The signings, trades and acquisitions that organizations make during the offseason are usually the biggest factors in how well a team performs over the course of the regular season. Oftentimes the development of players already on the roster can play a large role and be what ultimately leads to different decisions being made by the front office.

This season will allow for players that were on the fringes of the rotation to lock down solidified roles moving forward. It will give the role players a chance to become starters and maybe even for a young starter to make a leap into the All-Star conversation. Here is a list of a couple of players from the Western Conference that are in line to make a leap.

The 23-year-old took a massive jump in his second NBA season. He doubled his 3-point attempts, improved his shooting percentage and nearly tripled his scoring average from his rookie season. He received a 1st place vote in the “Most Improved Player” award and missed a total of only three games during the regular season.

The core of the New Orleans Pelicans has been viewed as Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. After the Portland Trail Blazers trade last year in which they received CJ McCollum a case could be made that it is now a “big three” when they all share the court together. Murphy has butted into the conversation of not only being an integral part of the team, but a possible future star wing.

His shooting is an absolute necessity for breathing life into the Pelicans’ offense. McCollum and Murphy are the guards that help juice up the spacing for the offense as Ingram is willing to let it fly from deep, but typically likes to do his work in the mid-range. Williamson is one of the best players in the NBA at dominating inside, but it’s important for the team to have enough spacing to keep defenders from camping out inside the paint against him.

Last season, Murphy took over six 3-pointers per game and cashed in 40.6 percent of the shots. He was one of only 11 players in the NBA to take that many attempts per game while hitting more than 40 percent of the looks. That level of 3-point shooting is lethal and is aided by the fact that he doesn’t need the ball much. His usage rating during the year was a mere 14.3 percent, which sort of pigeon holes him as a gravity spacing shooter that can turn it loose from deep. Still, he was able to hit nearly 75 percent of his shots at the rim which is an incredibly strong number for a wing at his volume. It’s an area he may continue exploring heading into his third season after averaging 20 points per game during the final 20 games of the regular season.

His defense has had moments of being exceptional. His block and steal rates are both well above average for his position and the 6 '10 frame allows him to pester the opposition around the perimeter. The on-off splits don’t paint a kind picture of his defense since the team was 3.8 points per 100 possessions worse with him on that side of the ball. Other advanced metrics grade him out as more average so it’ll be important for him to continue maturing on that end in order to maximize his potential, especially since he projects as a starter in a lineup that has few defensive anchors.

Giddey has been a wonky player that is so easy to be excited about, but is easy to be skeptical of because of his warts. At only 20 years old it looks like the sky might be the limit for the Australian.

Right off the bat it’s easy to fall in love with his passing. His game is so aesthetically pleasing that you feel a lightness and control that is very atypical from a player so young. He ranked in the top-10 in the NBA in passes made per game, which is impressive when you consider that he isn’t the only facilitator on the team. His constant churning of the ball helps give the Thunder some crisp pacing that makes them hard to guard.

His assist to usage rating is one of the best in the league, and it’s not because he isn’t willing to shoot. The young guard took more than 14 shots per game last year, but still prioritized getting the ball to his teammates. The efficiency was a bit low— he has continued to struggle at being able to drive some type of cohesiveness to his shot chart diet. The one area in which he has excelled is in the short mid range with his 6’8 height. Being able to improve upon his 51.7 effective field goal percentage by being more successful at the rim will be extremely important for him to be able to reach the next level.

His outside shooting might always be a bit of a weakness in his game. The statistics show that he’s made improvements on the deep ball (he went up nearly seven percentage points last season), but the slow and low release don’t indicate an above average shooter. The difference maker for Giddey will be on defense and his shooting at the rim.

He is an excellent rebounder on both sides of the ball, but continues to struggle to make an impact on defense. Defensive RAPTOR rates him as one of the worst defensive players in the league and his block/steal rates are both well below average.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and his scheme can help cover up those issues, but it’s an area he’ll need to improve as he looks to take the next step in his career.