Second-grade crisis! Four newcomers! Who can succeed in passing the level?

For NBA players, the real challenge often begins officially after the end of the rookie year.

In the first year, you may still be able to rely on freshness and the team's fault tolerance period to gain stable opportunities, but when entering the second grade season, the outside world's expectations will be higher and the team's role positioning will gradually become clearer. Whether you can continue the upward momentum at this time determines whether you can gradually stand firm or be pushed to the edge.

The 2024 rookies have passed their first year. Some people are ready to explode in full swing, but some people may encounter certain stagnation in the 2025-26 season. This does not directly deny their future, but it is also a potentially dangerous signal. Below

, let's talk about four young players who may encounter bottlenecks in the sophomore season:

Dalton Knector (Lakes)

Two months before the rookie season, Knector was once a surprise in the eyes of Lakers fans.

Average 22.6 minutes of playing time, got multiple starting opportunities, and the three-point shooting percentage reached 38%, which once saw the value of the panacea shooter's outside. However, starting from January, Kneckett's situation took a sharp turn for the worse, his playing time dropped sharply to about 16 minutes, and even fell out of rotation many times. It was not until he scored 27 points on the last day of the regular season that he had a little presence for himself.

And the biggest problem is that Kneckett is already 24 years old.

For an elderly rookie, his room for growth may not be as sufficient as a 19-year-old or 20-year-old. The Lakers' lineup has been upgraded this season, and his shooting advantage on the outside is still useful, but whether he can stand out from limited opportunities determines whether he can get rid of the marginal people.

Yves Missy (Pelicans)

Compared to Kneckett, Missy's risks come from the team environment.

He entered the NBA with the 21st pick in the first round in 2024, and averaged 9.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in the rookie year. His performance is not amazing, but he is also considered qualified.

His chances are largely due to the Pelicans' rotation crisis, and the team suffered constant injuries in the inside, so Missy averaged 27 minutes of playing time per game. But with the Pelicans signing veteran Rooney in the offseason and making up for big man Derek Quinn through a draft deal, Missy may face serious competition in the new season.

Maybe Missy has a chance to get better in terms of offense and defense efficiency, but if his playing time drops sharply, his overall performance is likely to fall backward. For young players, stability opportunities are more important than anything else, and what Missy is about to face is a test of his own.

Carlton Carrington (Wizards)

Among the 2024 rookies, Carrington is definitely on the list of people who are most durable in attendance time.

As the young defender of the Wizards, Carrington played in all 82 games, with an average of up to 30 minutes per game, and was the team's first choice in the backcourt. But high-intensity use also brings some side effects. Referring to high-level data, Carrington is actually the player with the greatest cumulative damage. The main reason is that he frequently appears and lowers his overall performance with inefficient play.

But the good news is that the Wizards clearly strengthened their backcourt power in the offseason, signed veteran McCollum, and selected Trey Jones in the lottery zone. In this way, Carrington's pressure to play in the new season will be alleviated. But on the bad side, the Wizards' performance will not improve much. Even if Carrington's performance improves, the overall evaluation may not be recognized.

In other words, he may be better, but the outside world may not be able to give correct confirmation.

Stephen Castle (Spurs)

On this list, Castle's name is the most controversial.

The defender just won the Best Rookie and is the brightest person among the 2024 rookies. But because of this, his sophomore season is even more worrying. In the second half of the rookie year, due to the reimbursement of Wenban Yama in the season, the Spurs almost completely handed over the ball to Castle. His usage rate in the last 36 games of the season was as high as 28.9%, which is basically a core treatment that many mature stars can enjoy. In the end, although Castle led the team with averaging points per game, his real shooting percentage was only 52.2%, and his ball possession stability was lower than the league average.

In short, there is still a big gap between his true level and his personal data.

What's more complicated is that under the Spurs' reinforcement trade, the team's situation has been greatly reshuffled. The team signed All-Star point guard Fox and won rookie Harper in the second draw. The arrival of the two major ball-holding cores means that Castle in the new season will no longer be able to fire infinitely like the rookie in the second half of the year.

No surprise, Castle is still one of the cornerstones of the Spurs' future, but he needs to learn to transform from core to diverse roles. This is both a challenge and the key to testing whether he can grow into an all-around defender.