3. D’Angelo Russell, Brooklyn Nets
Similar to Myles Turner, D’Angelo Russell‘s breakthrough was supposed to come in his third season. While no one’s confusing D-Loading for some two-way game-changer, he was expected to burst onto the scene in his first year with the Brooklyn Nets, playing with a family-sized bag of chips on his shoulder after being jettisoned by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Instead, injuries limited him to 48 games and when he was on the court, he hardly looked like a franchise pillar. He averaged a respectable 15.5 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game, but he showed little growth from his second season, turning the ball over 3.1 times in a mere 25.7 minutes per game and posting underwhelming .414/.324/.740 shooting splits.
Russell isn’t athletic enough to get by defenders, but the patented step-back that was expected to be one of his greatest strengths has failed him so far in the NBA. As he approaches restricted free agency, the pressure is on to prove he’s worth cutting into the two max slots Brooklyn could put to use next summer. Since he’s still only 22, no one should be ruling that possibility out just yet.