Believe it or not, there are only two months left in the 2019-20 NBA regular season. By this point, we have a large enough sample size to gather some legitimate information.
We pretty much know which teams are good, which teams are meh and which teams just stink at this stage, and the same goes for individual players.
The thing is, some players entered the season with higher expectations than others and have failed to deliver.
Here are the five most disappointing players in the NBA this year.
5. Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls
Around this time last year, Lauri Markkanen looked like one of the top up-and-coming young players in the league. Now, he is a relative afterthought.
The third-year big man, who is currently sidelined due to a hip injury, is averaging just 15.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season, down from 18.7 points and 9.0 boards last year.
He is also shooting a career-low 34.4 percent from 3-point range, and there are times when he looks completely disengaged in the Bulls' offense.
This has led to Markkanen apparently being unhappy with his situation in Chicago.
Is this on Jim Boylen, or is this merely Markkanen not producing?
Markkanen was expected to take the next step into stardom this season, and that has not occurred.
4. Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers
Historically, Myles Turner has been one of the most underrated players in the NBA.
The perfect modern big, Turner has always kind of been an Al Horford type without the floor vision. He can shoot, he can run pick-and-rolls with the best of them, and he is a terrific defender with the ability to guard multiple positions.
But this season, Turner has been a shell of the player we have become accustomed to seeing.
The 23-year-old is averaging just 11.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, his lowest marks since his rookie campaign in 2015-16. He also owns a rather alarming minus-4 net rating.
It has now gotten to the point where the Pacers even discussed trading him at the deadline, per Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report.
What is going on?
I understand that Turner has dealt with some nagging injury issues this season, but he has fallen off in surprising fashion. With Domantas Sabonis getting a recent extension and Goga Bitadze on the come-up, Turner may very well end up getting dealt this offseason.
I still think trading Turner would be a mistake unless Indiana gets a ton of value in return, but he has not progressed like most had hoped.
3. Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento Kings
This one comes with an asterisk, as Marvin Bagley III has played in just 13 games this season due to myriad injuries. But even when Bagley has been on the floor, he hasn't been good.
I had Bagley pegged as a breakout candidate this year, which was a huge reason why I thought the Kings could potentially make the playoffs.
Remember: the Duke product had a rather impressive rookie campaign last season, registering 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 50.4 percent from the floor, so there was evidence to suggest that 2019-20 could be a big year for Bagley.
Instead, Bagley has spent most of the season in street clothes. During his 13 appearances, he has logged a true shooting percentage of just 51.2 percent.
Luckily, Bagley is just 20 years old, so he has plenty of time to right the ship. But there is no doubt that this has been a miserable campaign for the former No. 2 overall pick, and the Kings are almost certainly always going to regret taking Bagley over Luka Doncic in the 2018 NBA Draft.
2. Mike Conley, Utah Jazz
Let me preface this by saying that Mike Conley has picked it up lately.
Over the last four games, Conley is averaging 20.3 points while making 46.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 50.0 percent of his long-distance tries, so perhaps this is the beginning of a positive trend.
But there is no ignoring just how bad Conley was before this recent stretch.
As a matter of fact, the Jazz hit their stride without him, as they reeled off 10 straight wins from Dec. 26 through Jan. 14 with Conley sidelined due to injury.
On the season as a whole, the veteran point guard is recording just 13.3 points (his lowest mark since 2012-13) and a career-low 4.1 assists per game while connecting on just 38.7 percent of his shots.
Utah traded for Conley last June with the idea that he would take the club to the next level, but up until the last several contests, he had been more of a liability than anything else.
1. Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets
Remember a couple of years ago when Gary Harris looked like a stud?
Well, that feels like a lifetime ago.
This season, Harris is putting up a meager 10.2 points per game while shooting just 39.8 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from downtown, giving him an abysmal true shooting percentage of 49.4 percent.
Harris' decline started last season, when injuries limited him to 57 games, and the injuries he has incurred over the course of his six-year NBA career have clearly taken their toll. The 25-year-old has played 70 games just once thus far in his professional tenure.
Even with Harris struggling, the Nuggets remain one of the league's best teams. But just imagine how much better they would be if they were getting 2017 Harris instead of this broken-down version?
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