Dallas Mavericks
Unexpected gift: Klay Thompson's ability to be a shield for Kyrie and Luka
The Dallas Mavericks have the high hopes of winning an NBA Championship this season. Whether or not they have enough talent to make it happen remains to be seen and that will certainly be answered when the NBA Playoffs roll around. However, if there's one unexpected gift that the Mavericks have received after signing Klay Thompson during the offseason, it's the fact that he has this natural ability to be a media shield for both Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
When it comes to capturing the attention of the media, it doesn't seem as if there's another secondary star that accomplishes that more than Klay. With the Mavs so far this season, it's almost as if we've heard nothing about Luka and Kyrie. Almost every time a story comes out of Dallas, it revolves around Klay. In a good way, Klay has helped remove some of the heat off the Mavs' two stars and, in some ways, a huge weight off their shoulders. How it will ultimately pay off for Dallas remains to be seen but it's been a welcoming sight for the franchise.
Denver Nuggets
Unexpected gift: Christian Braun stepping into a starting role
After losing Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in back-to-back offseasons, the Denver Nuggets found themselves in a position in which they desperately needed one of their young players to step into a starting role to help the team not miss a beat. While I wouldn't say the Nuggets have not missed a beat to start this season, I would say that the most unexpected gift that the team has received so far this season is the excellent play of Christian Braun. The effectiveness that he's been able to step into a starting role for the team has been huge for the Nuggets.
Denver certainly has some things to figure out between now and the end of the season if they want to emerge as a championship contender in the Western Conference but it's hard to be critical of how good Braun has been so far this year. Starting in every game that he's played so far this season, Braun is averaging 15 points and five rebounds on 57 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from 3-point range.