Before the start of the season, many veterans may be considered to have a big decline, and may even slowly fade out of the league, but they have played extremely well in this season's games. Some of the tough guys had unstable careers before, and may even be unknown, but they made a name for themselves. So what are the most underrated bench players in this season's game? We'll list the following three!
The first is 34-year-old Javier McGee, who joined the Suns on a one-year, $5 million contract in the offseason, and many people don't have much hope for McGee, after all, his career has always been a no-show, and he has averaged more than 10 points per game in only two seasons, and the time after the Suns can withstand Ayton's game is still unknown. But this season McGee averaged just 16.3 minutes per game, was able to efficiently get 10.5 points and 7.4 rebounds, 23.1 points, 16.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per 75 rounds, and the true shooting rate reached 67.5%, 11.9 percentage points higher than the league average! His appearance with Booker was even better than that of Booker and Ayton, which is enough to prove his role on the field!
Followed by 34-year-old Kevin Love, who is arguably the biggest surprise among veterans this season, averaging 14.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists so far this season, averaging 2.7 three-pointers per game and pressing 42.9% from three-point range, such data is obtained in his average of 21.7 minutes per game, which is already very efficient! And this season he has a BPM of 8.9, third in the league (BPM represents how much a player exceeds the league average per 100 rounds), behind Jokic and the alphabet Brother Antetokounmpo! He can get 25.2 points, 13 rebounds and 3.7 assists per 75 games, hit 4.6 three-pointers per game, and shoot 43.3% from three-point range, which is really very efficient!
The last man is Gary Payton II, the biggest surprise for the Warriors this season, he averaged 16.6 minutes per game, can get 7.9 points and 3.5 rebounds, and his role is not reflected in the data, his help to the team on the defensive end is too much! This season, he has averaged 17.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.8 steals per 75 possessions, 1.7 three-pointers, and a true shooting rate of 70.9%, which is extremely efficient. When Payton and Curry were on the court, the Warriors had a net win of 24.4 points per 100 possessions, but without these two people, it was only an 11.8 points net win, which can see the role of these two people! It can be said that Payton this season is the warriors' biggest gain, and it is also the player they most want to complete the contract extension in the offseason!