The NBA's Most Disrespected Players
Disrespect is seen on a nightly basis in the NBA.
A lot of times, a player shows it by filling the highlight reel with disrespectful dribble moves or punishing posterizers. But we're dissecting another kind of disrespect.
This kind isn't fun; it's exhausting. It's the kind that attaches a narrative (often a tired one) to a star player that paints them as something less of a talent than they are.
The following five players encounter this disrespect more than their peers, and we're here to debunk any falsehoods and give each elite his proper shine.
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
1 of 5
Through Devin Booker's first four NBA seasons, his contributions were both eye-opening and never enough. He'd totaled 5,820 pointsโ81st-most in league history for a player's first four seasonsโbut the production was drowned in a pool of Phoenix Suns losses (241, the most in that stretch).
Respect is almost unattainable under those circumstances. He could pop off for huge numbers (nine 40-point games from 2015-16 to 2018-19, tied with LeBron James for the 13th-most), but critics would say his contributions lacked substanceโand defense.
When wins don't accompany production, players are picked apart for what they aren't doing (or maybe what their team isn't doing), instead of celebrated for what they can deliver.
"Until you get on a team that is winning and is fighting at least for a playoff spot, that individual stuff, they will write up that you've got some points, but there's always, 'Oh, you don't play defense,' or 'Oh, you don't do this,'" TV analyst and former Suns star Tom Chambers told B/R'sย Jonathan Abrams.
This season has been differentโfor Booker and the Suns. His true shooting percentage, win shares and defensive box plus/minus have all hit career highs, and Phoenix has already matched its best win total during Booker's tenure (24). And still, Booker didn't snag his first All-Star invite until the league needed a last-minute injury replacement for Damian Lillard this season.
Still just 23 years old, Booker is one of only eight playersย who areย averaging at least 26 points, six assists and four rebounds per game and has the fifth-most win shares of that group (5.7). He's a legitimate star, even if the basketball world has been slow to recognize him as such.
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
2 of 5
Flash back to April 2019.
The second-seeded Denver Nuggets, fresh off a 54-win season, have their hands full and then some with the seventh-seeded San Antonio Spurs. The Nuggets are down one game to none and seem headed to a second consecutive home defeat.
Fox Sports 1's Nick Wright takes to Twitter and fires off the following criticism of both the Nuggets and their leader, Nikola Jokic: "The Nuggets are exactly what so many of us said they were: A pretend contender with a pretend superstar."
Denver, of course, rallies from a double-digit halftime deficit to take that game and eventually wins the series in seven. The Nuggets bow out in the next round, but not before pushing the Portland Trail Blazers to another seven-game series. Before the conference semifinals were even complete, Wright was rushing to revise his hot take on the Joker.
Jokic left him no other choice, averaging 25.1 points, 13.0 rebounds and 8.4 assists in 14 playoff games. Jokic's stat line also featured a stellar .506/.393/.846 shooting slash.
He did what a superstar should, because that's what he isโeven if casual fans haven't all awakened to that fact the way Wright did. Jokic may not always score like a superstar (seven outings with single-digit points this season), and he might be overmatched athletically in a 40-and-over rec league, but his offensive arsenalโa soft shooting touch from every level and maybe the best vision ever for a 7-footerโis overwhelming.
The Nuggets are within arm's reach of a .700 winning percentage (something they've never posted since coming over from the ABA in 1976-77), and Jokic is at the center of that success. Everything from the full reach of his per-game marks (only player averaging at least 20 points, 10 boards and six dimes) to his advanced statistics (sixth-highest real plus-minus, per ESPN.com) points to full-fledged superstardom.
Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks
3 of 5
Basketball minds keep guessing wrong on Khris Middleton.
He wasn't a first-round pick in 2012, instead falling to the 39th selection, one spot behind Quincy Miller, who played 69 games in the NBA. The Detroit Pistons finally pounced on Middleton, but they never reaped the rewards of that pick, since they let him go to the Milwaukee Bucks in the July 2013 swap ostensibly highlighted by Brandon Knight and Brandon Jennings.
"I thought he might become a good rotation guy," former Pistons assistant Dee Brown told ESPN's Zach Lowe. "I never expected this."
Analytics eyed Middleton as an impact player early. He had 2014-15's 10th-highest RPM, which left many pondering the formula, since he'd averaged only 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. The league eventually came around and awarded him his first All-Star bid in 2018-19, the year after he was one of only 11 players to average at least 20 points, five boards and four assists per game.
The Bucks granted Middleton a full max contract last summer, but they initially contemplated making a lower offer in hope of also retaining Malcolm Brogdon, per B/R's Ric Bucher. Middleton booked his second All-Star trip in February, but some, including NBC Sports' Tom Haberstroh, thought the spot belonged to someone else (Zach LaVine, in Haberstroh's case).
Even with the Bucks bearing down on a possible 70-win season, some question whether they have enough to contend. The primary sticking point, as NBA.com's Steve Aschburner examined in December, is whether they have a championship-level co-star for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
They do. It's Middleton. Analytics still love him (18th in RPM), the eye test appreciates his shot-creation and defensive versatility, and the traditional categories note he's on pace to join the vaunted 50/40/90 club, as a 21.1 points-per-game scorer, no less.
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
4 of 5
Ben Simmons is on a short list of the league's top talents, but he still spawns polarizing takes.
In January, The Ringer's Rob Mahoney broke down Simmons' rise as "one of the NBA's best defenders." In February, CBS Sports' Brad Botkin examined whether Simmons was "an empty-stat defender." How's that for a lightning rod?
Casual fans skewer Simmons for his three-point allergy. Even Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown has pleaded for more long balls. But too often, people let that discussion discolor their entire opinion of Simmons, as if his reluctance to fire off jumpers he probably won't makeโhe's a 59.4 percent free-throw shooter, folksโerases all the positives he brings.
He's a five-tool defender. As a 6'10", 240-pound point guard, he can both keep in front of perimeter players and bother opponents with length around the basket. He's always shrinking passing lanes or harassing ball-handlers (and is leading the Association with 2.1 steals per game), and his ability to transform turnovers into transition scoring chances puts his best offensive attributes on full display.
He has elite floor vision, and he can spot open teammates from every angle at any speed. Few sights are more intimidating than when Simmons steamrolls to the rim, and he knows it. More than 54 percent of his career field-goal attempts have come within three feet of the basket, and he has converted 72.2 percent of those looks.
Would it help if he could stretch the floor? Sure, but why did everyone decide his weakness negated his strengths? He has averaged at least 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists during his first three NBA seasons (including this year); only Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson have matched that feat. Simmons has contributed 24.6 win shares over that stretch; only 11 players have tallied more.
He should be appreciated as an elite. Instead, he's scrutinized for not fitting our vision of how an elite performs.
Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets
5 of 5
Ja Morant gets it. His favorite player when he was growing up was Russell Westbrook, and as Morant told ESPN's Tim MacMahon, he doesn't understand why the dynamic floor general isn't more celebrated:
"I still feel like he's highly disrespected. People take his play for granted. I mean, he averaged a triple-double for the last three or four years, and I'm pretty sure they see what he's doing this year, but it's still the same thing. I just love that he still just goes out and plays and handles his business and doesn't worry about it."
Westbrook is relentless. What can sour public opinion, though, is that's true regardless of if he's at his best or worst. His shot selection has been cringe-worthy at times, and some see his style as not conducive to winning.
The truth is, he's awesome by almost any measure.
The 31-year-old already has the second-most triple-doubles in NBA history behind Oscar Robertson. Some have questioned the significance of that, as if we all expected someone to desensitize us to nightly triple-dips. Westbrook's grisly 30.4 career three-point percentage is a sticking point for some in the analytical crowd, but he has the 19th-highestย player efficiency rating in NBA history, and he's seventh in RPM this year.
He has relatively ditched the three-ball this season (his fewest average attempts since 2012-13), and his field-goal percentage has rocketed to a personal-best 47.0. He's also averaging the third-most points of his career (27.3) and ranks 11th in assists (7.2), which shouldn't be possible given how much the Houston Rockets run their offense through James Harden.
Westbrook's resume includes the 2016-17 MVP award and eight All-NBA selections, but this might be The Brodie at his best. If you've ever slandered his style of play or wondered if he could co-lead a big winner, the clock is ticking to revise those takes.
All stats, unless otherwise noted, courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference and accurate through games played Feb. 28.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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