As the 2025-26 NBA season nears (preseason’s already begun!), the Sportscasting crew banded together to identify one particularly intriguing player for each team, someone whose performance, progress or stagnation could have grand consequences on the short- and/or long-term outlook for their club. Up next is the Central Division.
Let’s get to it.
Read our picks for most intriguing players in other Divisions: Southeast
Chicago Bulls: Matas Buzelis
The Chicago Bulls provided one of the more entertaining final runs of the season last year, going 15-5 down the stretch to clinch their beloved Play-In Tournament for a third straight season. Josh Giddey rightfully earned the headlines with the best basketball of his young career but there was a rookie making his case to be noticed in the years to come.
Matas Buzelis only saw 15 minutes per game prior to the All-Star Break. In 26 games after that, he averaged 13.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. He also shot 46.2 percent from the field, including 35.6 percent beyond the arc.
The high-flying, 6-foot-10 forward takes pride in his defensive versatility, mobile enough to defend the perimeter while also showing good instincts in protecting the rim when called upon. His offense primarily stemmed from slashing, cutting, attacking closeouts and knocking down catch-and-shoot threes. He was teasing some off-the-bounce potential as a driver, which will be something to look for this season.
Giddey dominated the Bulls’ offseason talk with his restricted free agency and now there’ll be questions over whether he can continue from where he left off. Nikola Vucevic will once again be a name to watch in the trade market. Quietly, though, this might be Buzelis’ time to shine. -Vivek Jacob
Cleveland Cavaliers: Darius Garland
By and large, Darius Garland’s first six years with the Cleveland Cavaliers have been successful. He’s turned himself into an All-Star point guard who dissects defenses as a silky pull-up shooter, pick-and-roll connoisseur and playmaking savant.
But his time in Cleveland, especially of late, has been mired by underwhelming playoff results. The Cavs have managed to win just two playoff series during his tenure and never ventured further than the second round, including last year when they won 64 regular-season games and cruised to the East’s top seed while looking primed for a conference finals berth at worst.
These shortcomings are a mix of poor performance and injury misfortune, not just for the Cavs but Garland individually. Midway through Cleveland’s first-round sweep of the Miami Heat last spring, Garland — after two games averaging 24 points (67.8 percent true shooting) and 7.0 assists — injured his big toe and sat out the final two games of that series.
By the time he returned for Game 3 of the second round against the Indiana Pacers, he was a shell of himself, unable to pilot Cleveland’s offense anywhere close to the dominant heights he did during the regular season. In three appearances, he averaged 14 points (47.6 percent true shooting) and 4.0 assists (4.0 turnovers) as the Cavs’ season fizzled out in a five-game defeat.
Across 22 career playoff games, Garland’s scoring volume/efficiency and playmaking output, both dip per 100 possessions, compared to the regular season: points (28.0 → 25.5), true shooting percentage (56.8 → 54.3) and assists (9.9 → 8.0).
Those nosedives are a mix of struggling in the assimilation from regular-season to playoff defenses and being hampered by various injuries. Yet as a 6-foot, 190-pound guard, bumps and bruises may just be part of the equation he must solve moving forward.
In a wide open Eastern Conference, a loaded Cleveland team has the chance for a deep run this season. For the Cavs to expel some playoff demons and accomplish that, Garland must maintain his All-Star-sized footprint and spearhead their dynamic offense when the calendar flips to April and beyond. -Jackson Frank
Detroit Pistons: Marcus Sasser
The Detroit Pistons have many young guys to talk about but the one who’s gone under the radar and I think will play a big role in their young core not peaking too early is Marcus Sasser.
Sasser has been one of the league’s best pull-up scorers since he joined two seasons ago. Last year, he was sixth in effective field goal percentage (which factors in twos and threes) on pull-up shots among all players who attempted at least 100 of them (per NBA.com). Pull-up shooting is arguably the most valuable skill a player can have because it’s super easy to generate this type of shot. So, someone hitting it at a high clip basically means you can get a good shot on any given possession.
Sasser could be the key to the Pistons’ offense staying afloat in their minutes without Cade Cunningham this season. According to PBP Stats, the Piston’s offensive rating dropped nearly four points per 100 possessions when Cunningham was off the floor in 2024-25.
Everyone is pointing to Jaden Ivey as the guy to boost their second units. And while I think his athleticism and rim pressure is valuable, Sasser is a much more natural floor general with his blend of ball-handling and scoring off the dribble. -Mat Issa
Indiana Pacers: Andrew Nembhard
Andrew Nembhard has one of the more peculiar NBA resumes. He’s Jamal Murray-lite in terms of being a playoff riser. Through three regular seasons, Nembhard has averaged 9.6 points, 4.6 assists and a steal per game while only shooting 33.5 percent from deep. Come the playoffs, though, he’s averaged 13.5 points, 5.0 assists and a steal while shooting 47.3 percent from three in 40 games.
He’s emerged as an integral member of the Indiana Pacers backcourt. With Tyrese Haliburton out for the season because of a ruptured Achilles, it is Nembhard who will have primary responsibility in executing head coach Rick Carlisle’s vision. This is the year to see if he can showcase some star potential.
One department Nembhard will certainly have the edge over Haliburton is defense. Nembhard spent the 2024-25 playoffs guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell. He has established himself as one of the more physical and suffocating guard defenders in the league, and the Pacers will certainly look to leverage that to an even higher degree with increased playing time.
Nembhard has averaged 24 and 29 minutes, respectively, in each of the past two regular seasons before scaling up to 33 minutes per game during the playoffs. Whether he can sustain that workload and elevate his game across an entire regular season could be pivotal for Indiana’s outlook in 2025-26. -Vivek Jacob
Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Is it cheating to list Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks’ best player and one of the NBA’s all-time greats, as the team’s most intriguing player? Take one look at the state of the Bucks’ roster and the herculean load he must carry this season, more than any year before. Fortunately for the Bucks, Antetokounmpo keeps improving on offense as he ages.
Antetokounmpo’s defense has slipped a bit as he exits his physical prime but the two-time MVP hasn’t stopped adding components to his already historic scoring game. More than just a battering ram, he converted an excellent 45.2 percent of his four long midrange attempts per 75 possessions last season, punishing defenses that became accustomed to conceding him space.
When defenses sell out to his scoring, Antetokounmpo is passing more effectively than ever. Last season, he posted career-highs in assist rate (33.9 percent) and on-ball rate (32.9 percent), commanding the highest on-ball playmaking responsibilities he’s ever had. Antetokounmpo sees interior and exterior reads as quickly as ever, forcing defenses to rotate and help sharply to avoid easy points.
And he’ll need all of his upgraded playmaking and dribbling in 2025-26, entering his first season without at least one of Khris Middleton or Damian Lillard on the roster. Across all regular-seasons and playoff games over the past two seasons (1,380 minutes), Antetokounmpo dragged lineups without Middleton or Lillard to an offensive rating 2.5 points above league average and an exactly league average defense.
His on-off footprint isn’t as strong as many other megastars without their other perimeter sidekicks but Antetokounmpo’s teammates and coaching quality have been universally inferior to his elite peers. That likely won’t change (or improve) in 2025-26 for the Bucks. If Milwaukee hopes to escape the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2022, Antetokounmpo must, somehow, level up once again. -Ben Pfeifer
