Ajay Mitchell and the 5 biggest surprises for the start of the 2025-26 NBA season

Basketball is a star-driven sport. A lot of the best players in the NBA they’ve been doing their thing for a while now. LeBron James, for example, was in the NBA for a record 23 seasons.

Despite the presence of proven stars, talent appears out of nowhere every season. During the early part of the 2025-26 season, in particular, there were several unheralded players who burst onto the scene.

Check out the gallery to see the top five pleasant surprises of the young NBA campaign so far.

Danny Avdija started to look like a star at the end of last season. After the All-Star break, Avdia averaged 23.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. However, the numbers can get tricky late in the season, so many fans weren’t completely convinced, and Avdia has yet to establish himself as a star coming into the year.

Now there is nothing left but to accept Avdia’s brilliance. He’s up to 25.8 points per game and will legitimately challenge for an All-Star spot. Avdija was once considered a jack of all trades and a master of none, but he is quite excellent in many aspects of basketball.

He thrived despite being forced to lead a team that lost his coach, Chauncey Billupsat the start of the season because of the illegal gambling scandal.

Last season, Alex Sarr was viewed as a bit of a disappointment in an overall underwhelming rookie class. The No. 2 overall pick was his top six first year peers in minutes, points, assists and rebounds. However, he didn’t look like he would become the star that the Washington Wizards needed.

Sarr looked much better in year two, averaging 19.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. His athleticism is impressive for a big man, and that translates into transition points and great inside-outside defense.

Sarr is fun, as is the rest of Washington’s young core. The team is still developing and will likely lose a lot of games this year, but Sarr is headed in the right direction and looks capable of leading this franchise.

3. Keyonte George, Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz have occasionally exceeded expectations in recent years, largely because they have a large number of unheralded players. Keyonte George is one such player who doesn’t get the credit he deserves. George is an effective playmaker (7.1 assists per game), and he balances his game with a better score (21.3 points per game).

George is effectively going downhill on the offensive end. When he presses the rim, he can score from the inside, but if the defense collapses, he manages to get his teammates inside. At the rate it’s going, it could very well culminate in a player of the year award at the end of the season.

Ryan Rollins joined the Milwaukee Bucks last season. It was the third team he played for in as many seasons. Rollins was a bust during previous stints with the Golden State Warriors and Wizards. It didn’t seem like long until the NBA, but he started to show signs of life with the Bucks last season.

He really burst onto the scene this year. Rollins is averaging 16.9 points per game and shooting the deep ball at a clip of 45.7%. Rollins’ calling card, though, is defense. He is a boring defender who thrives at the point of attack. The Bucks are more of a threat than originally anticipated, and Rollins’ development from near-outside player to solid starter alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo is a big reason why.

The rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder that led to a championship last season was so successful because the Thunder are finding players that fit their system and turning them into elite players. Ajay Mitchell is the latest success story of the Thunder’s talent evaluation and player development program.

The team had and will continue to have an excess of first-round picks, but Mitchell was a second-round selection last year. He hasn’t played much of a role during the Thunder’s championship run, but he’s become their sixth man so far and the results have been a pleasant surprise.

Mitchell is averaging 16.7 points per game, third most on a team loaded with talent. The Thunder have reaped the rewards, despite the fact that was without Jaylen Williams, they still only have one loss on the season so far.