The NBA season is drawing to an end with the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat heading to the NBA Finals. For fans of all other teams in the league, they are left to look back on the prior season with regret and forward to next year.
One thing to look back upon is which players overperformed for teams, so MinnesotaBets.com utilized Basketball-Reference.com to find the cap hit and point shares of every NBA player during the 2022-23 NBA regular season.
Once Minnesota sportsbooks become live in the state, the Timberwolves will be a popular betting attraction among locals.
Most Underrated NBA Players of 2022-23
After doing the math of the $ per point share for each player in the league, we were able to determine the 25 most value-driven players from this season. Salary and point shares were included for all teams the player was on during the 2022-23 season.
Which Minnesota T-Wolves Made The List?
The Minnesota Timberwolves had an interesting 2023 season to say the least, battling adversity and significant injuries. The team was still able to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year, sneaking in at the bottom end of the Western Conference.
Power Forward Karl Anthony Towns was the most significant loss of the year, missing 53 of 82 regular season games. Not many NBA teams can withstand losing their best player for that long and the Timberwolves were no different. With such a significant loss, more unheralded players were required to step up and they did just that, resulting in a couple of Timberwolves winding up on the Top 25 Most Underrated list.
Timberwolves C/F Luka Garza ranked 15th on the list, with his paltry $508,891 salary producing 1.1 point shares, an exceptional value. Fellow Forward Jaden McDaniels pulled in a salary of $2,161,440 and produced 4.4 point shares, ranking him 20th.
Garza is up for a new contract and will likely be extended by the team after his strong performance, but he will come with a higher salary going forward, so appearing back on this list will require another leap forward in his play. McDaniels will also be looking for a raise following his strong year helping the team reach the playoffs.
With those two players on the list, the Timberwolves were one of only five teams to have two or more on the list. They were needed this year to overcome the losses of Towns and if Minnesota hopes to take a step forward with Towns healthy next year they will have to keep it up, albeit in a bit of a different role.
Are These NBA Players Underrated or Underpaid?
It could be argued that the list is less ‘underrated’ and more ‘underpaid’ with the values based solely on salary, but with higher wages comes higher expectations so the underrated tag still fits. A player like Towns will never be high on this list with his high salary, but his loss this year did show how much the team needs him.
The Wolves didn’t go down without a fight, losing in a hard-fought five-game series but the year was still a disappointment and more players will need to outperform next year to improve.
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