9 NBA players with a surprising skill (2025)

We're back with more fun idiosyncracies!

All year long, I keep meticulous notes on the games I watch. I’ll see something interesting, write it down, and then check back over time to see if something becomes a pattern. If it does, and I don’t think it’s getting enough attention nationally, I’ll bookmark it for this piece.

We’re looking for players with surprising skills, quirks, and tendencies that haven’t reached “James Harden’s post defense circa 2020” saturation levels. Last summer, I highlighted things like Naji Marshall’s fearlessness launching half-court shots and Tyrese Haliburton’s skill at blocking three-pointers. Caitlin Cooper’s write-up on Andrew Nembhard pulling the chair on drives is an even better example.

This summer, I have nine new players to look at!

Disclaimer: I’m not saying that these players are the best at a thing. I’m simply highlighting unexpected skills or idiosyncrasies that aren’t well-known outside the team’s following. If you’ve got other guys you think deserve a shout, drop them in the comments!

If you haven’t, please follow me on X/Twitter or on Bluesky. And finally, I’ll be off Tuesday for some holiday travel.

Devin Vassell, yammin’ on folks

When people talk San Antonio, they’re talking Victor Wembanyama, recently extended star De’Aaron Fox, or Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle. That’s deserved, but it does mean that the national discourse sketches the rest of the roster with broad strokes, like with my toddler’s fat, easy-to-hold paintbrush.

Therefore, people think of Devin Vassell as a three-point bomber. He doesn’t go into the paint often. But when he does, it’s with murder on his mind:

Goodness gracious! Let’s look at another one:

(Vassell loves the Nuggets and their lack of rim protection; three or four of his best dunkaroos came against Denver.)

Vassell isn’t talked about as one of the Association’s best in-game dunkers, partly because he doesn’t jam all that much (35 in 64 games in 2024-25). But he printed at least a half-dozen posters last season. He deserves more respect when he comes chugging down the lane.

Nikola Jovic, lefty alley-oops

The willowy near-seven-foot Heat forward ain’t so willowy anymore, as he’s reportedly bulked up to nearly 250 pounds in preparation for EuroBasket and an upcoming Miami season in which he’ll be handed big minutes at power forward.

Hopefully, all that bulk won’t hinder what’s made Nikola Jovic so tantalizing over the years, including ambidextrous passing that’s rare in point guards, much less big men.

Jovic’s specialty is a sweeping lefty lob to Bam Adebayo or Kel’el Ware for the alley-oop. It’s somehow awkward and graceful at the same time, a swan taking off from water:

And again, for good measure:

That ability to make plays with both hands is part of what makes a Jovic breakout season so easy to envision. If he continues his strong EuroBasket play (highlighted by some startlingly violent drives and a newfound taste for contact), there’s some real dark-horse Most Improved possibility here.

Toumani Camara, rebounding three-point misses

Camara has made his mark as a defender, but he’s also got some tricks on the other end. Probably the least well-known is his ability to snag the long offensive rebounds that come off missed three-pointers.

Camara snagged 87 offensive boards off his teammates’ missed trey-balls last year, the most for any non-center (and sixth-most in the league overall; Rudy Gobert led with 113). On a rate basis, there were almost no big-minute non-centers ahead of him (although shout-out to Poetry faves Jordan Goodwin and Josh Okogie for putting up huge totals in their scant opportunities!). Camara showed a similar knack in his rookie season.

Camara also led the entire league, no qualifiers, with 13 offensive rebounds off missed free throws. He’s got leather-magnets for hands.

(He is also number-one in offensive fouls drawn, both charge and non-charge categories, so add that to his growing list of niche accomplishments!)

Per Basketball Reference, Camara had 173 offensive rebounds in total, so half came off long caroms. Only 39% of Portland’s shot attempts came from deep with the bulldog wing on the floor.

He’s often stationed in the corners on offense, and coach Chauncey Billups has given him the green light to attack the boards. Even if he doesn’t come up with the rebound, Camara wants to apply full-court pressure anyway, so he’s rarely caught out of position.

There aren’t many players in the league with the internal combustion engine of Camara. The free-for-all nature of long rebounds means he can outrace and outfight opponents for the ball, and he’s more than happy to put the “boxing” into boxing out.

The young Trail Blazer has such a fun collection of skills; he’s catnip to NBA nerds like me.

Collin Sexton, thirsty hands

Collin Sexton is primarily known for two things: 1) That time his Alabama team nearly won playing 3-on-5 for the last 11 minutes of a game, and 2) his startling efficiency shooting the ball (he’s flirted with 50/40/80 seasons for the last few seasons).

But despite his scoring success, Sexton has been labeled a ballhog since his rookie year. While his tunnel vision has diminished to a degree over the years, it’s easy to see why the reputation persists: The man has the thirstiest hands since prime Dion Waiters thought he deserved the ball over LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Okay, so this isn’t a skill, exactly, but I felt the need to warn Hornets fans. Prepare yourself. Once you see Sexton shaking his limbs and screaming for the ball once, you won’t be able to stop seeing it. Sexton isn’t concerned about whether he’s even in a position to receive a pass. If he thinks he’s open (Sexton always thinks he’s open), he’ll let you know with those exasperated, desperately outstretched arms.

This tendency blew up most memorably in a January game that I talked about here, in which Sexton demanded the ball from a resistant Isaiah Collier, who received a subsequent eight-second violation (Collier later redeemed himself with a game-winning layup in OT):

Point guards (which Sexton has occasionally had to be despite a lack of point guard skills) are supposed to go get the ball, and shooters (which Sexton is) are supposed to have those hands ready to receive a pass at any time. It’s not that he’s wrong, exactly, but he’s doing 20% too much.

Vit Krejci, passing flair

Krejci is a backup guard for the Atlanta Hawks, but he’s got more passing chutzpah in him than most starters. Krejci provided arguably the pass of the year in the preseason with a full-court knuckleball bounce pass:

(Yes, highlight truthers, some luck was involved, but let yourself enjoy a cool play, please.)

He’s a semi-routine practitioner of the between-the-legs pocket pass, and he whips out the Rondo-esque fake behind-the-back as often as he can get away with:

Between his passing and his deadeye shooting, Krejci is an underrated viewing delight for League Pass junkies.

Aaron Wiggins, the jelly

There is one NBA kingdom for whom Aaron Wiggins will always be The Man Who Saved Basketball, but the memes take away from the fact that he puts a neighborhood BBQ’s worth of sauce on his rack attacks: