NBA Preseason 2014: Most Exciting Young Players to Watch in Exhibition Play
The NBA's regular season may be almost a month away, but preseason action is just around the corner.
From the sport's biggest stars to the up-and-coming young guns, preseason basketball provides plenty of excitement for fans starved for NBA action.
The exhibition schedule gives some of the league's best young talent the chance to show what it's got in a more challenging setting than the summer leagues.
Here are some players to keep an eye on when basketball's preseason kicks off.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks may be one of the Association's worst clubs, and watching them get throttled during the regular season may not be appealing to many. But tuning in to watch some of their young guns run the court in the next few weeks should provide fans with some entertainment.
Consider the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been training this offseason to play point guard, per Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk:
Keep in mind he's 6'11".
Hey, they don't call him "The Greek Freak" for nothing. Antetokounmpo possesses an unfair amount of athleticism.
He may have been very raw in his rookie season as a teenager, but he did gain valuable experience playing upwards of 24 minutes per game in 2013-14.
I mean, who can honestly pass up the chance to watch the kid do something like this?
Throw potential Rookie of the Year candidate Jabari Parker alongside him, and your appetite for the basketball season should be held over for a little while longer watching this sophomore go to work.
Dante Exum, Utah Jazz
Another prime example of a young player who possesses an incredible amount of raw talent and came from overseas, Dante Exum will certainly face his fair share of rough patches as he adjusts to the NBA.
Make no mistake, though, Exum will be a treat to watch, especially for those who haven't seen much of him up to this point.
We saw some of those rookie mistakes during the summer league, but we also witnessed some superb moments from Exum, like this one against the Philadelphia 76ers:
Much like Antetokounmpo, Exum will also have another exciting young player by his side in 23-year-old Alec Burks, which could make for some extremely fun preseason ball.
Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves
Possibly the most intriguing player of the last few drafts, Andrew Wiggins has been labelled as the sport's next megastar.
Throw in his scary long arms and nearly unbelievable vertical, and you've got a player with some size, speed and a load of athleticism.
To put it in perspective, Michael Grange of Sportsnet combined his reach with his vertical and determined that Wiggins could almost reach the top of the backboard:
That combination not only leads to flashy plays at the offensive end but also plays like this one on defense:
With former top overall pick Anthony Bennett looking much better during this year's summer league and an assist specialist like Ricky Rubio feeding him the ball, there should be plenty of big plays from the No. 1 overall pick in this past summer's draft.
Then there's Zach LaVine, who has an even more impressive vertical than Wiggins does:
Imagine the kind of acrobatic dunks those two will combine for in the coming weeks.
Jon Reid is a correspondent for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @JonReidCSM.
