NBA: Top 10 candidates for 2018-19 Most Improved Player award

10. Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs

On one end of the floor, Dejounte Murray is already a rockstar — only in that under-the-radar way that defines the San Antonio Spurs, where you don’t know what your favorite rockstar’s actual voice sounds like until he’s retiring. Despite only being 21, Murray earned All-Defensive Second Team honors last year. He’s only going to get better there.

The key for Murray to be more than a dark horse candidate is elevating his game as the team’s undisputed starting point guard on the offensive end. It took him a while to definitively win the role last season, despite Tony Parker starting the year off injured. There’s no competition this time around.

The big problem here is LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan are going to be competing for who can stave off the modern NBA with the most mid-range jumpers on a nightly basis. Murray could easily improve on the 8.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game he averaged last year, but it might not be enough for MIP — especially if he doesn’t drastically upgrade is long range touch (26.5 percent on 0.4 attempts per game).