While the 2024-25 NBA regular season isn’t quite past the quarter-way mark, it’s not too early to look at next offseason’s free agency. It always behooves a player to put up their best NBA season in a contract year. Here are three players that were somewhat nondescript entering the season that have seemingly leveled up thus far, are hoping they can continue that momentum, and that they can eventually cash in next summer.
3 Formerly Nondescript NBA Players Showing Out In Contract Year
A.J. Green, Milwaukee Bucks
No, not the former great wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. Now in his third NBA season, A.J. Green was a fringe rotation piece for the Milwaukee Bucks in his first two years in the league. He’s been a part of the rotation all year in 2024-25 and has played a large role in helping Milwaukee turn their season around.
A two-point shot from Green is about as rare as a white peacock. He has attempted 92 shots on the year, and 86 of them have been from beyond the arc. The 25-year-old Green has been extremely accurate from long range, connecting on 47.7% of his three-point tries. That is currently eighth-best in the NBA. Green has also shown more of an effort on the defensive end as evidenced by his steal rate doubling from his first two seasons.
Ty Jerome, Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers own a 17-2 record this season, best in the league. The biggest surprise on that team? It has to be 27-year-old guard Ty Jerome. The 6-foot-5 guard joined Cleveland last season on a two-year deal worth just $5 million. Jerome played a grand total of just two games in 2023-24 before an ankle injury sidelined him for the rest of the season.
This season, Jerome has appeared in all 19 of Cleveland’s game, 17 of which coming as a reserve. All he has done is be one of the most productive bench players in the entire league. Jerome is averaging 12.3 points with impressive shooting splits of .585/.532/.879. That three-point percentage is only behind Nikola Jokic for best in the NBA. Now in his sixth season, Jerome also nearly has an assist-to-turnover ratio of three.
Jake LaRavia, Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies declined Jake LaRavia’s fourth-year option that would have been worth $5.16 million. Selected with the 19th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, LaRavia has received more playing time than expected due to a boatload of Memphis injuries.
That’s similar to what happened for the 23-year-old last season as well. He actually had a higher scoring average in 2023-24 than he does in 19 games this season. So why is LaRavia on this list? Well, he’s been much more efficient scoring the basketball.
2023-24 shooting splits: .389/.340/.826
2024-25 shooting splits: .513/.419/.705
Sure, the free-throw percentage is down, but there is a stark difference in LaRavia’s shooting from the field.
Also, take a look at the assist and turnover numbers. Last season, LaRavia played 806 total minutes, and he has played 463 thus far this season. Remarkably, he already has 17 more assists in 2024-25 (75 compared to 58 in 2023-24) with 18 less turnovers (27 in 2024-25, 45 in 2023-24).
