NBA: 10 players certain to regress in 2019-20
By Greg Steele
The 2019-20 NBA season, like any other, features a number of players who will regress from surprising performances last year.
Time and tide wait for no one, and nowhere is the adage more true than in the NBA. Age and sometimes injuries catch up with every player, from the greatest star to the most insignificant benchwarmer. In any given season a number of players will see their arrow going up, while others find their stock dropping.
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Predicting which players will regress is no easy business, but it is essential for front offices, fans, and fantasy aficionados.
The 2019-20 season, like any other, features a number of players who will fail to meet the expectations their teams and fans place on them based on their performance a season ago.
In the following list, there are a number veterans on the wrong side of 30, several players with limited skill sets who over-performed their actual talent last season and a few players who had fluke performances last season which they are unlikely to match this year.
In order to credibly identify which players are most likely to regress from their previous level of play, we need to know what fueled their accomplishments last season and which factors will make it difficult for them to follow up on past success.
In reviewing each candidate, we will break down what made the player so successful in 2018-19, then provide an argument for why he will not be able to match that success this year. The top 10 players most likely to regress this season begin with a member of one of the teams that many around the league expect to come crashing back to earth this year: the Orlando Magic.