NBA Today: 5 Most Underrated Players in the League Right Now
The faces of the franchises are not the only ones making crucial plays for their teams on a nightly basis. More often than not, it is those who are devoid of the regular spotlight that steps up frequently when their team's in distress.
The league is stuffed with talented players who are reliable and deliver consistently, but the uneven distribution of attention across the NBA landscape often leaves them unappreciated.
The reasons that a wide majority of over 400 players go unnoticed year-in and year-out are varied, ranging from the presence of a megastar as a teammate to a professional (monotonous) court regime that doesn't garner enough surveillance and more.
Here we tend to make an effort to recognize the five most underrated individual talents across the league and everything they stand for.
#5 Steven Adams
Standing at seven-foot and weighing 265-pounds, the big New Zealander fits the OKC brand of physical basketball fairly well.
Just this past season, he clocked in a career-best 4.9 offensive rebounds per game(second-best in the league) along with freeing up his teammates via some of the stiffest screens ever.
Playing along Paul George and Russell Westbrook, Adams was an integral part of the Thunder's dominance on either end of the court.
The 25-year-old holds the ability to operate on the perimeter as well as guard multiple positions defensively and certainly has his prime years still ahead of him. Although, now with his All-Star teammates elsewhere, Adams does stand as a question mark for the organization.
During his 2018-19 campaign, Adams averaged 13.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game, all of which were career-highs. As expected of the uber-talented center, he shot 66.7 percent from within three feet of the hoop.