![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rollins1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ryan Rollins (right) and Reed Sheppard are among the top Kia Most Improved Player award contenders this season.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always some debate about what kind of player should or shouldn\u2019t be considered for the Kia Most Improved Player award<\/a>. Some voters may not consider second-year players, while some might not consider high-lottery picks.<\/p>\n Some players go from bad to good. Some good players become All-Stars. Some All-Stars turn into MVP candidates. Ultimately, some voters will value one of those transitions over the others. Last season, 10 different players<\/a> received first-place votes.<\/p>\n For this exercise, we\u2019re keeping it simple: this season\u2019s numbers vs. last season\u2019s numbers.<\/p>\n Reminder: The Most Improved Player award is one of the NBA\u2019s awards that requires a player to have played at least 63 games of 20 minutes or more and two more games of at least 15 minutes.<\/p>\n That means the following candidates are disqualified \u2026<\/p>\n Dillon Brooks, Phoenix: Thanks to a huge jump in usage rate, he\u2019s averaging 24.4 points per 36 minutes, up from 15.9 last season<\/a>. But he\u2019s played in only 51 games.<\/p>\n Keyonte George, Utah: He\u2019s averaged 23.6 points<\/a> on a true shooting percentage of 60.9%, up from 16.8 on 53.9% last season. But he\u2019s played in just 54 games.<\/p>\n Kyshawn George, Washington: He\u2019s made a huge jump<\/a> in per-minute numbers and ranks as one of the league\u2019s most-improved 3-point shooters \u2026 but has played in only 48 games.<\/p>\n Daniss Jenkins, Detroit: He\u2019s seen huge jumps in per-game<\/a> and per-minute numbers<\/a> from last season (when he only played 23 total minutes) and has played in 66 games, but he\u2019s played at least 20 minutes in only 30 of them.<\/p>\n Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City: He\u2019s become an important part of the Thunder\u2019s rotation, but has played in only 53 games.<\/p>\n Some other candidates haven\u2019t qualified yet, but can get there in the final 11 days of the season.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at the biggest improvements from 2024-25 to \u201925-26 among players who qualify or could qualify for the Most Improved award by season\u2019s end \u2026<\/p>\n 1. Per-game numbers<\/p>\n Here are the qualified (or potentially qualified) players who\u2019ve seen the biggest jumps in points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per game \u2026<\/p>\n Biggest jumps, points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per game<\/p>\n 2024-25 Player Ryan Rollins Jaylon Tyson* Reed Sheppard Nickeil Alexander-Walker Matas Buzelis Collin Gillespie Neemias Queta Donovan Clingan Deni Avdija* Jaime Jaquez Jr. PRASB\/G = Points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per game While Jaylon Tyson has played in 64 games, he has only 59 qualified games, 57 of at least 20 minutes, plus two more of at least 15. He would need to play at least 20 minutes in all six of the Cavs\u2019 remaining games, but has missed the last six and has already been ruled out for their game at Golden State on Thursday. So he won\u2019t qualify.<\/p>\n Deni Avdija played less than a minute in one of his 61 games, so he has only 60 qualified games and needs to play in all five of the Blazers\u2019 remaining games to qualify. He\u2019d need to play at least 20 minutes in four of the five, and at least 15 minutes in the fifth.<\/p>\n 2. Per-36 numbers<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown scores a team-high 43 points in the Celtics’ road win over the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n Per-game numbers can obviously be affected by minutes. It means something that a player has earned more minutes, but per-minute numbers can tell us more about his impact.<\/p>\n Here are the qualified (or potentially qualified) players who\u2019ve seen the biggest jumps in points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per 36 minutes \u2026<\/p>\n Biggest jumps, points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per 36 minutes<\/p>\n 2024-25 Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker Jaylen Brown Kawhi Leonard* Deni Avdija* Jalen Johnson Reed Sheppard Jalen Duren* Jamal Murray Victor Wembanyama* Ryan Rollins PRASB\/36 = Points + rebounds + assists + steals + blocks per 36 minutes Kawhi Leonard probably isn\u2019t going to get Most Improved consideration, but he would need to play in at least five of the Clippers\u2019 six remaining games to qualify for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA and All-Defense. He would need to play at least 20 minutes in three games and at least 15 minutes in two more.<\/p>\n See above regarding Avdija.<\/p>\n Though Jalen Duren has played in 65 games, he played fewer than 20 minutes in six of the 65, so he has only 61 qualified games. He needs to play at least 20 minutes in at least four of the Pistons\u2019 six remaining games to qualify for Most Improved consideration.<\/p>\n Victor Wembanyama would need to play in at least four of the Spurs\u2019 final six games to qualify for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved, All-NBA and All-Defense consideration. He would need to play at least 20 minutes in at least three games and at least 15 minutes in a fourth.<\/p>\n 3. Efficiency<\/p>\n Per-minute numbers can be affected by usage, but every player is looking to be more efficient with their touches.<\/p>\n Here are the qualified (or potentially qualified) players who\u2019ve seen the biggest jumps in true shooting percentage, which measures scoring efficiency \u2026<\/p>\n Biggest jumps in true shooting percentage, 2024-25 to 2025-26<\/p>\n 2024-25 Player Reed Sheppard Jaylon Tyson* Wendell Carter Jr. Tim Hardaway Jr. Bruce Brown* Jaden McDaniels Kris Dunn Stephon Castle* Scottie Barnes Keldon Johnson* TS% = PTS \/ (2 * (FGA + (0.44 * FTA))) See above regarding Tyson.<\/p>\n Bruce Brown would need to play at least 20 minutes in all five of the Nuggets\u2019 remaining games to qualify.<\/p>\n Stephon Castle would need to play at least 20 minutes in one more game and at least 15 minutes in another to qualify.<\/p>\n Keldon Johnson has played in 76 games, but in only 62 qualified games (60 of 20-plus minutes). He would need to play at least 20 minutes in three of the Spurs\u2019 six remaining games to qualify.<\/p>\n 4. Candidate comparisons<\/p>\n Sheppard and Tyson are the only players in the top 10 in improved true shooting percentage who also appeared in either the per-game or per-36 lists. But Tyson isn\u2019t going to qualify, while Sheppard is also a second-year player.<\/p>\n Here are some of the leading candidates for the Most Improved award, with their per-36 numbers and true-shooting percentage compared to last season \u2026<\/p>\n Most improved candidates<\/p>\n 2024-25 Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker Deni Avdija* Jalen Duren* Collin Gillespie Jalen Johnson Neemias Queta Ryan Rollins Reed Sheppard TS% = PTS \/ (2 * (FGA + (0.44 * FTA))) * * *<\/p>\n John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find his\u00a0archive here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0follow him on Bluesky.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Rollins (right) and Reed Sheppard are among the top Kia Most Improved Player award contenders this season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,285169,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-582098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-kia-most-improved-player-2025-26","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2025-26
\nImprovement<\/p>\n
\nGP
\nMIN\/G
\nPRASB\/G
\nGP
\nMIN\/G
\nPRASB\/G
\n26-25
\n26\/25<\/p>\n
\n56
\n14.6
\n11.1
\n72
\n32.1
\n29.3
\n+18.2
\n2.6x<\/p>\n
\n47
\n9.6
\n6.9
\n64
\n27.0
\n21.6
\n+14.8
\n3.1x<\/p>\n
\n52
\n12.6
\n8.3
\n76
\n26.4
\n22.2
\n+13.9
\n2.7x<\/p>\n
\n82
\n25.3
\n16.4
\n74
\n33.2
\n29.6
\n+13.2
\n1.8x<\/p>\n
\n80
\n18.9
\n14.4
\n75
\n29.3
\n26.4
\n+12.1
\n1.8x<\/p>\n
\n33
\n14.0
\n11.4
\n75
\n28.9
\n23.4
\n+12.0
\n2.1x<\/p>\n
\n62
\n13.9
\n10.5
\n71
\n25.4
\n22.1
\n+11.6
\n2.1x<\/p>\n
\n67
\n19.8
\n17.7
\n72
\n27.2
\n28.1
\n+10.4
\n1.6x<\/p>\n
\n72
\n30.0
\n29.6
\n61
\n33.1
\n38.9
\n+9.4
\n1.3x<\/p>\n
\n66
\n20.7
\n16.7
\n70
\n28.2
\n25.8
\n+9.1
\n1.5x<\/p>\n
26-25 = 2025-26 stats \u2013 2024-25 stats
26\/25 = 2025-26 stats \/ 2024-25 stats
* Not yet qualified (see below)
Through April 1, 2026<\/p>\n
\n2025-26
\nDiff.<\/p>\n
\nMIN
\nPRASB\/36
\nMIN
\nPRASB\/36
\n25-25
\n26\/25<\/p>\n
\n2,073
\n23.4
\n2,459
\n32.1
\n+8.7
\n1.4x<\/p>\n
\n2,158
\n35.8
\n2,305
\n44.4
\n+8.7
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n1,180
\n36.8
\n1,926
\n45.3
\n+8.5
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n2,161
\n35.5
\n2,017
\n42.4
\n+6.9
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n1,284
\n36.8
\n2,404
\n43.7
\n+6.9
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n654
\n23.9
\n2,009
\n30.2
\n+6.4
\n1.3x<\/p>\n
\n2,034
\n36.8
\n1,829
\n43.1
\n+6.3
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n2,418
\n33.1
\n2,533
\n39.3
\n+6.2
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
\n1,527
\n47.6
\n1,784
\n53.4
\n+5.8
\n1.1x<\/p>\n
\n820
\n27.2
\n2,310
\n32.9
\n+5.6
\n1.2x<\/p>\n
26-25 = 2025-26 stats \u2013 2024-25 stats
26\/25 = 2025-26 stats \/ 2024-25 stats
* Not yet qualified (see below)
Through April 1, 2026<\/p>\n
\n2025-26
\nDiff.<\/p>\n
\nFGA
\nTS%
\nFGA
\nTS%
\nTS%<\/p>\n
\n239
\n46.5%
\n882
\n56.5%
\n+10%<\/p>\n
\n149
\n52.3%
\n639
\n61.4%
\n+9%<\/p>\n
\n491
\n54.4%
\n593
\n61.8%
\n+7.4%<\/p>\n
\n680
\n56.7%
\n744
\n62.8%
\n+6.1%<\/p>\n
\n309
\n50.4%
\n485
\n56.0%
\n+5.7%<\/p>\n
\n834
\n56.2%
\n774
\n61.7%
\n+5.6%<\/p>\n
\n437
\n53.1%
\n448
\n58.6%
\n+5.6%<\/p>\n
\n988
\n52.2%
\n762
\n57.5%
\n+5.3%<\/p>\n
\n1,063
\n52.3%
\n1,057
\n57.4%
\n+5.1%<\/p>\n
\n770
\n57.2%
\n722
\n62.2%
\n+4.9%<\/p>\n
* Not yet qualified (see below)
Through April 1, 2026<\/p>\n
\n2025-26
\nDiff.<\/p>\n
\nPRASB\/36
\nTS%
\nPRASB\/36
\nTS%
\nPRASB\/36
\nTS%<\/p>\n
\n23.4
\n57.9%
\n32.1
\n60.5%
\n+8.7
\n+2.6%<\/p>\n
\n35.5
\n60.5%
\n42.4
\n59.8%
\n+6.9
\n-0.7%<\/p>\n
\n36.8
\n70.3%
\n43.1
\n68.6%
\n+6.3
\n-1.8%<\/p>\n
\n29.4
\n57.8%
\n29.2
\n58.2%
\n-0.2
\n+0.3%<\/p>\n
\n36.8
\n56.9%
\n43.7
\n58.4%
\n+6.9
\n+1.5%<\/p>\n
\n27.2
\n67.4%
\n31.3
\n66.2%
\n+4.1
\n-1.3%<\/p>\n
\n27.2
\n60.0%
\n32.9
\n58.1%
\n+5.6
\n-1.9%<\/p>\n
\n23.9
\n46.5%
\n30.2
\n56.5%
\n+6.4
\n+10%<\/p>\n
* Not yet qualified (see above)
Through April 1, 2026<\/p>\n