The most disappointing NBA players of 2025-26

The weight of expectations can derail an NBA player’s season, as sometimes, they can’t live up to the hype. Other times, NBA players have spoiled us with fantastic play, only to find themselves making a lesser impact the following campaign.

Today, we’re going to talk about the most disappointing players of the 2025-26 NBA season, a list that features a former No. 1 pick (in fairness, he’s playing much better of late) and various former All-Stars and All-NBAers.

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Of note, we’re not including the likes of Trae Young and Ja Morant in this exercise, or Anthony Davis, as those players, although very disappointing in 2025-26, at least have the injury excuse to fall back on. The following men, on the other hand, do not for the most part.

Check out our most disappointing NBA players of 2025-26 below.

Paolo Banchero (Orlando)

As a whole, Paolo Banchero’s issue is that he plays like he’s Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant despite having such excellent size, strength and athleticism, and despite lacking the skill that Durant and Anthony have and had as outside shooters. Imagine Anthony and Durant playing the way they did and do, just without being able to knock down three-pointers and midrange pull-ups at a high rate. It’s a ludicrous notion.

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But that’s essentially what Banchero is doing. The Seattle native is averaging just 13.1 drives per game this season, a lower mark than the likes of Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Maxey, and just 0.1 more than Jrue Holiday, who is 35 years old. Shockingly, despite Banchero’s size, he’s also a poor finisher on drives, scoring on just 44.9 percent of his attempts on drives. For comparison’s sake, Holiday is at 53 percent efficiency on drives, while Coby White is at 51.8 percent. Heck, even the offensively deficient Dyson Daniels is at 45.2 percent scoring on drives, leading us to think perhaps nagging injuries have caused Banchero to struggle in an area he should be so proficient in.

Banchero had been playing better in his last four games, seemingly taking the criticism about his somewhat passive style of play this season to heart, before another stinker on Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks, in which Banchero shot seven-for-17 from the floor and one-for-six from three for 16 points.

Looking at Banchero’s body of work for the season as a whole, he simply hasn’t lived up to expectations, missing out on All-Star honors for the second straight season. He’ll also undoubtedly not reach All-NBA status for 2025-26, leaving him with a surprising zero All-NBAs for his career so far.

For the season, Banchero is 63rd overall in VORP, 73rd in BPM and 101st in Win Shares, rankings unbecoming of a player of his pedigree. His Orlando Magic are a mediocre 34-28 on the season, too, though team injuries have played a part in that, not just Banchero’s disappointing play.

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Banchero will now look to continue finishing out the season in a strong manner, hoping to maintain his recent surge.

Evan Mobley (Cleveland)

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley might be a victim of his own success, at least with regard to why he ended up on this list, as the former USC Trojan was spectacular in 2024-25, playing at a level that he simply hasn’t been able to replicate this season.

Last year, Mobley won Defensive Player of the Year, made 2nd Team All-NBA, earned All-Star honors and finished Top 10 in the MVP vote. On the campaign, he put up 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 blocks on 55.7 percent shooting from the floor, and 37.0 percent from three. He also finished the season Top 15 in VORP, 13th in BPM and 11th in Win Shares per 48 Minutes. That’s without mentioning the fact that he helped the Cleveland Cavaliers to their best regular season since the LeBron James era (the first one back in the late 2000s), with Cleveland going 64-18 in 2024-25.

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This season, however, has been a different story for Mobley, as he’s still been good, but he hasn’t come close to his form in ’25. Mobley is putting up 17.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 blocks in 2025-26 so far, while his shooting marks have dropped substantially, to the tune of 51.7 percent shooting this season and a paltry 31.5 percent mark from three.

Mobley is still a ridiculous finisher near the basket, shooting 79.7 percent from within three feet of the basket this season. But along with his three-point shooting dropping on the campaign, his touch from the floater area – one of his specialties formerly – has also abandoned him, as the skilled big man is shooting just 39.6 percent from between three and 10 feet of the rim this year.

Like Banchero, Mobley has improved his output of late, averaging 19.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks on 55.6/42.9/60.0 percent shooting splits over his last three games. Cleveland as a whole has been playing much better lately, too, as the team is 7-3 over its last 10. So we can easily envision Mobley going on a tear to close out the season, heading into the playoffs.

For now, however, he fully earned his spot among the most disappointing players of 2025-26.

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Jaren Jackson Jr. (Utah)

Coming off an All-Star season that saw him average 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.5 blocks, and earn All-Star and 2nd Team All-Defense honors, former Spartan Jaren Jackson Jr. – and the Memphis Grizzlies as a team – entered 2025-26 with some hype, especially with former superstar point guard Morant set to return.

Well, Jackson Jr. now finds himself on a new team, the Utah Jazz, while Memphis currently sits at 23-37, 11th in the Western Conference. Can’t get much more disappointing than that, can we?

Jackson Jr.’s numbers saw a downturn this season, with the skilled big putting up just 19.2 points and 5.8 rebounds before his trade to Utah, while shooting just 47.5 percent from the floor and 35.9 percent from three. He was also making the team 2.7 points per 100 possessions worse during his time on the floor. The advanced analytics also think quite poorly of Jackson Jr.’s output this season, with the 26-year-old sitting 152nd overall in VORP, 117th in BPM and 194th in Win Shares.

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Perhaps it was Morant’s own shortcomings that hurt Jackson Jr.’s impact this season, or maybe it was the loss of solid starting 2-guard Desmond Bane to Orlando. Whatever the case may be, Jackson Jr. was expected to lead a bounce-back season for the Grizzlies in 2025-26, and the results couldn’t have been worse.

Maybe 2026-27 will be the year Jackson Jr. returns to star form after getting a perhaps-needed change of scenery.

Myles Turner (Milwaukee)

Coming off an equally impressive and unexpected run to the Finals with the Indiana Pacers, veteran center Myles Turner entered 2025-26 with some hype, especially considering he was going to be suiting up for a new team for the first time in his career, Indiana’s divisional rival, the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Well, the results haven’t been overly impressive, as the Bucks are so mediocre so far this season (they’re currently 26-35, five games outside of even the Play-In Picture in the weak Eastern Conference) that team superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly demanded a trade at the deadline.

It’s hard to pin that blame on Turner, as the Bucks haven’t lived up to expectations as a whole, but the former Texas standout is having the third-worst scoring season of his career this year at 12.5 points per game, and his second-worst season as a rebounder at 5.6 per contest. (And that’s saying a lot considering how poor of a rebounder he’s always been, especially for a big.) He’s also outside of the Top 100 among all players in VORP, BPM and Win Shares, so his pickup – at four years and nearly $109 million, no less – hasn’t exactly paid off for the Bucks quite yet.

Perhaps our seeing Turner as disappointing this season is more on us than on him. After all, it’s not like even with the Pacers, he showed much in the way of being some elite sidekick. Indiana’s run to the championship series was an impressive group effort, not a carry job by Turner, along with Tyrese Haliburton. If anything, Turner has always struggled with his nightly impact, particularly as a rebounder and scorer, despite being such a steady outside shooter and shot-blocker. So perhaps the hype many had for him entering 2025-26 had to do more with his change of scenery than with anyone actually being excited about what he could do as the Robin to Antetokounmpo’s Batman.

Regardless, there’s no doubt Turner has disappointed in his first campaign in Milwaukee. We’ll see how much longer the marriage even lasts if Antetokounmpo does wind up asking out this summer. Turner’s exit might not be far behind if the Greek Freak does leave this offseason and forces Milwaukee to initiate a full rebuild.

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Cam Johnson (Denver)

Upon first glance, it might look like 30-year-old forward Cam Johnson has been solid for the Denver Nuggets this season, as Johnson is shooting 40.6 percent from three on the campaign and has made Denver 6.3 points per 100 possessions better during his time on the floor. But his scoring is way down from his time in Brooklyn, to the tune of the former Tar Heel putting up just 11.2 points per game this year, his lowest average since his sophomore campaign all the way back in 2020-21.

Johnson’s defense, which was supposed to be an improvement over Michael Porter Jr.’s, who he replaced in the offseason as Denver’s starting swingman, has also been disappointing. It’s impossible to blame a single player for the following statistic, but it’s noteworthy that the Nuggets are giving up 115.9 points per 100 possessions this season, the 10th-leakiest mark in the league, after giving up 115.1 points per 100 possessions last year. That means Johnson has done next to nothing to help improve Denver’s defense after he took over for Porter Jr. on the wing.

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And speaking of Porter Jr., the fact that he has broken out to the extent he has, putting up a career-high 24.1 points and 3.1 assists per game, while Johnson has shrank in his stead with Denver, makes Johnson’s campaign look all the more disappointing.

The seven-year vet has also missed some big shots in crucial moments for Denver, something that’s been a killer for the team in such a heavily contested Western Conference. Had Johnson been a bit more clutch this season, Denver might not be fifth in the West at 39-24, trailing the top-seed Oklahoma City Thunder by nearly 10 games. Johnson has made just one of eight clutch shot attempts this season, according to NBA.com, a paltry number that has contributed to the team’s somewhat lackluster campaign as a whole.

Of course, all of this handwringing could be for naught, as Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets definitely have the talent to make a deep playoff run. The team’s poor defending and mediocre (relative to expectations) record could also be blamed on veteran power forward Aaron Gordon missing so much time this season with injury. Perhaps we’re scapegoating Johnson here a bit too much, and he’ll heat up in clutch situations when the games start to matter even more, to make his inclusion on this list look bad in the future.

But if we were to poll Nuggets fans right now, we think the majority would agree that, at least thus far, Johnson has been a bit of a disappointing addition.

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De’Andre Hunter (Sacramento)

What further proof do we need to call a player disappointing than for his own team, a title contender heading into the season, trading him to one of the worst teams in the league at the deadline? Because that’s exactly what happened between the Cleveland Cavaliers and De’Andre Hunter, who now calls Sacramento home.

After finishing third in the Sixth Man of the Year vote in 2024-25, Hunter entered 2025-26 with some hype after having a full offseason with a Cleveland team that won 64 games last regular season. But that hype turned out to be for nothing, as Hunter struggled mightily with the Cavs this season before being traded, putting up just 14.0 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting under 31 percent from beyond the arc. Hunter was making the Cavs an astonishing 9.1 points per 100 possessions worse during his time on the floor prior to being traded, a mark that the team clearly found to be unacceptable, ultimately leading to its decision to send Hunter to the NBA’s equivalent of St. Helena.

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Hunter then saw two games’ worth of action in Sacramento before getting injured, only further adding turmoil to a 2025-26 campaign that the two-way swingman will undoubtedly want to forget all about as soon as possible.

Struggling both with his efficiency as a scorer and with his defensive contributions (a tough sell for a wing, considering he defends fellow swingmen; that’s a position you cannot afford to be weak in defensively in the modern NBA if your teams wants to have a chance to contend), Hunter’s stint with Cleveland was a forgettable one, and that’s putting it mildly.

Zach LaVine (Sacramento)

Believe it or not, there was some excitement surrounding the Kings entering 2025-26. After all, their big 2024-25 trade deadline pickup, Zach LaVine, would have had a full offseason with the team, and alongside fellow new addition Dennis Schroeder, the idea was that Sacramento should have had a decent-enough offense that could lead it to some regular-season wins, and perhaps even to Play-In Tournament contention.

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Of course, that wound up not being the case. The team already gave up on the Schroeder experiment, trading him to Cleveland as part of the Hunter deal, star big man Domantas Sabonis got hurt and LaVine, well, he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations in 2025-26.

Now, why anyone would have high hopes for LaVine in 2025-26 goes kind of beyond understanding. That’s not to say he’s a bad player, because he isn’t. His raw numbers – 19.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game on 39.0 percent shooting from three – are solid enough, and, at least through early February, he’d done a good job of staying healthy. The thing is, LaVine has never shown himself to be a winning player, so why that would change in Sacramento of all places is hard to surmise in hindsight.

LaVine has made the playoffs just once in his career, in 2021-22 as a member of the Chicago Bulls. And Chicago was ousted in five games that year. That’s all to say, you are probably only disappointed in LaVine’s 2025-26 season if you, for some reason, had high hopes for him and the Kings.

Even so, LaVine is a two-time All-Star, and there was some hope that with a full offseason, his addition could help Sacramento improve on its solid-enough 40-42 2024-25 season.

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That wound up not happening, and as such, LaVine makes our list here.

Draymond Green (Golden State)

The ratio of Draymond Green’s highlights this season on his podcast vs. on the court might be around 10-to-one if we were to sit down and count them all out, as the veteran big man might be showing signs of age-related decline.

Thus far in 2025-26, Green is averaging his lowest assists (5.6 per game) since 2013-14, his second season as a pro, and his lowest rebounds (5.2) since 2014-15, his fourth season. Green is also shooting 31.5 percent from three on the year, and hasn’t done much to keep the Golden State Warriors afloat in an injury-riddled campaign. In fact, for the first time since 2013-14, Green has actually put a negative swing rating, making Golden State 4.8 points per 100 possessions worse during his time on the floor this season.

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That’s by far the worst mark of his career.

Off the court, Green has caused some team chemistry issues, as the likely future Hall of Famer had to leave the bench following an argument with head coach Steve Kerr around Christmas time (via ESPN):

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and forward Draymond Green had a heated exchange during an early third-quarter timeout Monday night, causing Green to leave the bench and miss the final 20 minutes of a 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic. The Warriors were trailing 71-66 at the time of the back-and-forth. Green had just committed a turnover and had been engaging with an official when Kerr called timeout and tried to herd his team to the huddle, saying he felt they were unfocused. That’s when the argument occurred. “We had it out a little bit,” Kerr said. “He made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off. That’s all I’m going to say about it. Everything is private.”

Both Green and Kerr downplayed the argument, but even then, it made national headlines just the same.

Of course, Green is probably highly respected in the Warriors locker room, even despite his abrasive personality, as he is a 14-year veteran with four championships and a Defensive Player of the Year award hanging on his mantle. But there’s no doubt he’s showing signs of decline this season, and the fact that he hasn’t been able to do anything to keep Golden State in Top 6 playoff contention (to avoid the Play-In Tournament) shows that he isn’t the player he was in his prime.

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Overall, we had to include Green here in this discussion of the most disappointing players of 2025-26.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: The most disappointing NBA players of 2025-26