6. Drew Eubanks, 2021-2023
To be fair, Drew Eubanks should never have been a starting center in the NBA. But due to injuries and a lack of other roster options, he started 50 games in Portland across the past two seasons.
He proved to be a serviceable big man for the Trail Blazers, though, despite standing 6-foot-9.
Eubanks averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds on 65 percent shooting in 22 starts during the 2021-22 season after first signing with Portland on a 10-day contract. That led to a $1.8 million deal to return to the Blazers last season when he started 28 of 78 games. He wasn’t as great statistically as he was the previous year, but Eubanks proved invaluable to a team that had an injury prone center in Jusuf Nurkic and no true backup.
His advanced stats all rose across the board in 2022-23 as the former Oregon State big man used his energy, hustle and solid athleticism to max out his physical abilities and provide some sort of stability at the five for Portland.
Eubanks parlayed that into $2.3 million deal with the Phoenix Suns this season, where he’ll have a chance to compete for an NBA title.