Top 5 unchanged, but Jayson Tatum lurking on NBA Most Improved Player Ladder

In what has been a lost season for the Detroit Pistons, the play of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk has been a pleasant surprise. Acquired at the trade deadline last season with a 2021 second-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers for Reggie Bullock, the young Ukrainian wing played in just three games and logged 20 minutes after the deal.

He’s emerged as a rotational regular this season, appearing in 51 games and making 22 starts while giving the Pistons some valuable spacing from the 3 spot.

Mykhailiuk moved up the ladder as much due to other players taking a plunge down it, as he played in just six games over the last four weeks, missing five games with a strained left hip. He returned before the All-Star break before making an appearance in the Rising Stars Challenge and came back to the starting lineup after the break.

In those six games, he’s had some difficulty getting restarted, averaging 8.7 points, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 24.1 minutes per game, while shooting 34.7 percent overall and 28.1 percent on 5.3 3-point tries a night.

For the season, Mykhailiuk is at 8.8 points in 22.1 minutes per game while shooting 42.3 percent overall and knocking down 41.3 percent on 4.8 deep tries a game.