Milwaukee Bucks: Jabari Parker Is The NBA’s Most Underrated Player

Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker is having a career year, but seems to get overlooked. And that’s why he’s the NBA’s most underrated player

Throughout most of his basketball career, Jabari Parker was the center of attention.

As a high-schooler, Parker was the focal point of recruitment for all of the college basketball powerhouses. And in what was the most intense recruiting of a high school player since LeBron James, Parker made national headlines when he announced he’d be attending Duke University in what was a nationally televised event.

And before he even stepped foot on campus, there was already speculation as to how his legacy was going to stack up against Duke greats of the past: Laettner, Irving, Battier, Hill.

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But Parker had been under the microscope his entire life. He thrived under it.

So naturally, he was all that and more in his first and only season at Durham. He became the first freshman to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding.

And while Duke’s promising season came to a screeching halt in an epic upset at the hands of 14th-seeded Mercer, Parker was still showered with a plethora of awards at season’s end.

The most notable of the awards included All-American honors, ACC Freshman of the Year, and he nearly captured ACC Player of the Year, finishing second.

And by the time the draft rolled around, the hype that had once surrounded him as a high-schooler was now amplified. Among scouts and draft experts alike, Parker was drawing close parallels to NBA greats. Scoring champion Carmelo Anthony, and fellow Duke graduate Grant Hill were among them.

Parker was eventually drafted at the No. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks, with only Andrew Wiggins taken before him.

But ever since that moment, since Parker made the leap of faith to the NBA, the attention that had surrounded him his entire life had suddenly petered out and faded, almost in an instant.

What Changed?

And there’s a variety of likely reasons.

The first being his draft position. The No. 2 pick, not matter who it is, should get a fair amount of attention throughout his career. But it’s who he was sandwiched between. Selected with the pick before Parker was the aforementioned Wiggins, an athletic freak deemed “The Next LeBron” by various draft scouts.

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Wiz of Awes

With the pick directly after Parker was taken, the Sixers went with social media icon and freakishly smooth big man Joel Embiid.

No matter how the rest of Parker’s career pans out, he’ll likely always be in the shadow of these two. He doesn’t possess the explosiveness of Wiggins, nor the grace of Embiid. What he does give you is physical interior play mixed with efficient scoring. But in a day and age where teams live and die by the three, players with this unique skill set are often overlooked.

The second reason, and the most telling, is a combination of his team and teammates. When a team plays its home games in the outskirts of Milwaukee, NBA fans are only willing to give said team so much attention.

And when you have the most unique, athletic player in NBA history garnering so much of the already limited media coverage, what you’re left with is not a recipe for popularity.

But while Jabari Parker doesn’t have the length of KD, explosiveness of Wiggins, grace of Embiid or the playmaking of LeBron, he is improving at such a rapid rate that it’s worth noting.

The All-Star Case

Jabari Parker’s rookie season was cut short by a torn ACL, but in the 25 games that he did play, he averaged 12 points and five rebounds on 49 percent shooting. Respectable, but nothing to write home about.

Upon his return to the court in 2015-16, Parker saw minimal improvements in an underwhelming year.

But this season he’s made leaps and bounds in his development. He’s putting up over 20 points per night and ripping down six rebounds while shooting up near 50 percent from the field. Not to mention he’s shooting a better percentage than Steph Curry from beyond the arc. Yes, you read that right.

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So while Parker might not be the flashiest, or the skilled, he is coming into his own as an NBA player for the Milwaukee Bucks, and putting up serious numbers doing it, which in itself deserves some recognition.