2019 NBA SEASON PREVIEW

One Most Improved Player Candidate from Every NBA Team

Improvement is unpredictable. What young NBA players are ready to take a big step forward in the 2019–20 season?

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER IS ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING NBA AWARDS EACH SEASON. It’s almost always a surprise. Sometimes the award goes to a breakout player on a title contender, like Pascal Siakam. Other times it’s a step on the way to superstardom, like Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2017. Occasionally it’s a player like Victor Oladipo turning things around on a new team.

MVP and Rookie of the Year are fun, but we typically know the names that will lead those races each season. Most Improved Player (MIP) is fun in part because it’s so unpredictable. Improvement isn’t linear, and it doesn’t always happen all at once, or sometimes at all.

Names like Jayson Tatum, Kyle Kuzma, Jamal Murray, and Brandon Ingram lead everyone’s 2019–20 Most Improved Player list now, but they may not even be top-five candidates. Why not pick an MIP candidate from every team and see who’s ready for a breakout campaign?

But before we can look forward, it’s important to look back.

WHO WINS MOST IMPROVED PLAYER?

So what sort of player usually wins Most Improved Player?