5 NBA Players Who Need More Minutes Starting Now

The closing stretch coming out of the NBA All-Star break is a great time to take stock of so much around the league: tankers, contenders, and pretenders, awards candidates, and, of course, players who need more minutes yesterday.

This trek around the Association for those in need of more tick will not solely identify 14th and 15th men and haphazardly declare the need for them to get run. We are instead looking to identify those already in a team's rotation who have a strong case to become more prominent parts of the every-night mix.

Players on rebuilding squads won't be our sole focus, either. Sure, we'll highlight those cases. But we're on the hunt for bigger-stakes decisions, too.

Drake Powell, Brooklyn Nets

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Despite some higher-volume pockets peppered throughout the season, Drake Powell has yet to consistently be a 25-to-30 minute guy for the Brooklyn Nets. With the team in full-on draft-lottery mode, there's no reason this should continue. 

A sub-30-percent clip from deep isn't great. He makes up for it with friskiness and ball movement on his drives, as well as his finishing at the rim. Powell is already an above-average scorer in transition and has made around 70 percent of his looks at the hoop. 

That is enough utility to buy him more minutes. Not that he should need an ancillary case. The way he deploys his athleticism on defense is enough on its own.

Powell has effectively held up against bigger and/or burlier primary ball-handlers. He isn't easy to screen or shake when going downhill, and the Nets can credibly use him against the likes of everyone from Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell to Cade Cunningham and Jaylen Brown. He might not be a star hiding in plain sight, but Powell has the makings of a skill set every team wants.

Taylor Hendricks, Memphis Grizzlies

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A devastating right leg injury cost Taylor Hendricks basically his entire sophomore season, and more notably, nudged him out of the Utah Jazz's long-term plans. He was averaging under 15 minutes per game at the time of the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade.

Hendricks' on-court presence is already up with the Memphis Grizzlies. They should make sure it continues to trend in that direction as they search for a more permanent big-picture body to play beside Zach Edey (when healthy), Jaylen Wells, and Cedric Coward. 

Though the 22-year-old isn't moving like he did pre-injury, the positional malleability on defense remains intact. He has enough mobility left to handle aggressively high pickup points, and Memphis may be able to steal minutes with him at the 5.

The offensive end is a bigger question mark. Hendricks has shown flickers of a driving game and isn't as poor a finisher and three-point shooter as he's shown. The Grizzlies have enough healthy ball-handlers (somehow) to explore how he looks in a higher-usage screening role, and on those nights in which they're banged up in the backcourt, shouldn't hesitate to throw him some of the above-arc touches they previously allocated to Jackson.

Kasparas Jakučionis, Miami Heat

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Injuries dampened the start of Kasparas Jakučionis' rookie campaign, and while he started playing more ahead of the All-Star break, it would be a stretch to call him an entrenched member of the rotation, especially as the Miami Heat battle for playoff positioning.

Still, even though the stakes are high, Jakučionis' inexperience shouldn't faze head coach Erik Spoelstra. The passing simply pops—and would be more smack-you-in-the-face if Miami had him running more pick-and-rolls. Even without that crutch, the derring-do vision he displays off the dribble is a level of artful creativity the Heat haven't seen since…LeBron James(?).

Growing pains are baked into the rookie-playmaker experience. Jakučionis is shooting a ghastly sub-31 percent inside the arc, including just 42 percent at the rim. Finishing more efficiently should come with time for someone his size. In the interim, Miami can stomach the errancy when he's so far ahead of schedule from distance, having nailed over 45 percent of his threes.

More than anything, the newbie adds a layer of unpredictability to a Heat offense that has long since fallen off its early peak. It's no coincidence they're generating more overall looks at the rim and from the corners with him on the court. Prioritizing his development should soar up their to-do list, not merely because of what it could mean down the line, but for what it might do right now.

Mohamed Diawara, New York Knicks

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Mohamed Diawara looked like a viable reserve wing entering the All-Star break—a huge deal for a New York Knicks team that doesn't technically have any. Yet, head coach Mike Brown has fallen in and out of love with his younger players throughout the year, and the addition of Jeremy Sochan only puts the rookie's spot at further jeopardy. 

Favoring the more experienced Sochan is tempting, but could also be a mistake. While he is more of a ball-mover and has real one-on-one defensive chops, Diawara has proven to be the more reliable as a three-point shooter. 

Defenses are not inclined to close out on him, and he's so far making them pay by drilling 41.3 percent of his triples on almost seven attempts per 36 minutes. Sochan is a career 28.7 marksman from distance on less than half the per-minute volume. 

Defaulting to the latter would be one thing if Diawara couldn't hold his own at the defensive end. He can. He isn't going to deliver shutdown possessions against Jaylen Brown every night, but he can be moved around the positional spectrum just as easily. Given how defenses still guard Josh Hart and the importance of a non-spacer like Mitchell Robinson, Diawara should be treated as the higher priority over Sochan so long as he's the more dependable three-point threat.

Vit Krejčí, Portland Trail Blazers

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Vit Krejčí is on course to graduate from this list since being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. His role with the Atlanta Hawks, while not entirely unpredictable, wasn't what you'd call steady—particularly near the end of his tenure.

Portland has given him at least 20 minutes in all of his games so far, including two occasions in which he cleared 25. Frankly, the latter should be his baseline, and closer to 30 should be the goal.

The Blazers' offense needs a knockdown shooter to boost its 29th-ranked conversion rate from three-point land. Krejčí can be a tad volatile from beyond the arc, but he's draining 42 percent of his triples over the past three seasons on nearly seven attempts per 36 minutes.

Having so much depth on the roster could interfere with a more ambitious minutes plan. Krejčí's 6'8" frame and secondary ball-handling give Portland options across the guard and forward spectrum. It may come with a defensive trade-off, but an offense that's dead last in half-court efficiency can't afford to care.

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Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.