Scoot Henderson's home stretch
Portland's rookie point guard also finds himself in another category on this list, but like Walker, Scoot had a strong finish to the season.
Last year's third-overall pick finished his debut NBA campaign with averages of 14.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists on shooting splits of 39/33/82. Considering how he started the season - barely cracking double digits in scoring, fouling out twice, missing nine games with an ankle injury and shooting 25 percent from three before Christmas - those final numbers don't look too shabby.
But Henderson got increasingly better once the calendar turned to 2024 and had a strong final 15 games of his own. Scoot scored 18.3 points per game while dishing out 7.5 assists. He added 1.4 steals and shot 42 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three.
There's plenty of room for growth after an up-and-down season, but there's also plenty of momentum heading into a critical summer for Henderson and the Blazers.