The NBA In-Season Tournament is debuting in the 2023-24 season. For those unaware, this is how it will work: there are six groups consisting of five teams. They will first compete in Group Play, with the top teams in each group after the whole round qualifying for the quarterfinal. Two more Wild Card teams qualify, and those spots are given to the team in each conference (East and West) with the next best record outside of the group winners.
From there, it's win or go home. The winning squad will have each player take home $500,000.
Group C in the Western Conference consists of these five teams: the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs. All of these teams have star power on their rosters. But who are the best players in this group? Let's find out!
Honorable Mentions
Draymond Green, Domantas Sabonis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey
5. Victor Wembanyama
Perhaps Draymond Green, Domantas Sabonis and/or Karl-Anthony Towns and their tenure in the NBA already should notch them ahead of a rookie. After all, they have made All-NBA teams before. But both Sabonis and Towns have spotty playoff track records and come with question marks defensively. Draymond is still an absolute basketball genius on both ends of the floor, but he hasn't scored double-digit points per game or shot above 31% from deep since the 2017-18 season.
That's not the case with Victor Wembanyama, the unicorn of all unicorns.
Victor Wembanyama showed some things as a rim protector and a shooter in a win yesterday against Dijon. He wasn’t forcing his offense this game and let everything come to him. Was making a variety of different shots from the floor. Showed why he’s a threat in the pick and pop. pic.twitter.com/U4Xzeatq8T
— Global Scouting (@GlobalScouting_) January 16, 2023
Though Wembanyama can get punked a bit by bigger centers, there aren't a ton of those brutes out there that are focal points of their team's offense. And Wembanyama basically makes the rim his home with no one on the offense allowed entrance. His record eight-foot wingspan lets him block shots from anywhere and his quick feet let him defend on the perimeter. Oh, and he can create offense and shoot like a guard, as well as do prototypical elite big man stuff. It takes projection to put him ahead of All-NBA caliber players, but Wembanyama is talented enough to do so.
Victor Wembanyama
Behind The Numbers
The Good
• 72% FG on shots at the rim
•63.2% on rolls to the rim
•72.2% on off rebound putbacks
•65.1% on cuts to the rim
•115 dunkshttps://t.co/5TbaX4CQzc— Rafael Barlowe (@Barlowe500) June 19, 2023
4. De'Aaron Fox
It takes no projection to put De'Aaron Fox here. Fox enjoyed a true breakout season that saw him earn his first ever All-Star and All-NBA selection. It makes sense after he put up career-highs in assists per game (6.2), rebounds (4.2), field goal percentage (51.2%), two-point percentage (58.4%), effective field goal percentage (55.7%), and free throw percentage (78%). All this while also ratcheting up his effort level on defense. If not for a thumb injury, it very well could've been the Kings moving instead of the Warriors in the playoffs.
Fox was sensational though in his first-ever playoff appearance. There will be more where that came from.
De'Aaron Fox is just great hoops. 38 points in his playoff debut, the Kings are electric. pic.twitter.com/Z7zBBSd71c
— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) April 16, 2023
3. Anthony Edwards
Anthony Edwards also made his first ever All-Star appearance last season, but he didn't make All-NBA. He won't have to wait much longer for that. Edwards is already a superstar and an absolute problem to defend once the postseason comes around. He's played in 12 playoff games. On his career, he's averaging 28.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks on preposterous 46.9/38.0/54.0/83.6 shooting splits. He's only 21 years old doing that!
Consistency on defense is an area Edwards can improve upon. When Edwards is dialed in, he's All-Defense caliber good. That consistent has been showing up while playing for Team USA as they prepare for the FIBA World Cup.
what a sequence from Anthony Edwards. pic.twitter.com/L34D39m2uW
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) August 8, 2023
The FIBA World Cup team consists of a ton of young, exciting players who have already made All-Star and/or All-NBA teams. But Edwards looks the best of the bunch and the alpha among them. Edwards' ceiling doesn't exist. Consistency defensively and continued improvement as a playmaker will see Edwards reach those heights. And everything about the demeanor of the Minnesota Timberwolves star suggests he's going to get there at some point.
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Another player who is a.) going to play in the FIBA World Cup, b.) made his first All-Star team in 2023, and c.) made his first All-NBA team in 2023 is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA will be donning Canadian red instead of American blue in the World Cup, but he balls whatever uniform he's wearing. He put up 31.4 points per game in 2022-23, by far a career-high, on a whopping 51% from the field despite taking only 2.5 threes per game. That was good enough to earn him All-NBA *First*-Team honors. As in, SGA was one of the five-best players in the NBA last season. And he deserved that.
1. Stephen Curry
Steph Curry is 35 years old and put up the third-most points per game in his career (29.4) and third-best effective field goal percentage (61.4). Come on. What more needs to be said?
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