NBA: Predicting the most likely breakout candidate for all 30 teams

It’s breakout candidate season in the NBA. Let’s predict which players could end up taking a big step forward this season.

With the transaction talk behind us and the start of NBA Training Camps and pre-season here, the discussion around the league has shifted to on-the-court basketball. On-court speculation will begin to transform into reality for many teams over the next couple of weeks. And at least for now, every team in the NBA has a shot to have a special season (for various reasons).

It’s the time of the year when you can talk yourself into every NBA team having a shot. It may not be a shot to win the NBA Championship for every team but at the least a shot to accomplish their on-court goals.

Keeping with that positive tone, we’ll go team by team and identify one breakout candidate for the upcoming season.

Predicting one breakout candidate for every NBA team heading into the 2023-24 season.

Atlanta Hawks

Breakout candidate: Onyeka Okongwu 

Over his first three seasons in the NBA, Onyeka Okongwu has had a steady improvement. I believe that heading into year four, we could see his biggest jump in both production and minutes. Sooner or later, the Hawks are going to have to trust Okongwu to take the full reins at the center position.

At some point, Atlanta will decide to pass the torch from Clint Capela to Okongwu. I believe there’s a very good chance that ends up being this season. And if it does, Okongwu should have a strong chance to emerge as a breakout player for the Hawks.