Move Over, Marvin Harrison Jr., Here Comes Malik Nabers: Who Are The Prospects We’ll Be Toasting in 2024?

You probably know about the Next Big Thing. But what about the *next* Next Big Thing?

(co-byline: Mike Renner / The Messenger)

The end of any year is a cause for looking back on the previous 12 months and taking stock of what’s changed. But it’s also about looking forward. That’s especially true in sports right now: The future is bright, with as many potentially era-defining young talents on the horizon as ever, spanning a number of different leagues.

Some of the big names are already well-known, so we’ll spare you the introductions. But here are our picks among the pro prospects — whether they are current rookies or up-and-comers for next season — that you’ll want to make a point to watch in 2024.

NFL

The prospect you know: Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR, Ohio State)

The prospect you should know: Malik Nabers (WR, LSU)

With all the hype surrounding Marvin Harrison Jr. the past two seasons, it may surprise you to find out that there’s an SEC receiver who has more yards, more receptions, and more broken tackles in fewer games over that span. That same receiver may even be the better athlete as well. LSU’s Malik Nabers is no ordinary WR2 in a draft class, though. By our estimation, the only other draft classes that he wouldn’t be the clear cut WR1 over the past 10 years were the ones involving Ja’Marr Chase and Amari Cooper. If that sounds like high praise, it’s deserving after Nabers led all receivers in college football with 1,545 yards this season. And he did it in only 12 games! The only Power-5 wide receiver to average more yards per game in a single season over the past decade was Heisman winner DeVonta Smith. It’s time to talk about Nabers in rarified air. He’s earned it.

NBA

The prospects you know: Victor Wembanyama (F, San Antonio Spurs); Chet Holmgren (C, Oklahoma City Thunder)

The prospect you should know: Dereck Lively II (C, Dallas Mavericks)

It’s easy to get overshadowed, both literally and figuratively, when your rookie class also includes multiple 7-foot generational prodigies. But the most efficient first-year player of this NBA season has actually been Dereck Lively II, who is shooting an astonishing 74.8% from the floor with 9.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game playing alongside Luka Dončić in Dallas. The 19-year-old Duke product isn’t a shooter and he may not have the superstar ceiling of other, more hyped-up rookies. But Lively could still have a long NBA career in front of him as a rim-runner, rebounder and shot-blocker in the mold of a DeAndre Jordan, Clint Capela or Jarrett Allen — the type of player that always seems to be in demand, particularly when paired with a creator like Dončić. This, in turn, should help Lively escape the long shadows of his prospect peers … until a new lanky, 7-foot Frenchman with a similar skill set — Alex Sarr — arrives in the 2024 draft, that is.

MLB

The prospects you know: Evan Carter (OF, Texas Rangers); Jackson Holliday (IF, Baltimore Orioles)

The prospect you should know: Wyatt Langford (OF, Texas Rangers)

We wrote a lot about Rangers outfielder Evan Carter during the 2023 playoffs, and with good reason: His .917 postseason OPS helped power the Rangers to the franchise’s first-ever World Series title. But that also means Carter is kind of old news by now — the oddsmakers are all over him, alongside MLB Pipeline No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday of the Orioles, as favorites to win 2024 AL Rookie of the Year honors. Coincidentally, though, the dark horse in that race could be Carter’s own Rangers teammate and positional peer: Florida alum Wyatt Langford, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, who hit for a combined 1.157 OPS across four different minor-league levels last season, posting by far the best hitting numbers of any minor-league batter aged 21 or younger. According to FanGraphs’ depth chart projections, Langford projects for the sixth-most WAR of any rookie-eligible batter in 2024, trailing only Holliday, Carter, Jung-Hoo Lee (the Giants’ new Korean import), Noelvi Marte of the Reds and Austin Wells of the Yankees. That’s a ranking Langford could improve if he carves out more playing time in a crowded Texas outfield.

NHL

The prospect you know: Connor Bedard (C, Chicago Blackhawks)

The prospect you should know: Luke Hughes (D, New Jersey Devils)

After years of being hyped as hockey’s best prospect since Connor McDavid, 2023 No. 1 draft pick Connor Bedard finally made his NHL debut this season, and he has largely been as good as advertised. (Witness his recent use of the “Michigan” move to score on a bewildered Jordan Binnington.) But as talented as Bedard is, and as much as the betting odds favor him for Rookie of the Year, he is only narrowly leading the rookie race in Goals Above Replacement among skaters. (We make that distinction because no goalie has won the award in 15 years.) Bedard currently holds a 4.6 to 4.0 GAR lead over Devils defenseman Luke Hughes — who like his brother, Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes, is already looking like the epitome of the modern blueliner at both ends of the ice. Playing with his other, equally talented brother, 22-year-old center Jack Hughes (seriously, how many of these guys are there?), Luke is one centerpiece of a young New Jersey core that has produced more this season than any other in the league.

WNBA

The prospects you know: Caitlin Clark (G, Iowa); Paige Bueckers (G, UConn)

The prospect you should know: Alissa Pili (F, Utah)

We know you’re already aware of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark by now — and the same should go for UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who won 2020-21 Naismith College Player of the Year honors as a freshman (and All-NCAA Tournament honors as a sophomore) in between missing a season and a half with injuries. Both players should go high in next year’s WNBA draft if they choose to leave college basketball. But one name you may not have heard much is Alissa Pili, Utah’s 6-foot-2 scoring machine. Pili currently ranks fourth in the nation in PPG (23.8), trailing only Clark, USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and she’s scored at least 20 in 80% of her games so far this season. (Among players with double-digit games played, only Clark and Hidalgo have more reliably broken the 20-point barrier.) Of course, Pili does more than just put the ball in the basket; she also ranks in the 90th percentile or better in defensive rebounding rate, assist rate, turnover rate, block rate and defensive rating, per Her Hoop Stats. In other words, buy Pili stock while you can; she’s been rising in recent WNBA mock draft boards.

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