There are plenty of great impact players who are relatively unknown, but underrated stars tend to be actually great players who are well known but maligned for 1-2 perceived deficiencies.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the best player who is generally underrated, but the star that has the biggest gulf between their ability and public perception of their ability. 4-5 years ago I would’ve said Harden and Draymond.
My candidates for most underrated today:
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Embiid
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Trae Young
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Gobert
In all cases, one or more apparent shortcomings have led folks to underrate their enormous impact: Embiid’s lack of playoff success, Trae’s defense, and Gobert’s offense
Trae Young had record low efficiency last year and then he started off with record bad shooting this year and so people call him an inefficient shot chucker. But even when his efficiency was bad he was still running one of the top offences in the league last year, and this year he seems to have gotten even better at passing and has stepped up majorly on the defensive end.
I’m predicting this will be Traes best season so far.