NEW YORK – Each player that takes the field has actual worth. Some have All-Star ceilings, some are borderline stars, provided all goes as planned. If they were bad, they wouldn’t be on this list.

The intention is to draw attention to those whose reputations or expectations are disproportionate to their performance on the court. Rather than approaching this from the viewpoint of individual teams or fan groups assessing their own players, a national approach will be used.

Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray

Jamal Murray is a borderline All-Star and a very excellent basketball player. He has played in some absurd postseason games, making a few clutch baskets that are truly spectacular.

After rupturing his left ACL in 2021, climbing to the heights he has is a ridiculous feat in and of itself. Even with his usual mix of injuries and inconsistency, he managed to average 21.2 and 6.5 assists last year, maintaining a generational relationship with Nikola Jokić and making an absurd 42.4 percent of his pull-up triples, ranking third out of 74 players who attempted at least 100 of those shots.

Murray’s unquestionable mystique stems from his ability to switch between two existences in an effective manner. Not every guard is a from-scratch hub and an off-ball addition. Murray falls in between the two. Kind of.

Murray doesn’t exactly deliver it at this time. This must undoubtedly alter in order to keep Murray from being classified as a patented star, especially as Denver keeps emphasizing supporting young players.

Hornets of Charlotte, Miles Bridges

After entering a plea of not guilty to felony domestic abuse charges in November 2022, Miles Bridges missed the whole 2022–2023 season and the first ten games of 2023–2024. However, he returned to the Charlotte Hornets this past season. My intention in having him here is not to judge morals or even to offer commentary on his $75 million, three-year deal, which is decreasing every year.

This concerns his influence on the court. Part of the reason for his prolonged absence is that he wouldn’t be here if the league as a whole hadn’t appeared to have moved on. Before he re-signed with the Hornets, enough clubs apparently inquired about his availability, which proved to be the case and strengthened his attractiveness as a higher-impact player.

That impression is not diminished in the slightest by the raw data. He just managed to clear 20 points and three assists per game, making over 50% of his two-pointers for the second consecutive season, and matching up defensively against some of the most difficult frontcourt matchups.

Houston Rockets’ Jalen Green

If Green’s 2023–24 campaign could be considered an outlier, it would be one thing. It seemed a severe microcosm of his whole professional life. He has a reputation for starting out slowly before picking up the pace as the schedule goes on. Consider his career splits:

18.4 points, 3.2 assists, 31.8 percent on threes, and 52.7 true shooting percentage before to the all-star break

22.6 points, 3.7 assists, 37.0 percent on threes, and 56.7 true shooting percentage after the all-star break

That’s a significant distinction. And if you split it down by month, it becomes stranger. His best months to score are March and April, and they’re not even close.

If Green were to consistently enter the game in time to lead the Rockets to the postseason, this could be simpler to reconcile. However, after the All-Star break, this was the first year in his career where Houston’s games continued to matter.