Breakouts don't just come out of nowhere. Well, sometimes they do, but usually there's detectable magma bubbling under the surface prior to the volcanic eruption. Tom Hanks won back-to-back Oscars for "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump," but anyone who saw his early performances in "Splash," "Bachelor Party" and "Big" knew that the star quality was unassailable.

It's with that lens that we look at the 2025-26 NBA breakout candidates from each team, knowing that making the leap to the next level can happen in a player's second year or his seventh. There's no script to any of this, but when you take a closer look, you can see that the signs appear to be there for certain players.

Usually we do this before the season. This time around, however, we thought getting a look at the first few gam

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