’s also gone the direct route plenty, averaging 25.7 points per 100 possessions. Although he lacks elite hops, his strength and craft make him a top-notch finisher once he gets to the basket, converting 73.1 percent inside 3 feet according to Basketball-Reference.com. Meanwhile, his skill as a passer allows him to operate as a “point forward” in the Heat’s system, which is useful when they don’t have a true backup point guard.
Of course, that adjustment was made a lot easier by Spoelstra overhauling his offense in the offseason to de-emphasize ball screens and instead focus on spacing, movement and one-on-one driving lanes. With no screener to wait for or potentially trapping big man to slow him down, Jaquez isn’t “reading” as much as he is just flat-out going when he crosses half court, then improvising once he gets to the cup. As our Fred Katz recently noted, he’s actually dunking again, too.
Spoelstra’s system has the Heat playing the league’s fastest pace and ranked in the top half of the league in offense despite injuries to All-Stars Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Jaquez and newcomer Norman Powell have thrived by attacking in space, while shooters like Powell, Simone Fontecchio and Pelle Larsson are taking advantage of all the drive-and-kicks to rain from 3; Miami ranks fourth at 38.5 percent.
Despite what looked to be an underwhelming roster and injuries that have limited Adebayo to eight games and Herro to none, the Heat are in the playoff mix in the East. So let’s ask the question: If Spoelstra keeps winning with a fringey-looking roster missing its two best players, can we finally give the dean of NBA coaches his flowers and his first Coach of the Year award?