3 Portland Trail Blazers players poised to have breakout 2024-25 season

2. Shaedon Sharpe

Many expected Shaedon Sharpe to have a breakout season this past year after his strong finish to his rookie season. However, that wasn't the case due to injuries; Sharpe only played 32 games after undergoing surgery for a core muscle injury. When he did play, he had solid per-game averages of 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. But the sample size was too small to call that a full-on breakout from his rookie season, where he averaged 9.9 points per game.

One area Sharpe will have to improve in if he wants to have a third-year breakout is his three-point shooting. Sharpe shot around league average at 36 percent from deep his rookie year but regressed to 33.3 percent his past season. Sharpe is a strong candidate for Most Improved Player if he can get back to 36 percent or better and play an entire season.

Ex-Kentucky head coach John Calipari had extremely high praise for his former player Sharpe on Kentucky Sports Radio, saying that if Sharpe returned to Kentucky for one more season, "he's the No. 1 draft pick." Coach Cal went on to explain why he was justified in judging NBA talent despite being a collegiate coach: "How can I say I know what the No. 1 draft pick looks like? Because I've had four."

Sharpe has the ceiling of a No. 1 overall pick with his skill set and athleticism. It's only a matter of time before he puts it all together, and it could be as early as next season.