What is up, fellow thermonuclear a evers. I am damn Valley coming at you with my top twenty five NBA players under twenty five right this second. But before we dive into that, I just want to remind you to continue subscribing to us wherever you consume us. If you're on YouTube, hit that subscribe and like button to help the algorithm love us back. Comments go a long way as well. If you were on a podcast player, Spotify, Apple, podcast Stitch or Google and you have not subscribed to as you had, please consider throwing us that permanent subscription. Grant and I do a seriously unserious job of covering the league, but we also try to be thorough and level headed, but mostly just have a bunch of fun. Consider throwing us that permanent subscription and cross subscribe. If you're on a podcast player, head over to YouTube hit that sub button. If you're on YouTube, download us from Apple, Spotify. Just to help us continue growing the community, promote helping us promote the podcast. If you reteet us on Twitter goes a long way. Shouting us out on Twitter or ready social media platform join our discord as well. The link to that is in the podcast and YouTube descriptions, follow all our social handles which are also in the podcast and YouTube descriptions, and finally referrals tell people about us. I've actually had people that have come to me in the d MS and said that the podcasts recommended to them from someone. They don't drop names, but I super appreciate that. So if you continue doing that so that we can once again continue growing this community, I would be very much appreciative. And so I know with my co host Grant Hughes, now we get into the NBA's top twenty five players under the age of twenty five right now. The two qualifiers here, well, there's three. One. I did this for Bleacher Report, and I've been given the go ahead to go deeper or read these articles in podcast form after they've been published. Two under twenty five guys who are actually twenty five Devin Booker, Lowry Market, and they are not here. And this is a right now exercise, right in this moment as I'm recording this October very early in the morning, October twenty six. They're late at night on the twenty fifth, depending on what you consider three thirty in the morning Eastern time. This is the rankings I already regret at least a couple of them the placements, but it's in the moment rankings, so you have to take that into consideration, which is why they're not a ton of rookies. There is one that appears here. I didn't get Jade and Ivy or Bennick Mathren. If we were projecting forward, they would certainly be here. With that, though, I think that we can get off and running in this and we begin as I'll throw this up on the screen for people on YouTube follow along at number twenty five with RJ. Barrett figuring out who gets the final nod in this shindig or the last nod however you want to phrase this super difficult, just super difficult. Rookie candidates Jay Navy, Benneck Mathren were easy to exclude on the basis of inexperience. Mixing everyone else after that was sort of for and purposely nitpicky. It could have been Michael Porter Junior if you didn't have chronic back issues. In his rearview. Colin Sexton could heat up at any moment for an extended period of time. Anthony Simons is always one shot away from being one shot away from an absolute heater, leaving off window Cutter Junior stings the most. I think for me Kelvin Johnson as well too. Those guys are who I heavily most considered those two for number twenty six, along with Anthony Simons the porter back issues. It was just easy to exclude him here. I think that durability throughout what we've seen thus far actually matters. I went with RJ. Barrett. He edges everyone else out thanks to his relentless rim pressure, more proven spot up three despite what we've seen to start this season, and a defensive role that is higher profile than many think I believe right wrong. Who the hell knows, but Barrett has already ratcheted up his finishing at the rim amid some bizarro offensive decision making this year. I'm trusting in this positive development, the passes he has thrown when the floor is spread, the power wing turn he made last season, and his bandwidth for shape shifting his offensive archetype relative to line up in which he plays. I just think his track record probably warrants a little more favor here than that of Wendell Carter Junior, who popped last year in Orlando. Then Kelden Johnson, who I guess has like kind of been on the similar level RJ. Barrett for as long. Afrey Simon's really becoming that full season explosive player last year, picking up where he left off again. Michael Porter Junior with the durability issues, Colin Sexton if he plays last season, who knows where he is? Gary Trent Junior was considered here as well. So was Devin Vassell. This is tough. I viewed this exercise as we go into it as having twenty three locks and then a twenty fourth lock, and who's about to show up just because I thought he needed to be in here? And so that really left me with one spot, number twenty four with this in mind. Palo bank Caro of the Orlando Magic, I don't fucking care. I don't care. Has he only appeared in four career regular season games at this writing? Yes, do I care? As I just said, not even sort of okay, I kind of care. I had to nudge him higher. I was talked out of I had to urge, excuse me, to nudge him higher. I was talking out of it once more, because these aren't projections, they're in the moment rankings. No rookie in theory should sneak onto this list? Pala bank Carro forced my hand. He isn't coming, He's here. His capacity to break down set defenses belies his age and skill. The things he does when he's in transition grab the ball, goes it is just astounding. The complex blend of shots he's taking is mesmerizing. He's hits, circus running layups and fades on the back of unending hanging time. The jumper isn't falling, but it looks pretty and it's going to fall eventually. Defenses might try to speat him up doesn't work. Bank Caro's composures reminiscent of Kate Cunningham. To me, he will poke and prod and probe until he creates a sliller space or a specific angle, and then attacks. This isn't small sample, scythe theater. Bank Caro is only this low because he doesn't have a track record. But he's shown enough both in Summer League and through the early part of the regular season to warrant the benefit of the doubts. No regrets here from me. Number twenty three Tyler, Hero of the Miami Heat. If you're mad about this, already. I think it's a testament to how deep the league is. Distinguishing between Tyler Hero and Jordan Pool is often painted as this maddening exercise. But just because they're two not quite the guards who can be targeted on defense, that doesn't make them eerily similar. Hero's value to me is most rooted in his outside shooting, with spans both on and away from the ball. Last season, he down thirty seven point five percent of his pull up threes and forty two point two percent of a spot of triples, almost evenly splitting that volume. He can, too heavily favor his off the dribble jumper inside of the yard put off sets part of that. In balance with the ability to attract defenses when he's in motion away from the ball, His pick and roll fluency has improved basically year over year. Pool comes across as more dispensable in Golden State. When you look at the Warriors roster, what Hero does best is intrumental, instrumental, meanwhile to optimizing the half court offense of a title hopeful. Up to this point, however, Hero's game has felt like it included one fewer level and less directionality on the attack. Maybe that changes this year. The Sheriff's shots at the rim has for the time being skyrocketed, but don't get bogged down, and the might bees and the could bees even this low quotes if you're watching this, he's a top twenty five under twenty five lock, which sort of runs into the theory that I was positing before. Number twenty two is Jordan Pool of the Golden State Warriors. I did voop these two together for a reason, if you could tell my explanation. Jordan Pool's case is both strengthened and repressed by his role. He contributed in a meaningful way to last year's champion, but his usage and returns will forever be warped by the Golden State by being the Golden State warriors third guard. Picturing him independent of Stephen Curry specifically isn't hard. The Warriors don't treat Pool like an accessory. He has more of an every level He is more of an every level self starter who messages meshes with others, rather than a stand still play finisher who moonlights an initiation. His off the bounce attacks don't receive nearly enough credit. He mixes fluidity in misdirection it is historically a bank of bull finisher around the basket. The fifty four point nine percent clip he's hit on twos over the past two years also comes amid a steady diet of mid range jumpers. The next phase for Pool should feature more feeling control as a playmaker. He's off to a good start there. His first few games this season has seen him through a nifty pocket non target shuffle passes, and he's been able to draw on defenses even when he's not scoring at a consistent clip. Many will probably think that this finish lacks imagination. Perhaps that is an indictment on failing to value Jordan Pool beyond his setup in Golden State or overweighting the will he close every game for them issue, especially when you're looking at the postseason. That's the danger in these rankings. At the same time, Pool would have probably not made this list entering last year, and he's a shoeing now. I think that matters, and we need to remember that Number twenty one Jared Allen, absolute beast Jared Allen. He may not be able to stave off Tyler Hero and Jordan Pool, among many others who don't even necessarily hit the top twenty five for much longer, but he's there now. He's at an inherent disadvantage as a defensive backbone and offensive play finisher. These rankings tend to favor those with more influence over the offense. At the same time, moving Alan under that specialist umbrella under sells what he does. This dude was not an All star by mistake, as I sort of pointed out when I was writing about him for Bleacher Reports MBA one hundred general impressions of Jared Allen's skew toward rim protecting, screen setting, play finishing big man, and that prevailing sentiment just undersells what he does. His defensive mobility on the back line contribute to Evan Mobley's capacity to be everywhere else basically, and while his offense is largely predicated on the primary playmakers beside him, he has diversified his portfolio to include reactive slips one and two, dribble decision making in space, and an operable hook shot. He shot fifty two point eight percent on hook shots last year one twenty seven to tenth, so so real volume. Nothing has really changed to start two twenty two, two twenty three, The numbers are more modest. But if anything, Alan's knack for moving without the ball and occupying spaces that don't obstruct Evan Mobley in the half court are more valuable to me, at least than ever. Franz Wagner came in at a number twenty. For me, it's he's like he was weird. He's twenty one. He would not have cracked this list this time last year, and yet now dropping him outside the top fifteen feels sort of ikey. That's, you know, a vote of confidence for how good he already is. Wagner closed his rookie season as the consummate offensive fits all. He dropped in spot up jumpers and reached the rim off high IQ cuts, But he also kept defenses on tilt by attacking downhill off the catch, fleeing floaters and finishing with force and finesse and fuck you at the basket. Even he busted out a hook shop from time to time. Most of that mystique has sustained in this season. More importantly, intriguingly, whatever the Orlando Magic are plumbing the depths of his offense, he flashed self creation. Last season. He had nearly thirty five percent of his pull up threes after the All Star break, and then he offered more of it in avalanches during euro Basket. Magic head coach Jamal Mosley has responded by uncorking lineups in which Wagner is the de facto point guard and by increasing his pick and roll initiation. Around seventy percent of Wagner's made buckets right now have gone on assisted. That would be a monstrous increase over last year's forty point six percent mark. It does not always looked pretty, though. Wagner is scoring fairly well out of the pick and roll and shooting fifty five point six percent on his drives. But the fact Orlando Ken and should be exploring this mode of operation from him really says it all to me. Number nineteen ended up being tough. Jaren Jackson junior the Memphis Grizzlies. He still has not played this season. Again, we're taking into account how good they are right now, even if they're not available. If it was a season end, season ending injury, I might have done this differently. Putting him in nineteen was tough to stomach, but if comfortably cracking the top twenty five from it from an absurdly deep under twenty five pools the floor signed me all the way up. Jaren Jackson Junior is coming off a season in which he was a genuine defensive Player of the Year Canada Kennedy. Once maligned for his fouling issues, he tamped them down, spiraling more so in these compacted blips rather than steady droves. His bandwidth to be everywhere and hang with versus virtually any offensive archetype is flat out bonkers. The Memphis Grizzlies may be hesitant to roll him out at the five from the jump, in part because of those foul troubles, but those lineups with him at the five are now less of a risk and more of just this cheek code. Jackson is far more question marks, though at the other end his efficiency plunged last season. The Grizzlies did task him with more complicated usage, but not enough to explain away the drop is off. The dribble work looked wonky and uncoordinated, and while his volume from deep holds value in itself, a sub thirty two percent clip is concerning, especially because it dates back to the twenty twenty one campaign, where yeah, he had minimal appearances, but he was still in the low thirties from deep splitting hairs. Over availability is also fair. He's missed fewer than fifteen games just once in four seasons. That was last year, and his recovery from a right foot injury has him on pace to miss fifteen plus again, that's an issue. Otherwise he could just be a lot higher in this exercise, but still cracking the top twenty while you're injured, and they're just these efficiency question marks and use his question marks on offense. Again, that's a big time from him. Jaw and Green at eighteen surprisingly difficult to place for me. I think he could be higher. I think he could be lower, depending on how you value impact. Green has tipped off to twenty twenty two twenty twenty three campaign, though much like he ended last season, getting ultra difficult buckets. Through his first few games, he averaged over twenty three points while downing forty seven point four percent of his threes, including fifty percent of his off the dribble triples. His efficiency inside the arc verges on troubling below forty five percent, but he gets to the rim more than you think, and his conversion rate at the basket both this season, which is sixty three percent and last sixty percent could plausibly be lower when you look at the degree of difficulty on these attempts. The Houston Rockets might come to find that Green is overtaxed. They use him as this offensive lifeline, a role his scoring Arsenal Kennondoor. His playmaking is very very much TBD. He's not unwilling to move the ball, but he can't telegraph his passes and be sloppy with the rock coming around screens and when entering traffic. These limitations to be clear or not. Knox green self creation already ensures he's among the NBA's premier cornerstones. But this field is deep, and for now there's more variability caked into his performances than many of the names that he's chasing. One of those names at number seventeen, Tyrese Maxie, another one where this feels really low, and then you look at the names in front of him, and you're like, oh, all right, how good is Tyrese Maxie? So good that the Philadelphia seventy six ers offense feels like it could rely less on James Harden or at least carve out more solo time for their third year guard. Maxie has not gone kaboom to start the season, but efficiency gets skewed by the game this time of year, and he's still clearing twenty points per game. Mind you, the set three point shot will be fine and Phillies Lanes shouldn't seem so crowd if head coach Doc Rivers ever gives them the license maybe a mandate to play with any fucking zemblance of pace whatsoever. Guardless, last year lay of the groundwork for Maxie's trajectory, he was equally revelatory as the sixers second most important player, and then they're James Harden and Joel Embi compliment that latter role is now his indefinite normal, and even if he seems criminally underutilized, he's wired to thrive. After Harden made his debut in Philly, Maxie parlaide blindingly fast, straight line speed and his improved shooting stroke into third option dominance. He averaged eighteen point seven points and three point five assists per game on a supernova forty eight percent clip from Downtown proof his rising star ken and will sustain every imaginable imaginable iteration of the Sixers Number sixteen Scotty Barnes Toronto Raptors another difficult one, because I do feel like a lot of Barnes's appeal is rooted in concept rather than practice. He's difficult to place, both in the short and long term. For that reason. He teases possibility by doing so many different things, but his execution comes off lower key than a Maxie, than a Jordan Poole, and even a Tiler Hero That inkling to me can be distilled down to opportunity. The Toronto Raptors seem committed to baptizing him by fire, featuring him in situations for which he might not be totally ready. Even as he took on slightly fewer front court touches before spraining his right ankle on Sunday, the vision was clear. They want him to be a primary decision maker. Roll out Barnes by himself, and the journey of self discovery can get hazy and disjointed. Slot him inside lines with two of Toronto's other primaries, and the future calcifies. He can bulldog his way to the bucket from above, the break draw doubles in the post, and most intriguingly, attack and decision make at the processing speed of a floor general. We have definitely seen more of that in the half court in the early going this year. Blissful possibility easily buoys his inclusion here close to the top fifteen, Barnes has managed to effectively impact the game as a functional adjunct while waiting waist deep into self exploration where he sits now plays up all that remains unfinished, but rest assured. This spot at number sixteen for the next few years is like his absolute four number fifteen. We're getting spicy here, Desmond Baye the Memphis Grizzlies. Desmond Baine went from sparingly used sharpshooters of rookie to higher volume fringe star sniper with on ball chops and defensive efforts. You feel while watching as a sophomore. What is his third year Heaven's Store. Screw the slow start. The Memphis Grizzlies have him doing even more as a driver and facilitator, and he was missing a ton of open threes that will fall later. They started to fall when he went boom boom power against the mercurial Brooklyn Nets this week. To be honest, I'm not sure if he'll ever be initiating pick and rolls in mass or if the step back jumper will become a staple, but it looks freaking lethal now. Bain still plays with an air of what if Kyle Lowry was taller, which I think we've said a few times on this podcast. Now, and he's the quintessential toggles between multiple offensive existences, building block that functional dualities enough to curry favor over those with higher ceilings like Tyres Maxie or Jordan Poole, maybe even teammate Jaren Jackson Jr. Those are guys who again might have higher peaks in fury, but who have more immediate question marks or glaring holes. And we're dealing in the here and now. Number fourteen. For me, Evan Mobley, this is like, I could see why people might put him lower. I could see why they might put him higher. That's just gonna be the common refrain throughout this Skip ahead a few years and Evan Mobley could feasibly top this list. Jump even further and he might be the best player in the NBA period. That is his ceiling. If everything's come together. We don't quite know what it will look like, because he's a bottomless mystery box on offense, not so much formless but terrifyingly moldible. Every face up and spin, every turnaround and fade away invokes what if Kevin Durant was Kevin Garnett was Anthony Davis. Still, it must all come together first, and the Cleveland Cavaliers need to be more comfortable with Mobley sponging up second string center reps to fully actualize the best version of himself and them. In the meantime, they can settle for an all defense staple who blurs the line between big man anchor and point of attack NAT, and who can rack up points entirely within the flow of the larger offensive ecosystem while dabbling in peaks behind my future as an MBA overlord curtain. Don't think it's a stretch to put in this high now Again, I think others will argue that he's too low. Tyrese Haliburton at number thirteen. Speaking of too low, he spent the first part of his career in a role with the Sacramento Kings. Deemed complimentary and therefore safe, it might have also been deemed redundant as well because of darn Fox. He provided flickers of self creation, but deference was his default. Could he ever dominate or at least aggressively quarterback on offense. The Indiana Pacers bet on him having that extra face of the franchise gear. That wager is paying off. A four James Sampole is nowhere near a tell all, but Haliburton looks ready to play the part of primary maestro and score. He continues to make excellent use of space, but there is more shorty and urgency to how he attacks Already. He is unbottled step backs and escape dribble jumpers, as well physical drives and wildly tough finishes, which he pairs with an air of controlled passing that always seems a few split seconds ahead of the defense. There's no overstating the agency Haliburton currently has over INDI's offense either. Among nearly two hundred players averaging at least fifteen minutes per game through multiple appearances so far this season so at least two games, only Luca Donchich sees a smaller share of his buckets go on assisted. That is fucking mind melting. If Halliburton doesn't qualify as primary building block material, I'm not sure what does at this point. Number twelve, darn Fox, this is you know we talk about it's wild that Jason Tatums Stone the nineteen. It's wild that while this is Fox's age twenty five season, He's still in the twenty four. So we qualified for this list again. In the moment rankings, Fox's value is seesawed over his first half decade in the league, and not always unfairly. He has teased all NBA command of an offense, only then frustrate with some combination of tunnel vision, poor shot selection, and defensive apathy, and every year, nearly without fail, he closes on the highest of notes, allowing rampant optimism to marinate before we're getting the process all over again next season. Three games into this season, Fox seems ready to break the trend. Nobody should expect his dolliance with forty five percent shooting from deep to continue, but averaging around thirty two points and seven assists one flating his turnover total in one game is kind of it. Like within his brand, Fox has always done enough to suggest his floater and step back jumper a viable outlet if not butting anchors. Driving has forever been his strength, even when not done nearly enough. He's doing it enough now. Only John Moran and Shay Gilders Alexander currently average more drives per game. All the while, Fox looks like a cleaner than expected fit off the ball. More of a shots are already coming from assists compared to last season, and even if the spot up efficiency dips, he moves in orbits to Monte Sabonis like he knows he'll get the ball back. Congratulations to all of us, by the way, who didn't sell the Aaron Fox stock last November or anytime thereafter Obviously Number eleven DeAndre Ayton. Eyton is like look putting Eton here, who's more of a play finisher ahead of offensive engines like the Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton is not a decision I took lightly, but Aton is done enough while hinting at the capacity to do even more for long enough to receive what I don't consider a controversial in the slidest nod. Aton makes the call even easier with his scorching hot start to the season. He's averaging nineteen points while dropping in nearly sixty percent of his twos, and he's shooting an absurd ninety four percent at the rim seventeen of eighteen. There right at the hoop. His scoring still skews heavily towards play finisher. Nearly ninety percent of his buckets are coming off asist, but his role within the Phoenix Suns offense is not robotic. It's far more instinctual. Conventional rim running bigs don't have the same sense of space and timing as Eton on his roles to the basket, and they most certainly don't include as much decision making. Even when Eton isn't taking a dribble, he often needs to gather and survey. So many teams would kill for their centers to have his catch and turnaround jumpers in their arsenal, which Aton knocked down to the sixty plus percent clip last season. There's more room to explore his face up and outside end games too. This may represent the peak of Aton's placement when considering who's in front of him, but to presume as much places unnecessary limitations on his offense while ignoring his utility as a defensive big who can dominate from drop coverage without ever getting mismatched off the floor. We are entering the top ten and low and behold, we have a player who's currently injured. LaMelo ball was tempted to put him put him higher. LaMelo's sideline to start the season with his brain left ankle. But the player he became during his first two years, more than Warrant's top ten placement table setters, don't get more uninhibited or innovative. He is someone who Embolden's teammates to run the floor harder and who lows half court defenses into creating gaps through which he can pass. That combination of gall and patience is rare, and it can uplift, and it has already uplifted in entire offense. Impressions of LaMelo's scoring will vary depending on who you ask. At worst, it's right on schedule. He has proved to be a reliable, catching, fire three point shooter, and the need for him to develop an off the dribble triple is overstated. He doesn't have to deploy one. But he also drilled thirty nine point five percent of his pull up trays after the twenty twenty two All Star Break, tightening up his finishing at the basket and embracing the kind of contact that earns some extra trips to the charity stripe. Forgive me, I can't talk is actually the next frontier for Lamello. If he doesn't reach it, he's still a twenty and eight guy with the touch to playoff others in the length and size to disrupt the posing offenses away from the ball. If that next frontier is conquerable, though, we're looking at an MVP candidate in waiting. Quite frankly, I don't think that overstates anything. Number nine Shay Gilgis Alexander, another favorite of this podcast. Over extension did catch up with Shay last year. The Thunder had neither the spacing nor the secondary ball handling the streamline his offensive agency, and it showed in his efficiency on the perimeter. He went from about a fifty six effective field goal percentage on jumpers to twenty twenty twenty one to a forty three effective field goal percentage in twenty one twenty two. The context of his role helps explain the plunge fueled mostly by his three point shooting. Among four hundred and sixty seven players to average at least fifteen minutes per game last year, only Chris Paul Mukadanchich saw a larger share of their buckets going assisted. It's a wonder SGA was still able to clear fifty percent shooting inside ther He plays at a variable cadence all his own, and it transcends the inherent limitations of what's around him. SGA's leaving similar impressions to start this season. The three ball isn't falling at an astronomical clip, but he continues to warp defenses on drives and subsist on hugely difficult looks while somehow dropping in over fifty five percent of his twos and eighty plus percent of his shots at the rim. If he ever gets to work against more consistent defensive separation, or even within an offense that can shoot better than low thirties from from deep, just watch out. He's an absolute A plus building block to me. Number eight. This was controversial for some, and I know Detroit Pistons fans for relief. To see Kay Cunningham in it rate feel for the game alone just renders kid. Cunningham is superstar in the making, and that's why I have him here, not just because he's a superstar in the making, but because you will already feel his manipulation over what's happening. Stickler's bemoaned to the efficiency last season and will continue to do so now it'll come. Cunningham is knocking down thirty five percent of his threes at least as I was recording this, and has noticeably cut down his turnovers out of the pick and roll. Better finishing around the basket should develop. In time, he'll go up with more force and pick up his dribble later. Harping on the raw numbers right now doesn't add much value to the discussion in my opinion either. Defenses are already laser focused on Kaide. He directs the offense and sees the floor with world on a string. Manipulation overhelping against his drives is an endemic to the way defenses guard him, and his court awareness is divine, circular, and unalterable. It won't be long before he's the type of player whose floor captain c alone ensures his team of turning in a top ten offense. I think you have to look at the skeleton of players game in these rankings too, and it is just there for him to where I think he's already elevating the play of his teammates of a Joan Durhan, of a Boy and mcdonovitch. Even some of the minutes he spent with Jay n Ivey this season and that matters outside. Oh, what does his individual efficiency numbers look like? And even some of the mistakes he's making when you're looking at turnovers. Number seven Darius Garlands. This was kind of easy for me. I did consider putting him a little higher, but you have to consider the names to come select. Youngsters needed a hot start to this year to solidify their spot in this list. Darius Garland spoiler alert did not. It doesn't matter that he looked at tad shaky and limited action during the Cavs his opening night lost to the Raptors. Nor does it matter that he suffered a left eyelid laceration after logging thirteen minutes and hasn't played since. His body of work last season is still speaking for itself, and it's loud as hell. Few players do a better job of butchering perimeter and helping defenses. Garland wields an operable floater and jumper and parlays that package into dick turning the teams of engagement in the half court. Last year, he placed in the eighty six percent tile of isolation scoring efficiency and knocked down forty six point three percent of his off the dribble threes after the All Star Break. Defense has now spin out of control once he gets inside the arc and or leaves his feet and his teammate threep the benefits. Only Trey Young tossed more assist at the rim last season. That was per Pblay PBP stats. It's great website. By the way, envisioning Garland thriving next to Donovan Mitchell without compromising his value isn't particularly difficult either. Really, it's just a matter of him getting the opportunity to direct an attack amid better spacing, a nod to both how much better he still might be and everything he did last season within the confines of Cleveland's half court offense. Number six Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans. I don't know where to put him. Zion can theoretically land anywhere you want him to finish. Can he be penalized for missing more than half of the regular season games for which he's been eligible to place since entering the NBA? Absolutely? Can he foment unchecked optimism for his interior dominance in the fact he garnered serious all NBA consideration during his loan mostly healthy year also absolutely plopping him here in sixth place. Attempts to straddle both sides of the argument, but when forced to choose, I think we should all default to the unchecked optimism side of the spectrum. Never mind the numbers which send a shiver down your spine themselves. Zion really plays like what if Shaquille O'Neil had more outside in feel and touch and a record breaking second jump. That player is impossible to comprehend. Yet somehow he exists in Zion, and if the prevailing belief ever favors his durability, you'll be hard pressed to concoct the list like this age qualifiers be absolutely damned that doesn't include Zion at or near the tippy top. We are on to the top five with Anthony Edwards, who almost came in behind Zion. I'm not gonna lie I had some people influenced me to put Anthy Edwards up there. Through two seasons and change, Anthony Edwards has offered glimpses into a player without a tangible ceiling. There are nights on which he looks like he will eventually be the Minnesota timber Wol was the most valuable player at both ends, and that he is on course to see his best player alive honors. Perhaps most impressive, on his least memorable nights, Edwards seemingly maintains the floor of someone who will scoop up a handful of all NBA bids. The skeleton of the skeleton of his game is that tantalizing the esthetics of what he's doing can supersede the end result. Edwards plays with an explosiveness that is immediate, but there's a deliberateness to how he attacks in the half court. He can slow things down and punish defenses with methodical drives and escape drible jumpers, and he will bust ankles and eagles until egos, until he generates the attention to table set for those around him. Hardliners often want to see how meteoric ascensions translate to higher stakes. Edwards has already held up in the pressure cooker, delivering true superstar magic in Minnesota's six game loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last spring. That definitely helps buoy him here, having some of those hallmark playoff moments already on his resume. Four, We're getting to the end, folks. Trey Young of the Atlanta Hawks. This hopefully shouldn't surprise anyone. Please do not read too much into Trey Young's wonky shooting splits to start this year on the heels of the Jean Day Murray's arrival. He's attempting a role adaptation not yet undertaken by usage contemporaries such as Lukadanci and James Harden. Young's average type of possession has dipped from last year, and the frequency with which he's attempting catching fire threes has more than doubled. This search for offensive diversification does nothing to diminish what's already known that Trey is one of the most lethal self creators in existence. The Atlanta Hawks offense has so routinely and generally imploded without him on the court because he props up everything. Defenses are on tilt before he crosses the timeline because they have to be. His range boils down to if he has the ball, then he's within scoring distance. Trey might lean too heavily on boundless touch for stretches at a time, but it is not his crutch. He leverages limitless range and an unconditional green light into live dribble anarchy. His floater is both sudden and, despite his standing six ft one, difficult to block. The attention he draws is the vehicle through which he teas up bunnies at the rim and in the corners. If this season's version of him features more off ball movement and some scream setting, the Trey Young versus John Morant debate that sort of died last year will resume in earnest to me at least. Oh hey, speaking of John Morant number three, I'm sure some Memphis Grizzlies folks aren't going to appreciate this. Number three is pretty flipping high. Look, one day, approximately twenty three, twenty three years and seventy six days ago, Flash and substance collided amicably and gave birth to a singular force unlike any other in history. That force grew up to be John Morant. I don't care how high you put the Memphis Grizzlies on your preseason league pass rankings. It wasn't high enough. Rant is so thoroughly entertaining, so infectiously enjoyable, that the number one spot cannot even do him justice. From gravity disproving dunks, to abrupt floaters, to theatrical passes to the pure and utter sense of unpredictability after he leaves his feet. Every possession from him is its own experience. But the beauty of his flair is that it's also essential. The Grizzlies would not win or annihilate expectations almost annually without Jaw being Jaw. They may be deep and plucky and able to churn out regular season victories without him, but he is their life force against the very best lineups and teams, A functional central nervous system who has diversified his mid range and outside shooting and touch enough to be deemed unsolvable. Number two the final two here. I'm assuming you can guess who they are. Jason Tatum is number two. If he want a debate between him and John Moran, I think that's fine. It's really hard for me, though, we have to start here to believe that Jayson Tatum is still only nineteen. He's twenty four. He has survived and spearheaded so many different iterations of the Boston Celtics. It feels like he should be in his early to mid thirties. If the start of this season is any indication, there may be no mountains left for Tatum to climb. He hones off the dribble scoring long ago, and remains a balanced and versatile defender who can fiercely party crash possessions away from the ball. His improvement as a playmaker has been gradual and culminated in truly complex passing last season. Now he's learning with career high volume at the rim, where he's shooting eighty plus percent and from the charity stripe. Many interpreted his struggles during the Finals as proof of incompleteness. Maybe that's true, but maybe he had more to do with a pesky Golden State Warriors defense designed specifically to complicate his life, And maybe both Tatum and the Celtics offense are better built to withstand identical hellfire now. More than anything, though, I think it matters that Tatum has already been the best player on a finals team at all. Number one. No mystery here, hopefully anyway, Luca friggin don Chich never a doubt for me. I don't know. I guess you could if you wanted to really wait defense Trump Factor and Tatum here, or I don't know how you make the case necessarily for John Morant either. It speaks to the one man showism of Luca don Chich that the Mavericks law their second best player for nothing over the offseason, replaced him with some combination of Spencer dim Body and Christian Wood hopes and dreams, even though both are calling it right now and they're still considered could be, might be potentially contenders. There's not another player on this list so comprehensively dominant enough to withstand that type of a loss and float well if everything breaks right, another Conference finals cameo isn't out of the question. Expectations, not enough adjectives exist for me to accurately convey Dontech's impact on the offense. His combination of every level shot making, vision strength, chains of speeds, and unflappability is transcendent, the stuff of which all time grades are made. Some can in Haven will continue to bemoan the ball dominance. Can heliocentric usage be parlayed into a title? The answer is almost irrelevant. Done is capable of playing a different way The MAVs as of now, as currently constructed, are not, and frankly, if we're being honest, maybe even more so than Yanni's Attenta Gumpo, Done is the closest thing to a contender unto himself. The NBA has seen since prime Lebron James. That will do it for me. Here that was my top twenty five players under twenty five. Let me know what you think on Twitter in the comments. If you're watching this on on YouTube and my dms, those are always open. Please remember to hit that subscribe button on YouTube, like comment on videos to help the algorithm love us back, Download and subscribe to us on Apple and Spotify. As many mediums as you can get us from, please go access it. Just to help the community build up, inflate those numbers. Keep Grant and I rolling in name brand no show socks, We would really appreciate it. Follow us on all the socials. Join our discord. We haven't had the community has been active. I love all of you. We haven't had a ton of exponential growth. Lately, it slowed down a little bit, so come join our discord. The link to that is in the YouTube and podcast description. I will not weigh in on every conversation. I try to, but there's a you know, over one hundred of you in there. Now go in there talk amongst each other. I love seeing your ideas. It's look, it's fun, especially if the season is going to get off and running, and as we get into all these bigger picture discussions, and I really think that that's it, other than until next time. Because Grant's not here, I don't have to apologize to be certainly someone else. I even with the shout out to the one, the only, the indelible Frank neilikeere