The talent in today's NBA is definitely impressive and we see young talent evolving into superstars of the league on a nightly basis. It could be safe to say that the league is in good hands for the upcoming years and decades, given the talent and the experience some young players already own. In this article, we will give you the 10 best players in today's NBA who are under the age of 25.
Top 10 NBA players under age 25
With Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, who is a 21-year-old, we could even see the youngest NBA MVP in league history if he can turn things around for the Dallas Mavericks and maintain the level of play he's displayed offensively in the current NBA season.
Let us have a look at the best young talents in the 2020-21 NBA season and see who joins Doncic in this list.
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Without further ado, let us start.
#10 Domantas Sabonis
Domantas Sabonis earned his first NBA All-Star selection last season due to his tremendous display of talent for the Indiana Pacers. In the 2020-21 NBA campaign, he is definitely playing at an even higher level and is putting up impressive numbers.
Sabonis is currently averaging 21.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, a steal and a block per game for the Indiana Pacers. He's had three triple-doubles this season and leads the team in Player Efficiency Rating while being the second-best defender behind Myles Turner.
#9 Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo, the Miami Heat's young core, and team leaders Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic led the team to the 2020 NBA Finals with a great run in the NBA Playoffs. However, Adebayo was arguably the biggest contributor in the team and has huge potential.
The 23-year-old became an All-Star last year and is performing at an extraordinary level right now, though the Heat is struggling. Adebayo is averaging 19.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game and made 57% of his shots from the field and 85% from the free-throw line.
#8 Jamal Murray
Jamal Murray is also another player who exploded in the 2020 NBA Playoffs at the Orlando Bubble and has earned a place amongst the league's top young players. Murray has a promising future and he showed tremendous character during last year's postseason with the Denver Nuggets.
Murray is having a similar regular season to last year, averaging 19.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He is also putting up a 45/36/81 shooting split so far.
In his five-year NBA career, the 23-year-old averages 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists per game. In last year's playoffs, Murray became the fourth player to have multiple 50-point games in the same series after Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and Donovan Mitchell (who did it in the same series that Denver eventually won).
#7 Trae Young
Trae Young is one of the most dynamic players in today's NBA and he is an amazing scorer, though he does take a lot of shots. Young has been impressive since his career started in the 2018-19 campaign when he averaged 19 points and eight assists per game.
Last year, Young went up to 29.6 points and nine assists per game. Right now, Young is at 26 points and 9.3 assists in the 2020-21 NBA campaign and has a chance to lead a young Atlanta Hawks' team to the NBA postseason.
He has a 43/35/86 shooting split in his NBA career.
#6 Ben Simmons
Ben Simmons is a great oversized point guard and he is a great asset for the Philadelphia 76ers on both ends of the basketball court. Simmons is in his fourth NBA season and has career averages of 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game.
Simmons is already an All-NBA player who has appeared in two All-Star games. Moreover, he is a great defender and has led the league in steals and also earned All-Defensive selections before.
He is even in the discussion for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in the current season while averaging 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game.
#5 Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell is in his fourth NBA season for the Utah Jazz and he has performed quite well ever since his rookie campaign. Mitchell has impressed everyone since he stepped on to the court.
Mitchell has proven his worth both in the regular season and in the postseason. The 24-year-old averages 22.8 points, four rebounds, and four assists per game in his regular-season career, while he is at 27/5/4 in the NBA Playoffs.
Last year, Mitchell became the third player to score 50 points in more than one game in the same postseason series.
#4 Devin Booker
A great scorer, 24-year-old Devin Booker has earned a place as one of the NBA's most promising player and even one of the best players in today's league, regardless of his age.
Booker is in his sixth NBA season and has career averages of 22.6 points and 4.7 assists per game with 45/35/87 shooting splits. He has achieved some historical feats so far, as he became only the sixth player in NBA history to score 70 points in a game back on March 24th, 2017. He was also the youngest in league history to score at least 60 points (at 20 years and 145 days).
#3 Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown has been highly regarded since he entered the NBA back in 2016. The 24-year-old has improved steadily in each year of his career and has finally turned into the player we were expecting during the 2020-21 NBA season.
Brown is averaging a career-high 25.9 points per game in the current campaign and is also posting the best shooting split of his career so far (51/41/77). He is also averaging 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
He is leading the 2020-21 Boston Celtics in scoring.
#2 Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum has undoubtedly turned into one of the league's elite players right now. The 22-year-old has impressed since his rookie season and a great run in the 2018 NBA Playoffs, where he almost led the Boston Celtics to The Finals.
Tatum is averaging 25.8 points, seven rebounds, and five assists for the 2020-21 Boston Celtics and his potential seems higher still. Tatum could continue to improve in the upcoming seasons, but he has already gathered a great amount of experience through his four-year career.
#1 Luka Doncic
From this list, Luka Doncic is the youngest player and is surely the most impressive. Of course, he has been a professional basketball player since he was a 16-year-old player and has been extraordinary since he entered the NBA.
Not only is Doncic the most promising player in the NBA, he is already a Top 10 or Top 5 player in the entire league and an MVP candidate.
Doncic is already an All-NBA and All-Star player and led the NBA in triple-doubles last year (the youngest ever to do it). Right now, he is averaging a whopping 25 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 7.6 assists in his career.
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