Hoops Habit
Fansided

Luka Doncic, Brandon Ingram headline NBA Most Improved Player Ladder

By Phil Watson

NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 8
Next
NBA Orlando Magic Evan Fournier
NBA Orlando Magic Evan Fournier. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Evan Fournier. 5. player. 38. . .

Sometimes when it feels like a player has been around the NBA for a very long time, it’s easy to forget they might still be a young player. Such has been the case this season for Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier, who is propelling the Magic offense while All-Star center Nikola Vucevic recovers from an ankle injury.

It’s Fournier’s eighth NBA season, but he turned 27 on Oct. 29 and this season is averaging 19.7 points, 3.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 30.7 minutes per game, shooting .487/.444/.843. Fournier is shooting a career-high 6.1 3-pointers per game and making them at a career-best pace, indicative of some increased focus for a player long plagued by inconsistency.

The nearly 20 points per game is also on pace for a career-high as Fournier — like Jaylen Brown earlier on this list — had a strong summer with the French national team in China at the FIBA World Cup, making the All-Tournament team while pacing France to a bronze medal.

Per-36 minutes, Fournier has averaged 23.1 points, 3.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals this season after putting up 17.3 points, 4.2 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 2018-19.

He might be a little outside the traditional Most Improved Player window, but Fournier has shown the Magic and their fans a new level through 22 games.