Before their season opener, New York was choosing between Landry Shamet and Malcolm Brogdon for its final roster spot. Following Brogdon’s sudden retirement, Shamet landed the 15th spot by default. Now, a full year later, Shamet is on a four-year, $24 million contract from New York and a ring to show his contributions to a championship-winning team. A player like Shamet before the season was a last-resort option in the rotation, similar to these players.
These are the players who have relatively minor roles on their current team. Right now, these players look like an afterthought, but can soon be the X-factor for these teams come April. These are the players the market hasn’t caught up to. These are the players to go all in on before the value gets too high.
Terrence Shannon JR
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If Terrence Shannon Jr. were an inanimate object, he’d be the perfect battering ram.
After slowly becoming a rotation player for Minnesota over the past few seasons, this is the year he becomes a mainstay. Because of injury last season, Shannon had to work back into the rotation, but with the trading of Naz Reid for LaMelo Ball, Terrence Shannon is now only behind Ayo Dosunmu for the eighth-man spot on the team.
When Shannon has gotten significant minutes, whether in the playoffs or regular season, he’s been a consistent plus-player for Minnesota. Despite the defensive struggles, Shannon has shown up to this point to be an ideal spark plug on offense for a team that, over his time in Minnesota, has been inconsistent at putting the ball in the basket. The only question or worry with Shannon’s role this season is what role besides a spark plug can Shannon bring to the table. Offensively, the addition of LaMelo Ball and a full offseason with Ayo Dosunmu forces Shannon to have a needed evolution in role from a player that works better with the ball in his hands to an off-ball machine.
Though that seems like an insane change in style, Shannon, to become empowered, also has to be shown a different way to succeed. He’s often struggled with shots at the rim, and given the Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball part of Minnesota, Shannon doesn’t have a runway to be given the ball every minute on the floor. But his combination of size, pure strength, and knowledge in coach Chris Finch’s system should make his role more defined immediately. Shannon, if able to find his role on this new-look Wolves team, is a seamless fit as a game-wrecking bench player in the vein of the TJ McConnells, but for the Twin Cities.
Craig Porter Jr
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With another team joining the Dennis Schroder experience, the landing strip for backing up James Harden is very much open.
During Darius Garland’s broken-jaw injury two seasons ago, Craig Porter Jr. emerged as a surprise contributor to a depleted guard room. Following that initial breakout, he’s been a spot rotational player because of injuries and last season following the James Harden trade.
Now, compared to the other competitors for the backup guard spot, Tyrese Proctor and Meleek Thomas, Porter has shown a better ability to run the offense than Tyrese Proctor has shown in his limited minutes.Though going into the playoffs, Craig Porter Jr. as your first line of defense against other teams’ benches can worry Cavs fans, Porter seems to fit as a quintessential regular-season machine: A player who fits best as a consistent contributor to winning the regular season. The hope is that, with Cleveland’s aspirations to bring another title back to ‘The Land,’ he can do a little more come postseason time.
James Wiseman
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Very similar to Landry Shamet’s story going into last season, Wiseman is coming with the same through-line. As in 2023, New York has assembled a trove of end-of-bench veterans to fight for the last spot on its regular-season roster, and from all accounts, Wiseman seems to be the standout.
With Mitchell Robinson’s exit to Boston, New York now desperately needs any center who can match the true anomaly that was Robinson. Though Drummond can imitate some of the rebounding prowess that Robinson had, the defense is nowhere near the same. But an even more important loss for New York was the loss of Ariel Hukporti, who, when Robinson would get hurt or in his own foul trouble, would be a reliable-enough option. That role used by Hukporti can be where Wiseman can show his worth.
While not a factor on a team since contributing to another era of downtrodden Detroit teams, Wiseman has shown very limited flashes as a trustworthy backup rim-protector. After his Indiana stint began with a season-ending left Achilles tendon tear, Wiseman has slowly built himself during the Knicks’ preseason into an interesting option behind Drummond. In the backup big role, Wiseman can be the big lob threat Robinson previously was for players like Jalen Brunson, while bringing capable enough rim protection that Drummond lacks. Though the playoffs might not be where Wiseman shows out the most, Wiseman fits as a low-risk backup option in the Knicks’ run to a title defense.
Cam Spencer
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In Memphis’s new-look version of the Grit n’ Grind ideology, Cam Spencer fits like a glove.
Because of injuries to Ja Morant and Ty Jerome, Cam Spencer got plenty of time to show his place in the league. Coming into the league as a strict sharpshooter, Spencer has grown into a genuine option at point guard. Over his previous season in Memphis, Spencer proved to be, often, the most reliable scoring option during their late-season tailspin.
Since joining Memphis as a late second-round pick, Spencer has averaged a 43.8% three-point shooting percentage over his first 97 appearances. For Memphis this season, while taking a likely smaller role in the offense, his use as a backup might be lethal against opposing second units. Spencer’s use as a pure flamethrower who can run the offense as well in second-unit lineups can be a great tandem to starting guard Ty Jerome brings. In games, Spencer fits perfectly as Memphis’s version of a wild card in a Western film: someone who comes in to raise hell on whatever backups come in to face him.
Arthur Kaluma
Kaluma is the least known on this complete list, currently only being on the Lakers’ G-League team, but given their situation at the wing, that should change quickly
Over his stint in Summer League, Kaluma’s mix of elite shooting numbers and defense brings a needed wild card to LA’s rotation later in the season. Throughout LA’s offseason, while getting the needed rim protector next to Luka in Walker Kessler, LA sacrificed the hope of improving their wing depth in favor of Kessler. Players like Zaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle, and Quentin Grimes are there as the solutions, but Grimes lacks the size to guard up a position consistently, Thybulle has a long injury history, and Williams is unproven up to this point in his career.
Though Kaluma is nowhere near the level of experience in actual games like those three, Kaluma has shown the shooting and defense in G League games to make a dent in that rotation. Whether it’s in a late March game against Sacramento or getting real minutes in a first-round series, Kaluma is the long shot of all these players, but has the runway to be the most useful when it comes time for the playoffs in April.
While a lot of these players, like most predictions, will leave me in the dust aging like milk, the pieces are there. Most of these guys are in the environment and systems that either need or will be exemplified by the unique games that fit into their teams perfectly.