{"id":116816,"date":"2025-08-03T23:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T23:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/116816\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T23:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T23:49:12","slug":"reed-sheppard-named-no-1-sophomore-to-watch-ahead-of-2025-26-nba-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/116816\/","title":{"rendered":"Reed Sheppard named No. 1 sophomore to watch ahead of 2025-26 NBA season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the rookie seasons we\u2019ve seen in recent memory, Reed Sheppard<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s was certainly one of them. The former Kentucky<\/a> superstar had moments of brilliance \u2014 he went for 25 points, five assists and two steals at Oklahoma City in March, then 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in Los Angeles against the Clippers in April. He was also held scoreless 17 times with 22 single-digit-minute performances in 55 total appearances out of 89 games for the Houston Rockets. <\/p>\n

Averaging 12.6 minutes per game in the regular season and 3.3 in the postseason, there just wasn\u2019t a real role ready for Sheppard to take on as a rookie, despite coming in as the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2024. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s expected to change in year two, though, potentially setting up the biggest leap of all sophomores going into the 2025-26 season \u2014 should he make the most of his extended time on the floor, of course. ESPN expects that to be the case for the former Wildcat, listing Sheppard as the \u201cmost interesting\u201d of the entire draft class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an evaluation of who are the best or most valuable rising sophomores \u2014 it\u2019s simply the players I\u2019m most curious about headed into training camp,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Woo wrote. <\/a><\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t have a rookie season superlative to give Sheppard \u2014 \u201cthere wasn\u2019t all that much to say about (it),\u201d he wrote, but \u201che did score 49 points in a G League game, and Houston remains excited about him as he steps into more minutes on a team with high aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Houston\u2019s trade for Kevin Durant and Jalen Green\u2019s departure, though, he\u2019s ranked at the top of the list because \u201cthe Rockets cleared significant backcourt minutes for Sheppard, who currently pencils in for a real role behind\u00a0Fred VanVleet\u00a0and\u00a0Amen Thompson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the opportunity is there for Laurel County\u2019s finest. ESPN believes he\u2019ll take advantage of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile he wasn\u2019t especially noteworthy at summer league, Sheppard is worthy of optimism \u2014 he should be walking into an ideal role as a secondary handler, playmaker and spacer who can both operate off of and make life easier for Houston\u2019s stars,\u201d Woo wrote. \u201cHis shooting will be pivotal next to Thompson and\u00a0Alperen Sengun, but he\u2019ll also need to remain effective defensively, as the Rockets will be giving up a good deal of perimeter size when VanVleet and Sheppard share the floor. <\/p>\n

\u201cSheppard\u2019s instincts for winning possessions help him on that end, but he\u2019s not exactly a deterrent for opposing shooters, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that Sheppard was good or bad as a rookie, he just didn\u2019t get to showcase his abilities either way. The sample size was too small to know.<\/p>\n

That can\u2019t be said about what\u2019s to come in year two, a chance for him to play a key role in Houston\u2019s push for a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cSheppard has the chance to be a huge swing factor in Houston\u2019s title chase \u2014 in theory, he\u2019s stepping into the perfect situation,\u201d Woo continued. \u201cThe question is whether next season is the right time and how the Rockets might have to adjust their depth accordingly. The simple fact is that we haven\u2019t really seen him yet, and what it means for Houston\u2019s place in the arc of this season earns him the top spot on this list.\u201d<\/p>\n

A reminder of what No. 15 is capable of:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Go get \u2019em, Reed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the rookie seasons we\u2019ve seen in recent memory, Reed Sheppard\u2018s was certainly one of them. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":116817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,73157,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-116816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-reed-sheppard-23-north-laurel","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114967515206091624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}