Role Player Roundtable: Which Supporting Cast Members Are Shining This NBA Season?

At the dawn of the new NBA season, stars take center stage. We shouldn’t forget the unsung contributors to basketball success, though. Our group of experts wrote about one role player they believe deserves some spotlight through the first week and a half of the year.

Jay Huff

Huff has been somewhat of a revelation for the Memphis Grizzlies early in the season. They snatched him off of the street after he  bounced around the NBA for a few seasons. For the first time, Huff has carved a consistent rotation spot, at least for the moment. He’s a walking highlight machine, incapable of dunking, scoring or blocking shots without generating eye-popping plays.

His offensive versatility stands out; Huff is a true 7-footer shooting an absurd 50 percent on 8.6 threes per 100 possessions. His efficiency will surely dip, but Huff’s track record of shooting success dates back to college. 

Huff’s perimeter skills let him function as a nominal wing in Memphis’s offense, attacking closeouts with his fluid handle for a center. Huff times up his cuts to sky above the rim, catching lobs from the Grizzlies’ guards. That positional versatility opens up doors for Memphis’s offense, allowing for unique alignments that defenses aren’t equipped to handle.

Though not as memorable as his offensive moments, Huff’s shot-blocking has been excellent as well. He walls off the rim (8.3 percent block rate entering Thursday), weaponizing those same movement skills to cover ground and rotate to alter shots. Rim-protecting stretch bigs have become invaluable modern role players, and Huff seems to be one of the better ones in the NBA. The Grizzlies are fortunate for his presence. -Ben Pfeifer

Kris Dunn

For the first time in Dunn’s tumultuous career, the 2016 lottery pick has carved out a role on a playoff contender. After 1.5 seasons of impressive play with the Utah Jazz, Dunn signed a three-year, $16.2 million deal to join the Los Angeles Clippers and has immediately asserted himself as a mainstay of their rotation.

At 6-foot-4 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, the sturdy guard remains a hawkish defender. He’s tied for 16th in the league in total deflections (14), while his 2.3 percent steal rate ranks in the 82nd percentile among combo guards, per Cleaning the Glass. Not only is he continuing to detonate on possessions, he’s been a towering boardsman, too. He snares misses high out of the air to ignite chances for his own club and is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game, despite only playing 21.5 minutes a night. His 15.8 percent defensive rebounding rate off of missed field goals is in the 100th percentile!

Offensively, he’s provided the Clippers a bit of juice downhill off the catch (5-of-7 shooting at the rim) and has knocked down 6 of his 11 long balls. To Dunn’s credit, he’s nailed 40.5 percent of his triples (64 of 158) since 2022-23, even if defenses still don’t much concern themselves with him beyond the arc. 

Through five games, Los Angeles is 41 points better with Dunn on the floor than off of it. He’s been a spunky, defensive-minded guard for a spunky, defensive-minded Clippers team hoping to be in the playoff hunt all season long. -Jackson Frank

Rui Hachimura

It may seem strange to say, but the current iteration of basketball’s most storied franchise lives and dies by Rui Hachimura. It started in 2022-23, when the Los Angeles Lakers’ season went from dreary to joyful right around the time they acquired Hachimura from the Washington Wizards. Then, last season, the Lakers evolved from mediocre to formidable after former head coach Darvin Ham reinserted him into the starting lineup. 

Here we are in 2024-25 and Hachimura is powering another strong start. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Lakers are outscoring their opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions when Hachimura is on the floor. When he’s on the bench, they are getting outscored by 39.6 points per 100. That 52.8-point differential is not only a team-high, but it also falls in the 99th percentile league-wide. 

Small sample size alert, but that Rui Hachimura fellow is a pretty good basketball player and pretty essential to the Los Angeles Lakers’ success, if I do say so myself.

Currently leading the team in on/off per 100 possessions. pic.twitter.com/VSEH8w5uHl

— Mat Issa (@matissa15) October 31, 2024

A lot of that is a byproduct of the small sample, namely opponent shooting luck in his minutes, but the message remains the same: Hachimura is the type of player that helps good teams become great. His box-score numbers are respectable (15.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists), and he meets the criteria of a modern-day, role-playing forward. Hachimura is 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, can shoot (40.1 percent 3-point shooter since joining the Lakers), attacks closeouts, and defends (his 2023-24 Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus was in the 84th percentile). 

He doesn’t have the stardom of his running mates, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and he isn’t the burgeoning brainiac that his head coach, JJ Redick, is becoming. But Hachimura is a role player worth spotlighting. -Mat Issa

Ochai Agbaji

One of the first things Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said about Ochai Agbaji this season was that he didn’t want him to worry about his 3-point shot. It was an odd comment about an elite collegiate shooter. Agbaji’s jumper hadn’t yet translated to the professional level, and he struggled with it in his first half-season in Toronto (and the succeeding Summer League). 

But Rajakovic may have had a point. As injuries pile up for the Raptors, Agbaji has emerged for Toronto this season, averaging over 11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 65 percent from 2-point range. He’s feasting on the inside as a cutter, making himself available as he roams around the baseline.

Agbaji is being used as a secondary creator, driving to the basket off of swing passes, attacking closeouts, and using his strong frame to finish through contact. He’s averaging 3.6 fast-break points a game thus far (22nd-best in the league) and is doing an incredible job of filling lanes for Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett to find him. 

At the same time, he’s been stout defensively. Against the Philadelphia 76ers last week, he leveraged his quickness to limit Tyrese Maxey and force the star guard into a 6-of-23 shooting night as his primary defender. He’s being used as a weak-side helper in certain instances, applying his length to muck up actions with timely steals and blocks. All of this has made keeping him on the floor more feasible. 

And somehow, while he’s been fine-tuning these other aspects of the game, the 3-point shot has come around! 

He’s shooting 42.9 percent from deep (6-of-14), but what makes this look sustainable is that he’s thriving in the corners, making 6 of his 10 attempts there. We’ll still have to wait and see if he can keep it up throughout the season. But it’s promising from a player who’s already had two seasons with the Utah Jazz in which he shot 48 and 44 percent from the corners, according to Cleaning the Glass. 

Because of how quickly Agbaji has progressed this season, the Raptors have already picked up his fourth-year team option, further cementing their belief in this blossoming role player. -Esfandiar Baraheni

Javonte Green

When the New Orleans Pelicans lost Naji Marshall and Dyson Daniels this offseason, part of their identity went with them. New Orleans built its defense around long, feisty perimeter defenders who swarm ball-handlers and keep offenses out of the paint. Enter Javonte Green, who’s picked that role up in stride. Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus views him as a solidly positive defender (plus-0.3).

Green’s energy and intensity pop off of the screen constantly. His sky-high steal rate (3.7 percent) and block rate (3.5 percent) are likely inflated due to the small sample, but Green has generated turnovers throughout his career. He pairs his relentless motor with snappy instincts, flying around the floor to block shots and gum up passing lanes.

Green has attempted just eight threes so far this season, canning three of them (37.5 percent). He’s proven himself a sturdy, albeit low-volume, floor spacer, shooting 35.6 percent on 1.6 attempts per game during his last full season (2021-22.) His aerial prowess makes him a strong play-finisher, acting as an outlet for the Pelicans’ handlers.

Despite underwhelming box-score stats, Green makes his presence felt whenever he takes the floor. Expect him to continue playing a critical defensive role as the Pelicans hope to find their stride this season. -Ben Pfeifer