#8 De’Aaron Fox – Sacramento Kings
2020-21 Stats: 25.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 7.2 APG, 1.5 STL, 47.7 FG%, 32.2 3P%
At some point, the Sacramento Kings are going to make some kind of a big move to get De’Aaron Fox some more help. Fox is entering his fifth season in the NBA and is sitting pretty comfortably financially, as he signed a five-year, $163M extension last year to remain in Sacramento through the 2025-26 season, but the Kings are on the verge of missing the playoffs for a record-breaking 16th season.
Harrison Barnes, Marvin Bagley III, and Buddy Hield are all possible players the Kings could look to trade before or during the 2021-22 season, but this will not take away from Fox’s play.
He is arguably one of the most athletic point guards in the league behind Russell Westbrook and drawing comparisons to John Wall when he was in his prime, De’Aaron Fox is set to have a breakout 2021-22 campaign.
Last season, Fox cemented himself as one of the best point guards in the league, and at times, he was the hottest player in the league next to Stephen Curry. Fox was named Western Conference Player of the Week twice during the 2020-21 season and during the month of March, he was virtually unguardable, as he averaged 29.3 points, 6.6 assists, and shot 52.2% from the floor.
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The 23-year-old guard also scored 20+ points in 13 of the 14 games he played in March, including a career-high 44 points against the Golden State Warriors on March 25.
Given how young and athletic he is, De’Aaron Fox is only going to get better statistically and will continue to take on a heavier scoring load for the Kings, especially since there is not much talent around him on this team!
Shooting-wise, he can improve, but if De’Aaron Fox stays healthy on the court, he has some serious All-Star potential, which would give Sacramento their first All-Star since DeMarcus Cousins during the 2016-17 season.
#7 Ja Morant – Memphis Grizzlies
2020-21 Stats: 19.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 7.4 APG, 0.9 STL, 44.9 FG%, 30.3 3P%
Much like De’Aaron Fox, Ja Morant is another young, super athletic point guard, but unlike Fox, he finds himself in a much better and more favorable situation. The Memphis Grizzlies were one of the surprise teams of the 2020-21 NBA season, as they not only claimed the 8-seed in the Western Conference, but they won Game 1 of their first-round series against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City!
The Jazz were the best team in the league during the regular season and have the best home-court advantage in the NBA, so this was a huge statement win for the Grizzlies, even though they went on to lose this series.
Memphis is a very young team and they are only going to get better with time, which is why Ja Morant has a chance to have another special year as he continues to grow. Morant won the Rookie of the Year award in 2019 and put together another solid season last year, which is why he could be ready to have an all-around great offensive year during the 2021-22 season.
In the playoffs, against the league’s 4th best-rated defense, Ja Morant averaged 30.2 points and 8.2 assists and even better, in his final 10 games, including regular season, play-in games and postseason, he averaged 25.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists and shot 46.2% from the floor.
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As the season went on last year, Ja Morant only got better and if he begins the 2021-22 season where he left off last season, then the Grizzlies will be well on their way to making the playoffs yet again.
He is not the best perimeter player and he did struggle to shoot from the perimeter at times last season, but if Morant can begin to knock down three-point shots at a percentage higher than 33%, then there will be no way to stop him offensively because of his explosive first step and abilities to posterize defenders in the paint.
