Players selected in the 2021 NBA Draft are now in their fourth seasons in the league. There are quite a few that are experiencing breakouts, and they potentially can be named an NBA All-Star for the first time. Here are five from that draft hoping to hear their name selected to the NBA All-Star Game. Players are named in alphabetical order by last name.<\/p>\n
Cade Cunningham<\/a> had certainly put up solid numbers in his first three seasons, but it amounted to little winning. Last season, the Pistons lost a single-season record 28 consecutive games en route to a 14-68 record. A left shin injury ended Cunningham\u2019s 2022-23 season prematurely after he appeared in just 12 contests.<\/p>\n Despite being under .500, Detroit is vastly improved compared to last season with an 11-16 record. The 23-year-old Cunningham is putting up career-highs nearly across the board including in scoring (23.5), rebounds (7.5), assists (9.7), blocks (0.8), field goal shooting (45.1%), and three-point accuracy (38.6%). He has recorded six triple-doubles<\/a> after having just two after his first three seasons. His play surely has Cunningham in NBA All-Star contention<\/a>.<\/p>\n After barely playing as a rookie, and just around 15 minutes per game in his second year, Jalen Johnson<\/a> broke out in 2023-24. He likely would have finished near the top of Most Improved Player voting had he played the requisite 65 games. In his 56 appearances, the 6-foot-9 forward posted averages of 16.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks.<\/p>\n All of those averages were easily career-bests, but Johnson has improved on them all in 25 outings this season. Those averages have increased to 19.6, 10.1, 5.5, 1.4, and 1.1 respectively. Johnson has 14 double-doubles and 15 games with at least 20 points.<\/p>\n Evan Mobley<\/a> made an impact on both ends of the court, particularly on the defensive end right from the get-go. In 2021-22, he finished as the runner-up to Scottie Barnes<\/a> for Rookie of the Year. The following season, Mobley finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting only behind Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> and Brook Lopez<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Cavaliers are off to a wonderful 23-4 start, best record in the NBA<\/a>. Mobley has continued his elite rim protection and also has become more of a threat on the offensive end. He is averaging a career-best 18.4 points and is slowly beginning to expand his offensive repertoire beyond the arc.<\/p>\n Just 22 years old, Alperen Sengun<\/a> entered the starting lineup full-time in his second season. In 2023-24, he was given more of a role and finished third in Most Improved Player voting behind Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and Coby White<\/a>. The way Houston\u2019s offense flowed through him at times made him utilized as a Nikola Jokic<\/a>-lite.<\/p>\n While Sengun\u2019s scoring and efficiency have gone down a tad from last season, he is giving more effort on the defensive end. Houston is near the top of the leaderboard in many defensive categories, and Sengun has played a large role in that. He is also averaging 18.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 5.2 assists on the year.<\/p>\n Many questioned if Orlando made the right call giving Franz Wagner<\/a> a max five-year, $224 million rookie scale extension in July. Sure, the 6-foot-10 forward played a substantial role on a surprising 2022-23 Magic team. At the same time though, his three-point shooting fell off a cliff.<\/p>\n Wagner has answered his critics in resounding fashion, especially after Paolo Banchero<\/a> got injured. The 23-year-old has averages of 24.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.7 steals while the Magic hardly missed a beat without their star player. Unfortunately, Wagner\u2019s torn oblique<\/a> injury has him out of action. It is the same injury that has Banchero sidelined. Being shelved likely takes Wagner out of the NBA All-Star running, but he deserved a shoutout for playing like one prior to getting hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Players selected in the 2021 NBA Draft are now in their fourth seasons in the league. There are quite a few that are experiencing breakouts, and they potentially can be named an NBA All-Star for the first time. Here are five from that draft hoping to hear their name selected to the NBA All-Star Game. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":113241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,4,9,10,31,62,17],"tags":[4279,4293,3965,3966,4127,3853,639],"class_list":["post-113212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hawks","category-cavaliers","category-pistons","category-rockets","category-nba","category-magic","tag-2021-nba-draft","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-evan-mobley","tag-franz-wagner","tag-jalen-johnson","tag-nba-all-star"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113278,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113212\/revisions\/113278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks (20th Overall Pick)<\/h3>\n
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers (3rd Overall Pick)<\/h3>\n
Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets (16th Overall Pick)<\/h3>\n
Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic (8th Overall Pick)<\/h3>\n