Lab · Signature feature

Basketball Next-Up Lab

Who’s the best bet to be a bigger deal next season — not the best player today, but the best bet to rise? Tell the model what you value and the board re-ranks live.

Each player carries eight 0–100 signals: five on-court skills plus youth (derived from age), trajectory (how fast they’re improving), and availability (how often they’re actually on the floor). The Next-Up Score is a weighted blend of those signals — move a slider and every score and rank recomputes instantly. Each card shows the factors contributing most to a player’s score, so the number is never a black box.

Ratings reflect 2024–25 form · illustrative$ basketball

Top prospect: Victor Wembanyama, Next-Up score 83.2.

Presets

Drag to change what the model values — the board recomputes live.

80

How fast they’re improving

70

Room left to grow (from age)

65

Shot creation & volume

60

Impact on the other end

58

Points per possession used

55

Passing & creation for others

45

Durability & games played

38

Work on the glass

ScoringPlaymakingEfficiencyDefenseRebounding
#1 of 10SAS · C / F · age 21

Victor Wembanyama

83.2/ 100 Next-Up

Generational two-way big — a defensive system unto himself with guard skills. The ceiling is the whole point.

Why — top factors

  • Trajectory20%
  • Defense15%
  • Youth15%

The board

vs. balanced · Next-Up score

These are my own 0–100 assessments — a transparent model for arguing about basketball, not official statistics or betting advice. The dataset and default weights live in src/content/labs.ts and are easy to edit.