For any athlete, they know that they will end their careers one day, 5 years later in the NBA, at that time, like James, Curry, Durant and other past league faces are estimated to have passed, and at that time, the Mesozoic generation such as Brother Alphabet, Jokic, Embiid, and thick eyebrows have basically entered the end of their careers, and at that time, the NBA needs other players to step up and take the position of the league's face.
There are a lot of outstanding young people in the league right now, but some of these players are not suitable for the face of the league for various reasons, such as Morant because of his personal personality, and Zayn because of his physical condition. Therefore, on the whole, these 6 players are the most likely to dominate the league in 5 years, so let's take a look at who they are.
6. Wembanyama (20 years old)
As the champion show with the most attention in recent years, Wembanyama's appearance broke the perception of many fans, with a height of 2.26 meters and an arm span of 2.44 meters, he is like a "big spider man" on the field. The bottom line is that Wembanyama still has great flexibility and dynamic talent despite this static talent, and he also has a guard-like attacking skill on the offensive end, which greatly raises his ceiling.
Before entering the league, the outside world questioned whether Wembanyama could withstand the NBA confrontation, but a year later, he fully proved that he can fully adapt to the intensity of the game here, Wembanyama played 71 games in his rookie season, and it is still many times that the Spurs force him, and he is willing to rest. At the current rate of progress, Wembanyama will not even need five years to surpass the stars in front of him, and his future ceiling is appropriately the top 10 superstars in history.
5. Edwards (23 years old)
In 2020, the Timberwolves were selected for the first time in five years, and this time they didn't look away, and they selected the best player of the year, Edwards, who quickly cashed in on his talent after entering the league, and under his leadership, the Timberwolves became regular visitors to the playoffs again. Although Edwards' style of play is typical of a modern defender, you can see many old-school players in him, such as a big heart, offensive and defensive integration, etc., which have helped him become the best of his generation.
And the most commendable thing about Edwards is that he can be promoted as soon as he arrives in the playoffs, in the past three years, his playoff performance in each season has been better than the regular season, and in this year's playoffs, Edwards averaged 27.6 points, 7 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and under his leadership, the Timberwolves finally stood on the stage of the Western Conference after 20 years. In addition, Edwards is a player with a very entertaining style of play and a very high-profile personality, so his commercial value is also one of the best in the younger generation, so he is very suitable for the position of the league's face in the future.
4. Haliburton (24 years old)
Haliburton and the Kings were not a good match at the beginning, and due to the presence of Fox, the Kings no longer needed a pure ball-handling point guard like Haliburton, but fortunately, they made timely adjustments and sent Haliburton to the Pacers. For Haliburton personally, this has undoubtedly had a very positive impact on his career, with the Pacers getting more possession than ever before, which has also helped him play better.
Haliburton averaged 20.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 10.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game in the regular season despite being plagued by injuries last season, and it can be said that he has become one of the best offensive commanders on the roster. After leading the team to the Eastern Conference finals, the outside world will definitely have higher expectations for Haliburton in the future, and his top priority is to improve his scoring stability and confrontation ability, if he does these two points well, he has the hope of becoming the best pure point guard in the league in the future.
3. Doncic (25 years old)
In 2018, the Mavericks made one of the most important trades in franchise history, which was to trade Trae Young + draft picks for Doncic, who was the No. 3 pick in the class of 2018, and now six years later, he has proven himself to be the best player in his class. Since the second season of his career, Doncic has not been selected for the best team again, and his performance on the offensive end every year can surprise fans, and if you only look at his strength from the perspective of the ball-holding core, he has not even lost to Harden and James in his prime.
Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game in the regular season last season, as one of the most capable players in the current team, Doncic can be called the ceiling of modern guards on the offensive end, he has almost nothing that he is not good at, three-point, mid-range, offensive frame, passing are the league's top level, it can be said that the only "shortcoming" affecting Doncic's future development is his nationality, if he is a native player in the United States, Then the NBA probably has to promote him as a façade now.
2. Alexander (26 years old)
Since joining the Thunder, Alexander has gotten better and better, and his progress has far exceeded what was expected of him. Alexander has been one of the best guards on the roster since his first All-Team selection in the 2022-2023 season, and last season he was not only named to the All-of-One Team for the second year in a row, but he also led the Thunder to No. 1 in the West, which also helped him become an MVP favorite for the first time.
Alexander is now much more comprehensive than before, he is not only one of the best scorers in the game, but at the same time, his passing and defense are also very outstanding among defenders. In this year's playoffs, Alexander once again proved that his scoring ability is inexplicable, facing the top defensive team in the playoffs like the Mavericks, he can still average 30+ per game, that is, in a small ball market like the Thunder, as long as he plays in the Lakers, Warriors and other traffic teams, he can now be praised as the face of the league.
1. Tatum (26 years old)
As the only player in this list who has a championship, Tatum is only 26 years old and has led the Green Army to win the O'Brien Cup, although the outside world often complains about his performance in some parts of this year's playoffs, but in fact, as the absolute core of this team, Tatum's contributions many times cannot be intuitively seen through data, his defense, protecting rebounds, covering teammates and other aspects of the ability to help the team very much.
It's not that Tatum hasn't played luxury data before, but although changing some of his playing style this year made him sacrifice some ball possession, it played a big role in the championship competition, which shows that Tatum's sacrifice has paid off. With the core lineup of the Green Army, they will always be the championship favorites for many years to come, and I believe that Tatum will show his strength to the outside world again at critical moments in the future, and he is undoubtedly the face of the future of the league.