Which NBA Players Will Bounce Back In 2022-23?

Newsletter Preview

Comeback Season Inbound? Five players who are poised to get back on track in 2022-23.

Spain Reigns Supreme: By defeating France on Sunday, Spain has now won four of the last six EuroBasket tournaments. 

Aces Win First WNBA Title: Las Vegas won a thriller of a Game 4 on Sunday, taking home the franchise's first ever WNBA Championship. 

Infinite factors can lead to a player having a poor season for their standards. A lingering injury, a poor fit within a system, or perhaps a team heading in a new direction. Whatever the roadblock may be, even perennial All-Stars can find themselves in a rut. But one bad year certainly doesn’t constitute the complete dismissal of a player, so here are five guys that struggled last year for a variety of reasons, who are ready to bounce back in 2022-23. 

John Wall - Just a month after Wall was dealt to Houston in late 2020, the team turned around and shipped James Harden off to Brooklyn, ushering in a new era of basketball in H-Town that didn’t immediately include any intention to win games. Wall, a 5x All-Star, appeared in only 40 games during his three-year stint with the Rockets, due to injuries and Wall simply being on a different page than Houston’s management.

Now healthy, both physically and mentally (Wall has been extremely transparent about his mental health struggles, and this is a fantastic story about it), he heads to a Clippers team that has a legitimate shot at an NBA championship. Ty Lue and company don’t need John Wall to be the 20-point, 11-assist per game star he was at his peak in Washington–in fact, there probably isn’t room for that on a team with both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. But as long as Wall avoids injuries that have plagued him in recent years, he could be an integral part of a pretty scary Clippers team.

Ben Simmons - Saying that Ben Simmons needs to “bounce back” feels strange, considering he was an All-Star and First Team All-Defense selection the last time he played in the NBA. But the mantra of, “What have you done for me lately?” rings true when discussing Simmons, and since his uninspired play against Atlanta in the 2021 Playoffs --followed by a year of turmoil and drama–is still the most recent memory the NBA world has of him, a strong year is necessary to repair his image. 

Simmons proving he’s still a star-caliber player isn’t far-fetched, either; flanked by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, his offensive load will presumably be reduced in Brooklyn, thus giving him ample opportunity to carve out a space more suited to his skill set than the one he occupied in Philadelphia. 

Of course, the Venn diagram of what “should” happen in Brooklyn over the last two seasons versus what has “actually” happened is two completely separate circles. The talented Nets have thoroughly underperformed, winning just one playoff series in the KD & Kyrie era, and this entire offseason has been a fiasco, as well. Nevertheless, the introduction of Simmons into this lineup should benefit everyone–not least of all Simmons himself. 

Talen Horton-Tucker - THT never had a chance in Los Angeles. After he flashed some two-way versatility as a 19 year-old, the expectations for him quickly skyrocketed. And while he’s clearly a talented player, he was never given adequate time to actually develop his still-raw skill set, leading him to be labeled a disappointment before he even turned 21. That’s not necessarily the Lakers fault, though; they were in “win-now” mode for THT’s entire tenure, and giving consistent minutes to an inexperienced youngster never really matched up with their timeline.

Now part of a Jazz team that is focused solely on the future, Horton-Tucker should have a bigger role, an abundance of freedom, and a whole lot less pressure. The lights in Salt Lake City aren’t quite as blinding as those in the City of Angels. 

Although any on-court progress Horton-Tucker experiences this season will frequently be packaged with some ugly losses, the Iowa State product will finally be able to explore the nuances and outer edges of his game a little more, which should result in his most productive season yet.

Julius Randle - Julius Randle will probably never shoot 41.1% from three-point range again like he did in 2019-2020. But last year, he posted his worst True Shooting % since 2015-16, and a repeat of that seems even less likely. 

So where does the Knicks iteration of Julius Randle actually exist on the spectrum of NBA players? Probably somewhere between his last two seasons’ output, and almost certainly closer to the “All-Star” status he flashed in 19-20 than the “inefficient black hole” he morphed into last year.   

With Jalen Brunson coming to man the PG position at MSG the next few years, Randle will likely shoulder less of the creation burden he was tasked with the last few years, which in turn should boost his efficiency and effectiveness. Expect a resurgent year from #30. Remember this guy?

James Harden - A mid-season blockbuster shipped Harden about 100 miles from Brooklyn to Philadelphia, and his numbers in 44 total games with the 76ers weren't bad. In fact, they’re pretty good! Harden posted regular season splits of 21/10/7 on pretty efficient shooting, while showing off some pretty solid chemistry with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. 

The problem is, Philadelphia didn’t invest in Harden for him to be good. Daryl Morey and the rest of Philly’s front office acquired Harden with the intention of him being the Sixers “1A” alongside Joel Embiid, and leading the team on deep playoff runs. So while Harden wasn't a deterrent to the Sixers plans, he looked far more tentative and passive than the offensive juggernaut version of himself that we watched for the better part of the 2010s. 

With a full offseason in Philadelphia under his belt, Harden should come out more aggressive in 2022-23. If he doesn’t…Just please remember to check on your Sixers fan friends. They won’t be well.

Riquna Williams, Have A Moment: Winning a title takes an entire team, we all know that. But it also requires some incredible individual performances, and the Aces' Riquna Williams proved that to be true by responding to an 8-0 Connecticut run with eight straight points of her own in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Clutch. Congratulations to Becky Hammon and the entire Aces team!

Lakers, T'Wolves Bolster Guard Rotations: The Minnesota Timberwolves made a sneakily good move over the weekend, when they added some defensive versatility to their back court by signing former Nugget PJ Dozier. After a torn ACL last December, Dozier will look to work his way back into an NBA rotation, and Minnesota could be a perfect location for that. He's not a great shooter, but that's not what his potential role here would be. If Dozier can be a consistently above-average point of attack defender for the Wolves (which he can, when healthy) he might be an underrated part of dispelling Rudy Gobert's playoff struggles, considering they often begin when the seven-footer is tasked with moving away from the basket. 

The Lakers welcomed back a familiar face by signing veteran Dennis Schröder to a one-year, $2.64 million dollar deal. The German point guard performed well at EuroBasket, and now lands a deal with the team he averaged 18.4 points & 5.4 assists per game for in 2020-21. At this point in the offseason, any potential rotation player is worth a shot. At the very least, Schröder should provide stability in a back court that also employs Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverly.

Hernangomez Gets Hot As Spain Is Crowned Basketball King Of Europe: Shooting the exact same percentage from three-point range as you do from two-point range is probably a recipe for success, and that's what Spain did in Sunday's 88-76 EuroBasket Final victory over France. The team shot 15/31 from inside and outside the arc, spearheaded by 27 points (7/9 3PM) from surprisingly good actor Juancho Hernangomez.

Blazing The Trail: Dirk Nowitzki, the unicorn that became world champion - Mat Issa (BasketballNews.com) 

The season for dreamers - Katie Heindl (Basketball Feelings)

Cleaning Out Our Closet: Which Sixers Offseason Reset Has Required the Most Fan Memory Repression? - Andrew Unterberger (Rights To Ricky Sanchez)

Hey, that was fun! Thanks for tuning in! Basketball fans have been treated to some high-level hooping recently, so shout out to the WNBA Playoffs and EuroBasket for satiating our basketball hunger these past few weeks.

We're also less than two weeks away from NBA basketball. We can do this. We're brave.

-Quinn Everts 

Trivia Answer: The ABA legend who was hoisting up seven three-pointers a game well before the NBA ever introduced the three-point shot itself? Louie Dampier!

Trivia Question:  With EuroBasket concluding on Sunday, it's only right to have a European-based trivia question. Who was the first European-born player to make an NBA All-Star Game?