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 Atlantic Division.
Let’s get to it.
Read our picks for most intriguing players in other Divisions: Southeast / Central
Boston Celtics: Anfernee Simons
Anfernee Simons has accomplished a lot in his NBA career. Average 20 points per game for an entire season? Check. Score 40-plus in a single game? Check. Shooting 40 percent from three on high volume? Check.
But do you know what Simons hasn’t done? Truly impact winning. Yes, he played in 15 playoff games with the Portland Trail Blazers but that was before he was an integral part of their team. Since he became a full-time starter, the Blazers haven’t won more than 36 games in a season.
Many people view Simons as a trade chip the Boston Celtics could leverage into future draft capital. But Simons could change that perception and turn himself into an integral part of the next great Celtics team.
To do this, Simons will have to prove he can hold his own defensively. Since 2020, he’s never placed higher than the 12th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus and three times during that stretch, he was in the first percentile.
Simons’ defensive struggles should come as no surprise, given his player archetype (combo guard). But he has something few of his contemporaries can match: length. Simons is only 6 feet 3 inches but his 6-foot-9 wingspan should give him the ability to develop into a passable perimeter defender.
The Celtics pride themselves on being a great defensive team, ranking among the top seven in defensive rating seven of the past eight seasons. Simons is in the right environment to cure his greatest flaw. Is he up for the challenge? -Mat Issa
Brooklyn Nets: Noah Clowney
It would make sense for me to go with one of the Brooklyn Nets’ five rookies here. After all, a rookie’s intrigue is part of what makes them so much fun to watch. But I’ve never been one to enjoy the easy answer. It’s like Robert Frost once said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Anyway, there are two things this game loves: size and shooting. Noah Clowney has those two things in spades. At 6 feet 10 inches with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, Clowney has the size to play center and be an effective paint protector. In both of his two NBA seasons, opponents are shooting over seven percent less than expected on shots within six feet of the rim (per NBA.com). For reference, that is a similar mark to Jarrett Allen last season.
But Clowney is also an intriguing shooting prospect. Last season, he was in the 92nd percentile in 3-point attempts per 75 possessions. He only hit 33.3 percent of those looks but the fact he was able to attempt so many shows how much the coaching staff believes in his ability to be a proficient marksman. Besides, he did make 83.3 percent of his free throws – a strong indicator of shooting ability.
Notice how I called him a prospect. Clowney is still only 21 years old. So, there is plenty of room for this already tantalizing player to keep improving. -Mat Issa
New York Knicks: Guerschon Yabusele
Among the New York Knicks’ free agent acquisitions to bolster their bench this summer was Guerschon Yabusele. After a five-year sabbatical, the French forward returned to the NBA in 2024-25 and came back a vastly improved player. As a member of the Philadelphia 76ers last year, he shot 38 percent from deep and 61.6 percent on two-pointers, showcasing legit stretch big chops, some driving/playmaking ability against closeouts and craft as a finisher (71 percent at the rim, 65th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).
But as the Sixers endured countless key injuries and the losses piled up, Yabusele was stripped of a chance to display his growth in a winning environment. New York now represents that opportunity. Plus, a favorable roster context should let him slip back to his preferred power forward spot after playing 74 percent of his minutes at center last season, per Cleaning the Glass.
Yabusele’s blend of spacing and interior scoring renders him a suitable front-court partner alongside Karl-Anthony Towns or Mitchell Robinson. His arrival also provides the Knicks with a legit four after they’ve often lacked true size there the past few seasons, resigned to makeshift options next to whoever manned the five.
Everything Yabusele exhibited last year portends well for his chances as an impactful role player on a good team. It doesn’t always materialize like that, however. Sometimes, those who excel for tanking teams cannot carry over their exploits.
Can Yabusele continue to knock down threes at an above-average rate? Will he find the same driving lanes and openings for interior passing reads? How does he adjust defensively to playing his natural position and doing so alongside very different centers stylistically?
I’m fascinated to see him answer all these questions as he and the Knicks pursue a fortuitous playoff run. -Jackson Frank
Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid
You could make an argument for every single player on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster as their most intriguing heading into the season. Whether it’s Tyrese Maxey shouldering true star ball-handling responsibilities as he enters his prime, Paul George warding off Father Time, their stable of young guards balancing raw skill and athleticism with poise or their smattering of power forward types, all have viable cases.
But the answer is Joel Embiid. The 31-year-old is not just one of the most productive players in basketball history but one of its most awesome talents. He developed a beautifully wacky two-man game with JJ Redick, the diminutive shooter sprinting around the giant into eight 3-point attempts a night, before becoming the NBA’s most prolific roll man while playing off James Harden. Jared McCain and VJ Edgecombe are intriguing talents on their own but the juices really start to flow once you imagine them playing off Embiid.
Will they get the chance to, though? If they do, what version of Embiid will they share the court with? Last season, the 2022-23 MVP battled through lower-body injuries to play just 574 minutes and only occasionally did he look like himself. But there were flashes; Embiid closed out the 2024 calendar by averaging 32 points over three straight Philly wins.
If he can reach those heights every so often this season, it could be enough to give the Sixers a shot in the spring. Even just 80 percent of Embiid is one of the most fearsome rim protectors in the league with rare gravitational pull on the other end. But does Embiid still have 80 percent left in him? If not, what can he do on a night-to-night basis? A less fatalistic question: How does one of the most preternaturally gifted players in the sport deal with a withering body?
Embiid doesn’t have to play at an MVP-level for 82 games for Philly to compete. Hell, Sixers guards would benefit from a cardboard cutout of Embiid at the high post. But for Philly to win big, it all hinges on Embiid. It always has. -Lucas Kaplan
Toronto Raptors: Gradey Dick
With a nearly $200 million payroll in 2025-26, the Toronto Raptors likely want to contend for a playoff spot next season. With Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Collin Murray-Boyles, the Raptors have size, defensive aptitude and on-ball creation. Yet they’re lacking shooters who can space the floor without killing them defensively.
Enter, Gradey Dick. Dick was one of the most remarkable shooting prospects in his 2024 Draft class while his length (6-foot-9 wingspan) and tenacity allow him to at least tread water on the other end.
So far, he hasn’t quite solidified himself as a marquee contributor at the NBA level. He’s had his moments, though. During his rookie year, he averaged 11.9 points on 56.6 percent true shooting over his final 34 games. And then, in his first 27 games as a sophomore, he averaged 17.6 points on 55.2 percent true shooting.
This ends up in a miss, but I love Gradey Dick's decision-making on the closeout attack here.
He has looked awesome this last month. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a similar leap next season to what Trey Murphy III did in Year 2. pic.twitter.com/5Yza1skGei
— Mat Issa (@matissa15) March 4, 2024
Dick has all the tools to be the perfect complementary player to the other pieces of this Raptors puzzle (he’s also a wicked closeout-attacker). Now, he just needs to put it all together and be a consistent performer in year three. -Mat Issa
