The 2024 portion of the 2024-25 NBA season is now complete. While some players are hoping to continue the successes from that opening portion, others are looking to rebound in 2025. Here are four young talents that are looking to find their outside shot entering 2025. Each of these NBA players are young (no older than 25), and they have not have their normal shooting stroke from previous seasons.
4 Young NBA Players Looking To Find Their Outside Shot In 2025
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami Heat
As a rookie last season, the 23-year-old Jaime Jaquez Jr. often looked like a 10-year veteran on the court. The Heat took Jaquez Jr. with the 18th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Jaquez Jr. proved to be one of the top rookies in 2023-24. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting as well as ninth in Sixth Man of the Year voting. During that rookie year, the 6-foot-6 forward shot 48.9% from the field and 32.2% from three-point range.
While the three-point accuracy wasn’t elite from Jaquez Jr. last season, it has become worse this season. It is down to just 25.5%. Inside the arc hasn’t gone as well for Jaquez Jr. either. After making 55.8% of his two-pointers as a rookie, that number is down to 47.9% in his sophomore NBA season. That is part of the reason that he is averaging about 6.5 less minutes per game than he did as a rookie.
Corey Kispert, Washington Wizards
The elder statesman on here (25 years old), Corey Kispert is in his fourth season with the Wizards. The 6-foot-7 forward was taken by Washington with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Kispert and the team agreed on a four-year, $54 million rookie scale extension prior to the regular season kicking off.
In his 25 outings this season, Kispert is shooting career-lows from the field (43.9%) and on three-point attempts (33.6%). Over the previous two seasons, he shot 49.1% from the field and 40.2% from beyond the arc.
Keegan Murray, Sacramento Kings
Selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Keegan Murray entered the Kings starting lineup from the get-go. He helped the Kings end their 16-year playoff drought and connected on a rookie-record 206 three-pointers.
Now 24 years old, Murray nailed 41.1% of his three-point tries as a rookie. Now in his third season, the 6-foot-8 forward has not been able to find his long-range shot. In 32 outings, he has made his three-point attempts at just a 28.6% clip. Murray ended 2024 shooting just 5-27 (18.5%) from downtown over his last five games.
Brandin Podziemski, Golden State Warriors
Brandin Podziemski was one of the top surprises in last year’s rookie class. The Warriors took Podziemski 19th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. The 21-year-old wound up finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and being named to the All-Rookie First Team.
Much like Murray, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard is trying to find his outside touch. After making 38.5% of his tries from beyond the arc as a rookie, that number is down to 29.5% as a second-year player. Unlike Murray, Podziemski ended 2024 by beginning to find his stroke. In 12 contests during the month of December, he shot 41.5% from three-point territory.
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