5 Players Ready to Shine in Their First NBA Playoffs
NBA legacies are often defined by playoff performances.
Between the perpetually increasing competition level, the attention of a captivated global audience and the now-or-never stakes attached to each series, the NBA postseason is a stage like no other.
And we're already eager to watch the following five hoopers grace it for the first time in 2023.
From surging sophomores to more seasoned pros who haven't joined the festivities before, these five first-timers are all positioned to impress during their initial postseason runs.
De'Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings
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De'Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings, who joined forces at the 2017 draft (where Fox was taken fifth overall) are about to experience some firsts together. Or they'll continue stringing firsts together, rather.
Already this season, Fox earned his first All-Star nod, while the Kings posted their first winning record since 2005-06. Soon, Sacramento will make its first playoff appearance since then, which will be the first of Fox's career.
Fox's late-game heroics, which will almost certainly earn him the NBA's first-ever Clutch Player of the Year award, is a big reason why this postseason run is even happening. He scored an NBA-best 194 points in the clutch—final five minutes with a margin of five points or less—this season, while no one else topped 159. More impressively, he did so while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 86.0 percent at the free-throw line.
"His presence, calmness, demeanor, however, you want to call it has just been fantastic down the stretch of games, especially one-possession games," Kings head coach Mike Brown said, per NBA.com's Shaun Powell. "It's just a confidence that he exudes during that time in the game, and he's shown play after play after play that he can go get it done."
Fox had been a productive player before, but his numbers held more significance than ever. He set career highs in metrics such as true shooting percentage (59.9, previous best was 56.5), win shares (7.4, 5.6) and box plus/minus (2.5, 1.8).
With no playoff track record, Fox will enter the postseason with his share of skeptics, as will Sacramento as a whole. Both have the chance to quiet those doubters instantly in a first-round matchup with Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers
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If Darius Garland had his choice, he probably wouldn't have waited until his fourth NBA season to make his playoff debut. That delay allowed him to linger in the lab for longer, though, so he'll now step onto this stage with an absurdly deep bag for a playoff first-timer.
As a 6'1" hooper with non-elite explosiveness, Garland uses skills and smarts to dismantle opposing defenses. The 23-year-old already belongs on the league's short list of tough covers. He's too good of a shooter to leave him any breathing room from deep, but he's too slippery off the bounce to crowd him. And when defenses manage to account for all of his scoring acumen, he can still shred them with his passing.
Statistically speaking, there really isn't a right way to handle Garland. By volume alone, he's a unique attacker. This season, he was one of only five players with at least 500 points as a pick-and-roll ball-handler (576), 100 points on isolations (117), 75 pull-up threes (91) and 75 catch-and-shoot threes (77). Garland was doing all of those different things while compiling a sizzling 46.2/41.0/86.3 shooting slash.
What's really wild, though, is that his name won't be the first listed on opponents' scouting report. That instead would be his All-Star backcourt mate, Donovan Mitchell, who was one of the other four players to hit those marks. Pairing these two together is what allowed Cleveland to start a pair of non-shooting bigs (Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley) and a non-scoring wing (Isaac Okoro) and still field the Association's eighth-most efficient attack.
If the Cavs make noise beyond the opening round of the playoffs, it'll likely be because Garland is on a magical run.
Josh Hart, New York Knicks
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It feels like Josh Hart should've made a playoff appearance by now. He was a champion at Villanova, and he has since built his six-year NBA career around the proverbial winning plays that coaches always rave about.
"He's what I would term a glue guy," New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. "You can start him, you can bring him off the bench. He's an elite rebounder, but he's a playmaker. ... He's all about the team and all about winning."
For reasons beyond Hart's control, he had never previously played on a winning NBA team before his deadline deal to New York. To the surprise of no one, he has thrived in this situation.
Over 25 games in Gotham, he supplied 12.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.6 steals per 36 minutes to go along with a wildly efficient 58.6/51.9/78.9 slash line. He also easily paced the Knicks in net differential, as New York was a mind-numbing 17.1 points better per 100 possessions with him than without.
So while this stage and spotlight will be technically new to him, don't be shocked if he looks right at home in the postseason.
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Evan Mobley is a rising star. It's very possible that his introduction to the playoff stage could be what sends his career into orbit.
The 21-year-old is already dropping hints of becoming the ideal big man in the modern NBA. He could use a bit more bulk, and his shooting has a ways to go, but he is a centerpiece asset without them. When The Ringer's Bill Simmons released his top 75 players by trade value in February, Mobley checked in at No. 13 overall. Simmons even mentioned the possibility of Mobley becoming "Tim Duncan 2.0."
Mobley's numbers obviously aren't near that level yet, but he sure seems like he's laying the groundwork for a special career.
Since Garland and Mitchell dominate Cleveland's offense, Mobley doesn't have much called for him, but he still finds his way to 16.2 points and 2.8 assists per night. He has also upped his field-goal percentage to 55.4, and while the changes weren't dramatic, he did increase his free-throw percentage (67.4) and cut down his turnovers (1.8) this season.
The story with Mobley, though, is defense. If he stays healthy and on his current trajectory, he should probably start clearing space for the multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards he'll collect down the line. He is a 7'0" paint protector who is just as comfortable defending in space against faster players on the perimeter. As The Ringer's Michael Pina put it, "Centers who move so gracefully, with touch, intelligence, footwork, and tenacity, are a cherished breed."
Mobley likely will have more than a few "Wow!" moments on defense during this playoff run. If opponents throw the kitchen sink at stopping the Cavs' guards, he could have a similarly enormous impact on their offense, too.
Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers
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While the Los Angeles Lakers technically haven't locked down their playoff spot just yet, it's almost impossible to see them bowing out of the play-in tournament. Austin Reaves' ascension is one of the reasons why.
He impressed as a right-place, right-time heady player last season, but his sophomore campaign was something different. The way he sprinted through the closing stretch suggested there might be a whole lot more to his game than anyone realized.
Over 23 had-to-have-them games after the All-Star break, of which the Lakers won 16, Reaves averaged 17.6 points on 57.8/44.3/85.6 shooting and 5.5 assists against only 2.0 turnovers. He scored 20-plus points in six of those outings, peaking with 35 points (plus six boards and six assists).
"He's just dialed in right now," Anthony Davis told reporters recently. "He's locked in to what we're doing, he knows what we need from him, he's not scared to take big shots. He's not afraid of the moment and it shows."
With the Lakers healthy and in a much better place after their roster reconstruction at the trade deadline, Reaves can pick his spots and find his chances within the flow of the offense. That's what makes this run so encouraging and suggests it might have sustainability. He hasn't been shooting out of necessity as much he has been capitalizing on his opportunities and taking what's there for him.
He already had a breakout second half, but further elevation on the playoff stage could be a signal that he's leaping to stardom.
Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.
