Five player what-ifs from the preseason

Questions from watching NBA exhibition games during a hurricane

BY DAVID THORPE

What happens if Jaden Ivey realizes his potential in Year Three? THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY IMAGES

It’s been a week since we had to evacuate Florida in a packed hybrid SUV—my wife, my mom, two dogs, a week’s worth of clothes—to flee one of the scariest hurricanes ever. During our 30-hour round trip from Clearwater to Tuscaloosa, my mind was racing with questions like: Will we still have a house? Will the community where I grew up, less than a mile from the sugar-sand beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast, be washed away? Is it time to leave Florida for good? 

While in Alabama, we had a chance to reclaim some sense of normalcy. For me, that meant being able to catch a lot of NBA action, even if it was the preseason. And I saw some things that matter. 

Just this week, two NBA agents told me the “preseason means nothing.” One even refuses to watch any games prior to the regular season. I see their point: teams aren’t doing opponent prep or playing regular rotations. Wins and losses don’t matter. In a way, they’re not even real. 

Yet, I needed a rest from reality and from the deluge of what-ifs awaiting us at home. The NBA preseason afforded me that escape—and left me considering a ton of hypotheticals. 

Here are five players that truly excite me: Jaden Ivey, James Wiseman, Desmond Bane, Julian Strawther, and whoever is playing center for the Warriors.