This year's NBA playoffs have doubled as a debutante ball for first-time participants Devin Booker and Trae Young.
Typically, players struggle with increased defensive attention and stronger competition in their first trip through the postseason, but Booker and Young have been exceptions. They've led their teams to the conference finals with a pair of upsets in the case of Young's Atlanta Hawks and two dominant performances by Booker's Phoenix Suns, who can reach the NBA Finals by beating the LA Clippers on Wednesday.
To put the achievements of Booker and Young in context, let's take a look at the top dozen playoff debuts since the first round expanded to best of seven in 2003 as measured by my wins above replacement player (WARP) metric, taking note of where this year's stars rank.
12. Deron Williams
2007 Utah Jazz
1.91 adjusted WARP
At 19.2 points per game, Williams was one of just two Jazz players to average more than 12 PPG to lead a balanced attack as they reached the Western Conference finals by ending the run of the "We Believe" Golden State Warriors. His 8.6 assists per game ranked third among all players who reached the second round, behind veterans Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. Williams particularly excelled against the San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals, averaging 29.5 points and 9.3 assists over the first four games of the series before being limited in Game 5 with a foot sprain.
11. Devin Booker
2021 Phoenix Suns
1.92 adjusted WARP
On a per-game basis, Booker's value peaked after Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, a 40-point triple-double. Since then, the Clippers have done a better job of making life difficult for Booker, who has shot 27-of-81 (33%) over the past four games. He has still managed to boost his scoring by making nearly eight free throws per game, something that's been consistent all playoffs as Booker's scoring has fluctuated. If the Suns can finish off the Clippers and reach the Finals, Booker should easily move into the top 10 with the extra games.
10. Rajon Rondo
2008 Boston Celtics
1.95 adjusted WARP
Long before "Playoff Rondo" was a thing, he started all 26 games for the Celtics in his second season and first as a full-time starter. Although Rondo shot just 41% from the field, he posted a 3.7 assist-to-turnover ratio and was key defensively as Boston won its first title since 1986. With the benefit of the Celtics' record total playoff games, Rondo led all players during the 2008 playoffs in both assists and steals. However, the volume doesn't help him here, as I've adjusted all players' WARP totals to reflect an average of six games per series so they don't get extra credit for a seven-game matchup than a sweep.
9. Manu Ginobili
2003 San Antonio Spurs
2.1 adjusted WARP
An NBA rookie at age 25, Ginobili was well-prepared for the crucible of playoff basketball by his experience as MVP of the 2001 EuroLeague Final Four. Coming off the bench behind starter Stephen Jackson, Ginobili averaged 9.4 PPG but excelled defensively as the Spurs won their second title. He averaged 1.7 steals per game in just 27.5 minutes and had an enormous impact in terms of plus-minus. San Antonio was a league-best plus-191 in Ginobili's 660 playoff minutes and was outscored by 59 in the 497 minutes he watched from the bench.
8. Nikola Jokic
2019 Denver Nuggets
2.27 adjusted WARP
After missing out on a playoff spot in 2018 because of a de facto play-in loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the final night of the regular season, the Nuggets arrived in the postseason as the No. 2 seed in Jokic's first season as an All-Star. He quickly proved capable of translating his game during a pair of series that went the distance.
In a Game 6 loss to the Spurs in the first round, Jokic had 43 points -- at the time his most in any game, regular season or playoffs -- and came an assist away from his second triple-double in the series. Jokic did record two triple-doubles in the second round against the Portland Trail Blazers, including 33 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists in a historic 65-minute outing in Game 3, a four-overtime loss.
7. Kyrie Irving
2015 Cleveland Cavaliers
2.30 adjusted WARP
The return of LeBron James took the Cavaliers from rebuilding through the lottery to the NBA Finals almost overnight, a transition Irving was ready to make in his third season. He averaged 19 PPG while making 45% of his 4.6 3-point attempts. Irving could have been even better if not for injuries. He missed two games during Cleveland's sweep of Atlanta in the Eastern Conference finals due to patellar tendinitis in his left knee then fractured that patella during Game 1 of the NBA Finals at the conclusion of a 23-point performance.
6. Stephen Curry
2013 Golden State Warriors
2.30 adjusted WARP
The 2013 playoffs were the continuation of a breakout season for Curry, who had yet to make an All-Star Game at the time but had broken the NBA record for 3-pointers in a season. (Curry subsequently reset the record each of the next two seasons.)
Curry had 30 points and 13 assists in Game 2 of the Warriors' opening-round upset of the Nuggets and scored 22 of his 31 points in Game 4 during a span of barely more than five minutes. He was even better in Game 1 of the next round against the Spurs. Playing 58 minutes in a heartbreaking 129-127 loss in double overtime, Curry exploded for 44 points and 11 assists. Eventually, the Spurs knocked off upstart Golden State en route to the Finals, but Steph's legend had begun.
5. LeBron James
2006 Cleveland Cavaliers
2.50 adjusted WARP
It took LeBron until his third season to lead the Cavaliers to the playoffs. It took him 48 minutes to make an impact there. In his playoff debut, LeBron went the full 48 minutes and recorded a triple-double of 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He would top 40 points twice in a thrilling first-round series against the Washington Wizards, which saw three of Cleveland's four wins come by a single point -- the last in overtime, as James played all 53 minutes. In the second round, the Cavaliers took the two-time reigning conference champion Detroit Pistons the distance before losing in seven games.
4. Trae Young
2021 Atlanta Hawks
2.52 adjusted WARP
Young's 29.8 PPG rank fourth in the past four decades among players in their first postseason, behind James (30.8) and two players who missed out on this list because teams were eliminated in the first round: Anthony Davis (31.5 PPG in 2015) and Luka Doncic (30.8 last year). Because of the offensive explosion over the past five years, Young doesn't rate quite that high in terms of WARP, which remains on the same scale as the offensive environment changes. Still, his playoff debut has him in the company of greatness.
3. Carlos Boozer
2007 Utah Jazz
2.85 adjusted WARP
The leading scorer on that 2007 Utah team with Williams, Boozer also was enjoying his first taste of playoff basketball after two lottery-bound seasons in Cleveland and two more in Utah. A first-time All-Star, Boozer averaged 23.5 PPG and 12.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs while shooting 54% from the field. Boozer topped 30 points five times (second most during those playoffs behind James), highlighted by a 41-point explosion in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets, and recorded 13 double-doubles in 17 games.
2. Elton Brand
2006 LA Clippers
3.25 adjusted WARP
After toiling in relative obscurity for six seasons, Brand made an immediate impact in his playoff debut at age 27. An All-NBA second-team pick that season, Brand played as well as anyone in the playoffs, averaging 25.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.6 blocks.
Brand destroyed an undersized Phoenix frontcourt in an epic seven-game conference semifinals, going for at least 30 points in five of the seven games and shooting 59% from the field, powered by an 18-for-22 effort in Game 1 as he scored 40 points. Sadly, it would be another five years before Brand would return to the playoffs in the twilight of his career after recovering from an Achilles tendon rupture.
1. Chris Paul
2008 New Orleans Hornets
3.6 adjusted WARP
Having finished as the runner-up to Kobe Bryant in MVP voting, Paul was at the top of his game individually when he debuted in the playoffs in 2008 with a New Orleans team that had come out of the lottery to claim the No. 2 seed. CP3 picked apart the Dallas Mavericks in his first two playoff games, combining for 67 points on 25-of-39 shooting, 27 assists and seven steals in two wins. He also had a third 30-10 game in Game 2 against San Antonio, a series the Hornets would eventually lose in seven games. Still, Paul led all players that postseason in APG (11.3), SPG (2.3) and point-assist double-doubles (eight).