Breakout Ballers: Top five young players to watch next season

There will be no escaping the usual suspects. The stars as well as the up-and-comers who play for the NBA’s popular or successful franchises, the players who will be on national and international TV broadcasts regularly and will be talked, videoed, blogged, interviewed, ‘liked’, instagrammed, or tweeted about multiple times once the season gets underway.

But we believe that the NBA is a level-playing field, where, at the start of a new season, every team starts with the same record, and theoretically, every team is as capable of success as every other. So what if the chances of the Suns finishing with a better record than the Heat are only about as likely as their former point guard Steve Nash actually playing for Inter Milan? Since most of the upcoming young talents in the NBA’s non-playoff teams will be ignored during the season, let’s give them some of their due early.

So here are my top five players – in teams currently that did not qualify for last season’s playoffs – whom you should keep your eye out on for the next season. They could be the NBA’s hidden gems that beckon a League Pass subscription in case you get bored of the same old LeBron-Kobe-Durant-Dwight overdose. These are the next season’s breakout ballers:

Eric Bledsoe (Phoenix Suns)

Why does a player like Bledsoe – who has averaged less than 7 ppg for his career as a backup guard for the Clippers – get so much hype? That’s because close followers have seen the potential in the 23-year-old athletic scorer as someone who could truly make a splash in the league if given the right opportunity. That opportunity is finally here. Stifled by limited minutes and limited scoring opportunities behind a star-studded cast in LA, Bledsoe got traded over the off-season from one of the top teams in the West to the conference’s bottom-placed Suns. The Suns are going anywhere this season, as they will become one of the frontrunners in the Anthony Wiggins Tankfest while incorporating young talents like Alex Len alongside Goran Dragic and Marcin Gortat in the roster. Bledsoe, on the other hand, will suddenly have the keys to the offense, and have a chance to showcase his full potential. He isn’t going to be an All Star, but don’t be surprised if he messes around and becomes one of the league’s Most Improved Players.