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Ranking NBA Wings Under 25 With Highest Ceilings – Bleacher Report
The value of NBA wings is on the rise.
And so is the talent level of that position’s player pool.
In the modern game, wings have often been tasked into do-it-all duties on both ends of the court. They can be offensive leaders, go-to scorers, defensive tone-setters and primary playmakers.
It’s a lot to ask from one position group, but this batch of budding ballers is consistently rising to the occasion.
The following 10 wings—who will all be under 25 when opening night of the 2023-24 campaign tips—have been ranked by both their potential and perceived likelihood of reaching it.
An All-Rookie first-teamer, Bennedict Mathurin is a skilled isolation attacker who seeks out the most analytically friendly areas on the court.
In 2022-23, more than 60 percent of his shots were either right at the rim (29.2 percent of his attempts) or beyond the arc (32.6). And that doesn’t account for his 5.8 free-throw attempts per game, which was second among freshman behind Rookie of the Year winner Paolo Banchero.
There are some unanswered questions about Mathurin’s distributing and defensive consistency, but if he simply keeps developing as an isolation scorer and outside shooter, he’ll have a chance to play above this ranking.
Honorable mention: Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors; Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Spurs; Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans; Ausar Thompson, Houston Rockets; Cam Whitmore, Houston Rockets
Devin Vassell’s three-and-D chops once made him the 11th overall pick of the 2020 draft, but if his game hadn’t expanded beyond that label, he’d either be lumped in the honorable mentions or excluded from this exercise.
But his flashes of shot-creation, combined with perpetual improvement to that three-and-D game, are what could nudge his future closer to stardom than a strong supporting role.
The 23-year-old shattered his previous bests with 18.5 points and 3.6 assists this past season, and he played more efficiently than ever despite a massive usage increase (24.4 usage percentage, previous high was 18.9).
Vassell wound up creating nearly 55 percent of his own two-point buckets and more than 10 percent of his triples.
The Kings went a record-setting 16 seasons without a playoff berth. Then, they spent the No. 4 pick of the 2022 draft on Keegan Murray and promptly reeled off a 48-win season that not only saw them snap their postseason drought, but also do it as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed.
Now, the Kings’ success obviously wasn’t only about Murray, but the 6’8″ swingman still played a pivotal role in that success. He was one of three Kings to play 80-plus games, he logged their fourth-most minutes (2,382) and buried a rookie-record 206 threes—on 41.1 percent shooting, no less.
He doesn’t need to create much offense in Sacramento, and his future growth in that area is what will determine if he can crack the elite ranks or not.
Still, the fact that he’s a 23-year-old who needed just one season to prove he can contribute on both ends for a playoff team matters, as he already has a stronger foundation to build upon than a lot of players on this list.
RJ Barrett, the No. 3 pick of 2019 draft who only turned 23 this summer, has become a little too comfortable in tight spaces. That’s essentially all he’s had to navigate through to this point of his career, since neither he nor his Knicks teammates have punished opponents for packing the paint.
The fact that he’s found his way to 19.1 points on 42.7 percent shooting over the past three seasons anyway speaks to his ability as a determined, physical driver. Add a few percentage points to his jumper and some extra foul shots, and you could be looking at a nightly 25-point scorer.
The 23-year-old would rank higher on this list if it were easier buying into his becoming a long-distance threat, but forgettable connection rates from three (34.3 percent) and the foul line (70.9) don’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence.
That said, the possibility can’t be ruled out. For that matter, neither can his chances of becoming a better playmaker and more reliable defender.
While Minnesota made a million and one missteps in last summer’s colossally costly trade for Rudy Gobert, it did get one thing right: Refusing to include Jaden McDaniels.
While his offensive game is a work in progress, his defense is perfectly suited for the modern game and wholly dominant. He’ll check speedy point guards, bruising forwards and anyone in between, and despite guarding a who’s who of elite point producers, he simply dazzles on defense.
“McDaniels was the only player in the league this season to tally at least 75 blocks and 70 steals,” The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski noted. “He led all wings in block rate, dropped opponents’ expected shooting at the rim by 7 percent and spent the most time guarding All-Star players of any defender in the league.”
While the 22-year-old’s defense does the heavy lifting in this ranking, his offensive development has him on the cusp of the top five with a chance to climb higher as soon as this upcoming season.
McDaniels is mostly being spoon-fed his buckets for now, but he’ll unleash crossovers and spin moves that suggest his bag is much deeper than he’s been able to show so far.
The lone rookie to make the top 10, Brandon Miller brings a mountain of potential and a few worrisome question marks to Buzz City.
Starting with the positives, if he maxes out his development, he could be the league’s next star two-way wing. Several leaps stand between him and that breakout, but you can see the outline of a 6’9″ scoring forward who creates for himself and his teammates off the dribble and handles just about every defensive assignment thrown his way.
But his ability to free himself off the bounce is more of an idea than anything. He struggled at times to ditch defenders in college, and it’s not like the difficulty level decreases once you get to the league. And while he looks the part of a versatile defender, he has to get stronger to actually fill that role.
He has some potential pitfalls, but he’s also a 20-year-old rookie. Growing pains are part of the process. His ability to navigate through them will determine just how high he can climb.
Shaedon Sharpe entered the Association with anti-gravity bounce, a noticeable lack of polish and a horde of unknowns after never suiting up during his one-and-done season at Kentucky.
The 20-year-old exited his rookie season with some of the same traits, an absurd highlight reel and a closing stretch that suggested he could exceed expectations sooner than later.
His freshman campaign as a whole impressed, as he paired 16 points per 36 minutes with a 47.2/36/71.4 shooting slash. But in the final 10 games, he launched into orbit. More specifically, he averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists to go along with a 46/37.8/77.3 shooting.
Now, there weren’t any stakes attached, as Portland was already waist-deep into a tanking effort that eventually delivered Scoot Henderson. Even still, these were NBA games against NBA defenses, and Sharpe knifed through them like warm butter. He also showed off a host of shot-creating moves, which, if ever fully developed, might one day help him lead an offense.
To be clear, those question marks haven’t gone away, and a few—a loose handle, poor passing and a shoddy defensive motor—could torpedo his trajectory if never answered.
So, while he could wind up being the best player on this list, the actual chance of that happening isn’t high enough for him to crack the top three.
When the Magic added Franz Wagner with the No. 8 pick in 2021, the selection seemingly offered a lot more safety than star potential.
While the 21-year-old hit the ground running as expected, he soon sped up in a fashion suggesting all evaluators had undersold his upside.
Two seasons later, the 6’9″, 225-pounder is already sitting atop career averages of 16.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists. All three levels of his 47.7/35.8/85 shooting slash impress, especially with the knowledge he could improve any one—or all of them.
And yet, his offense is (a bit) behind his defense. While the former is statistically strong, the latter is downright elite. Defensive estimated plus-minus slotted him in the 95th percentile this past season. (His offense, by the way, was graded in the 85th percentile.) He is a pest on the ball no matter who he’s defending. His motor is top-of-the-line, and his ability to process might be even better.
It’s possible he’ll never reach superstardom, but his All-Star chances look better than any outside of our top two. The modern NBA is all about versatility, and Wagner brings gobs of it to both sides of the floor.
Scottie Barnes’ hype train stalled a bit this past season, one of many things to go awry north of the border. If this was merely a present-day ranking of young wings, that campaign could’ve hurt his spot.
Instead, this is focused on the future, and nothing the 22-year-old has done sends major warning signs with his long-term outlook. He is a unique talent—calling him a wing seems strange, since he can serve as a primary playmaker or a small-ball big—who might need more favorable conditions to thrive. The Raptors employing more shooters and fewer ball-handlers could really help his game shine.
Spending so much time off the ball has highlighted his shortcomings as a shooter (career 29 percent from three), but he could ascend to stardom even without a reliable three-ball. He is a two-way playmaker with the size and strength for the interior and the lateral quickness and tenacity for the perimeter. He is one of the few players who can credibly claim to be a five-position defender.
Failing to fine-tune that outside jumper could ultimately impact his ceiling, though. It will hold back his scoring (and offensive efficiency), and that’s enough to deny him the No. 1 spot, even if his future could hold a tower of triple-doubles and annual All-Defensive honors.
Paolo Banchero, the top pick in 2022, wasted no time announcing his arrival. In his first NBA contest, he became the first rookie to post 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in his debut since LeBron James in 2003.
Banchero basically kept the gas pedal floored from that point forward, collecting five of the six available Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards before nabbing all but two first place votes in the Rookie of the Year voting. When the curtains dropped on his initial campaign, he’d become only the ninth rookie to average 20 points, six rebounds and 3.5 assists.
“He’s a great player,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in January, per Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. “The thing I didn’t realize until I saw him is how big he is. For someone that skilled and moves the way he does, you don’t expect to see that size.”
Banchero is making his mark with a rare archetype as a 6’10”, 250-pound shot-creator. There aren’t many offensive fulcrums this size or bigger, and the few who exist almost all rise to the ranks of superstardom.
For Banchero to do the same, he must up his efficiency (42.7/29.8/73.8) and improve his defensive effort, particularly on the defensive end. Again, though, he’s a 20-year-old approaching his sophomore season. He should have areas for improvement.
If he approaches his peak, he could be a scoring champion who posts top-20 (or better) marks in rebounds and assists while playing competent (or better) defense. His ceiling features nothing less than multiple All-NBA honors and MVP consideration.
Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.
