It’s been a delightfully unpredictable NBA season so far.

For starters, we’ve had the Golden State Warriors falling right off the map, while we might be looking at the end of San Antonio Spurs’ 22-year playoff stranglehold.

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Staying in the West, the likes of the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves - two franchises whose fans have spent the best part of this decade crying into their beverages - are suddenly alive with strong prospects for this season and beyond.

While the Eastern Conference has gone a little more to script, with the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics living up to their billing, it is the Miami Heat that has eclipsed pre-season expectations to look a genuine threat this season. As to, do the Indiana Pacers, who - despite the continued absence of two-time All-Star, Victor Oladipo - are putting together yet another playoff-looking season with a squad more than capable of making some noise once there.

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And, it is a similar story from a player perspective.

While Giannis Antetokounmpo has continued his 'scorched earth' approach to the sport, perhaps producing any even better cameo MVP season, we’ve also seen the Dallas Maverick's second-year point guard, Luka Doncic, become an overnight sensation, while Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and the Anthony Davis-LeBron James tandem continue to propel their respective teams towards the top of their conferences.

But what of the lesser names? 

Here are five players who have seriously challenged conventional thinking regarding their role in the NBA, with a change in perception necessary regarding their status going forward.

ANDREW WIGGINS, Minnesota Timberwolves

It would be an understatement to say the 2014 overall #1 draft pick out of Kansas has been a disappointment since entering the NBA.

Upon being drafted, it wasn’t hard to envisage Andrew Wiggins, the fleet-footed, pogo-stepped Canadian zooming up and down the court, playing lockdown defense while gracefully making his way to the basket on the other end.

And it was an easy picture to imagine because that was precisely what Wiggins had done regularly during his one-and-done season in college, and, why no one blinked an eye when he was the consensus first pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who of course subsequently traded him to Minnesota to secure Kevin Love.

Indeed, Wiggins’ game appeared tailor-made for the NBA, however, what Minnesota received over his first five seasons and 400 games wasn’t quite what was advertised.

While Wiggins did average 19.4 points over his first five seasons, he was often accused of sleepwalking his way through games, providing precious little aggressiveness, while posing little of an outside threat, hitting just 33.2% of his three-point attempts.

However, Wiggins has exploded this season, with his output finally beginning to match up with his talent (and max contract).

Not only has Wiggins increased his points per game to 24.9 (the 12^th best mark in the NBA), but a completely different kind of aggressiveness has infiltrated his game.

Under new head coach, Ryan Saunders, Minnesota is playing at a much faster pace this season (ranked #5 in the NBA) which has worked to maximise Wiggins’ skill-set, while also enabling their franchise superstar - and fellow number one draft pick - Karl-Anthony Towns, to find himself in more advantageous match-ups.

While Wiggins seemingly newfound aggressiveness has seen him score more in the paint this season (where he’s averaging a career-high 11.9 points) as well as becoming more of a threat from three (34.5%), it’s been his combination with Towns which is why the Wolves are presently occupying a playoff position, and why they feel they are heading in the right direction after years of irrelevance.

Wiggins and Towns have shared 360 on-court minutes together, which has produced a +5.6 net rating. Most importantly, the success of the tandem has (perhaps )proven to the Wolves that they needn’t look outside the franchise for an ideal running mate for KAT, which could potentially result in holding on to other franchise bright spots such as Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver.

It’s been an incredibly lean spell for Minnesota fans, with just one playoff appearance over the last 15 seasons. Andrew Wiggins' breakout campaign, however, is precisely what the doctor ordered.

BRANDON INGRAM, New Orleans Pelicans

Like Wiggins, connecting Brandon Ingram’s outstanding ability to completely dominate players at a young age, and imagining how his game could transition to the NBA, was by no means a difficult task.

Ingram was not only a highly-coveted, five-star recruit for Duke out of high school, but his talent immediately transitioned to the college game where he appeared to be a class (or ten) above his opponents, with many equating his lean size and effortless scoring touch with a certain Kevin Durant.

It was a skill-set which made the LA Lakers decision to take him with the second pick in the 2016 draft (Behind Ben Simmons) an easy one, however his lack of production through Ingram's first three years in Los Angeles was also why they were comfortable packaging him with Lonzo Ball and a boatload of first-round draft picks to secure Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans.

While Davis is indeed thriving in LA with fellow superstar, LeBron James, Ingram’s game has gone to another level in New Orleans, with his early form helping to soothe the loss of Davis, as well as the injury absence of #1 draft pick, Zion Williamson.

Ingram has been a scoring assassin this season, taking his points per game average to 24.6ppg, up significantly from the 13.9 he averaged as a Laker. He’s been hitting the three at 41.6% as a Pelican, with New Orleans also comfortable running the bulk of its offense through him, with his 28.6% usage rate accompanied by a career-high 4.1 assists per night.

The Pelicans as a team, however, have struggled mightily in the early portion of the season, with their 6-17 start undoing so much of the positivity which engulfed the ‘Big Easy’ upon drafting Williamson.

While Ingram’s scoring avalanche has been a positive, the wins won’t start flowing in New Orleans until they can do something about the 120.2 points per night they are conceding, which is the league’s second-worst mark.

MALCOLM BROGDON, Indiana Pacers

Unlike Wiggins and Ingram, the NBA had already been treated to the prime-time talents of Malcolm Brogdon, who played a pivotal role last season on a Milwaukee Bucks team that won 60 regular-season games and came within a whisker of breaking a 45-season NBA Finals drought.

In fact, Brogdon’s role on the Bucks became so important by season’s end that retaining his services became too expensive for Milwaukee, forced to trade him to the Indiana Pacers, who immediately signed him to a four-year, $85 million contract. 

From the moment the former Rookie of the Year arrived in Indianapolis, the Pacers have been comfortable in handing over to keys to their offense, with the former Virginia college star rewarding them greatly while constituting the driving force behind their exceptional 15-8 start.

Through 23 games, the Pacers have run 26.3% of their offense through Brogdon, who has responded with 7.7 assists per night (seventh-highest apg mark in the league) while also depositing a team-high 19 ppg.

While Brogdon’s three-point threat has slipped a little this season - down to a career-low 34.6% - he’s made up for it both with his playmaking and through an aggressiveness at the hoop, averaging 3.9 trips to the free-throw line per night, where he is converting 93.2% of his opportunities.

This Pacers team is one of the league’s most unique, and who have achieved so much this season without their franchise star, Victor Oladipo, whose potential January return promises to keep Indiana within striking distance of the all-conquering Bucks,as well as a potentially deep playoff run.

FRED VANVLEET, Toronto Raptors

When people think of players bursting through expectations in Toronto, they naturally gravitate towards Pascal Siakam, who’s gone from a rarely used bench player to the NBA's Most Improved, to potential MVP candidate in the space of just three seasons. And, throw in an NBA Championship for good measure.

However, another player on the Toronto Raptors who continues to defy external perceptions is Fred VanVleet, who’s once again stepped up his game another notch to the point of indispensability, and who’ll be seeking a huge payday at the end of the season.

VanVleet’s fairytale run has continued to the point he’s now the starting point guard on the reigning champions, owing to Kyle Lowry’s injury, however, the former undrafted guard out of Wichita State truly came to prominence during last season’s playoff run where he hit 38 threes at a team-high 38.8%.

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VanVleet has started all of Toronto 21 games this season, averaging a team-high 7.3 assists, with his three-point shot as potent as ever, hitting at 39.7%.

VanVleet has arrived as a legitimate NBA star on a thoroughly excellent team, proving that his off-the-bench act could transition into a potential All-Star role.

The next step might be a five-year deal which could pay him something in the neighbourhood of $150 million. Not bad for a guy who was earning $543,000 on his first deal.

DEVONTE’ GRAHAM, Charlotte Hornets

Devonte' Graham did something apparently really uncool in college, by staying four years at a gigantic school like Kansas, watching as players around him such as Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre and Josh Jackson became household names as first-round draft picks with the NBA salivating.

While seemingly everyone around him became NBA players, Graham plied his trade as a college point guard, refining his game until the Charlotte Hornets were happy to pick him up at in the second round of the 2018 draft, even if potential superstardom - let alone a starting spot - were never forecasted for the North Carolina native.

Since entering the NBA, Graham has simply done what he’s always done, which is put his head down, working hard to make everyone around him better.

While the Hornets' season hasn’t yet set the world on fire with their 9-15 record presently denying them a playoff spot, Graham has been an absolute revelation, electrifying a Hornets franchise still dealing with a Kemba Walker-sized broken heart.

While replacing Walker in Charlotte is nigh on impossible, Graham has shown similar team-first characteristics, dishing out a team-high 7.8 assists per game, while also leading the team with 19.1 ppg and as shooting the three at 42.1%.

While Graham has been a major hit in Charlotte - and could even inspire an improbable playoff run - he’s also provided huge inspiration to college players around the country who might be thinking about staying in school an extra year or three to work on their games rather than rushing into the NBA at the first early opportunity.

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