It happens every year. As college basketball players gear up for March Madness, the NBA experiences a different kind of madness — namely, Mickey Mouse March.
Without fail, a handful of role players go on late-season surges that tease at future stardom. Many of them come crashing back down to earth the following season, although some breakouts portend full-fledged leaps.
Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green was the king of Mickey Mouse March recently. Last year, he averaged only 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 41.1 percent overall and 30.7 percent from deep prior to the All-Star break. In March, he averaged 27.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 49.2 percent overall and 40.8 percent from deep across 15 outings.
That late-season breakout helped Green earn a three-year, $105.3 million extension this past summer. However, the unique structure of the deal suggests that the Rockets weren't fully sold on Green's production from March carrying over to this season. Lo and behold, he's right back down around his career averages this season, albeit while facing more competition for touches.
Green has a few worthy Mickey Mouse March successors this year. Here, we've highlighted five players who've been on a month-long scorcher and delved into the implications of their potential breakouts.
Coby White, G, Chicago Bulls
When the Chicago Bulls sent Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings at the trade deadline, it seemed like they were waving the white flag on this season. Coby White had other ideas.
White was averaging a solid 18.2 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 42.7 overall and 37.1 percent from deep prior to the All-Star break, but he's gone thermonuclear since LaVine's departure. Prior to Monday's blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he had scored at least 20 points in every game this month, which was by far the longest streak of his career. He had never topped 20-plus points in more than six straight games before this.
Even with Monday's clunker against the Thunder factored in, White averaged 27.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.1 made 3-pointers per game in March. He shot a sizzling 49.5 percent overall and 37.9 percent from 3-point range across the month, and he finished with multiple treys in all but three games.
White is already under contract for only $12.9 million next season, which suddenly looks like one of the biggest steals in the NBA. However, as Morten Jensen of Yahoo Sports recently noted, that discount contract comes with a drawback for the Bulls as well. Unless they renegotiate and extend him this offseason, they can only offer him 140 percent of his 2025-26 salary as the starting salary on an extension. That won't be enough to get him to sign on the dotted line.
With that in mind, White may have the entire 2025-26 campaign to prove that his recent scorching run isn't a Mickey Mouse March anomaly. If it isn't, he could wind up being one of the most hotly pursued free agents in 2026.
Josh Giddey, G, Chicago Bulls
Coby White isn't the only Bulls player who has leveled up in March. LaVine's departure has also opened additional touches for Josh Giddey, who has become a triple-double machine in recent weeks.
In 56 games between the start of the season and the end of February, Giddey averaged only 13.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists per outing. He missed five games in March, but he averaged 20.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 9.0 assists in the 10 games that he played in the month.
Giddey had only two triple-doubles across his first 56 games this season. He had three in March alone, and he finished one assist short of a fourth in a 125-123 win over the Orlando Magic on March 6. These aren't empty numbers, either. The Bulls are 6-4 with him in the lineup in March, including a blowout win over the Indiana Pacers and a pair of victories over LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Lakers.
That could put the Bulls in a financial dilemma this offseason, as Giddey is set to become a restricted free agent. His price tag is only going up with each passing game. Luckily, they'll at least get to see how he handles a postseason environment in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament before they need to make that decision.
The Thunder flipped Giddey for Alex Caruso this past offseason after seeing how teams defended him in the playoffs (aka, left him wide open and dared him to beat them from deep). Giddey is shooting a career-high 37.6 percent from deep this year and just drilled a 46-foot game-winner against the Lakers on Thursday, but it remains to be seen how sustainable that is.
If Giddey doesn't turn back into a pumpkin in the postseason, he suddenly might be looking at a nine-figure payday this summer.
Quentin Grimes, G, Philadelphia 76ers
After stunning the NBA world by trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers for a package headlined by Anthony Davis, the Dallas Mavericks weren't done there. To aid in their all-in push, they sent Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers for veteran forward Caleb Martin.
Martin has played eight games thus far for the Mavericks, averaging 4.6 points on 41.2 percent shooting in 17.6 minutes per game. Grimes scored 24 points in his first two games with the Sixers alone.
His 30-point outing against the Brooklyn Nets in mid-February was a hint of things to come in March. With Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid sidelined by injuries, Grimes has taken over as the Sixers' No. 1 option over the past few weeks and is earning himself a bigger offseason payday with each passing game.
Grimes kicked off March with a career-high 44 points on 18-of-24 shooting in an upset win over the Golden State Warriors. Although the Sixers have won only two games since—partially by design—the 24-year-old averaged 26.6 points, 4.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 3.4 3-pointers per game while shooting 50.4 percent overall and 40.3 percent from deep across the month.
Much like Giddey, Grimes is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, so this late-season surge couldn't have come at a better time. Although few teams are projected to have more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to offer, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has upward of $50 million to spend and a long history of throwing bloated offer sheets at RFAs.
At least the Grimes deal wasn't the worst move that the Mavericks made at the trade deadline?
Deni Avdija, F, Portland Trail Blazers
The late-season breakouts from White, Giddey and Grimes were all fueled in part by moves that their respective teams made at the Feb. 6 trade deadline this year. The Portland Trail Blazers stood pat at the deadline, but that hasn't stopped Deni Avdija from basically becoming the second coming of Larry Bird in March.
The 24-year-old kicked the month off with a 30-point triple-double in an overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He followed that up with two quiet games and then missed the next two, but he's gone full inferno since his return. Over his past 10 games alone, Avdija has three separate outings with at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.
Across the full month, Avdija averaged 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.8 3-pointers while shooting 51.0 percent overall and 45.7 percent from deep. He's made at least three triples in eight of his past 10 games, after hitting that mark in only 10 of his first 63 this season.
Suddenly, the four-year, $55 million extension that Avdija signed with the Washington Wizards in October 2023 is looking like one of the best-value contracts in the NBA. His contract descends annually, too, so he's projected to take up only 6.35 percent of the salary cap in 2027-28, the final year of his deal.
Much like with White and the Bulls, that well-below-market could create issues for the Blazers down the road. They'll have to renegotiate-and-extend Avdija at some point if he sustains anywhere close to this level of play. That's a problem for a later day, though.
For now, a Blazers team that's still searching for franchise cornerstones in the post-Damian Lillard era should enjoy Avdija's late-season surge, even if it doesn't result in a spot in the play-in tournament.
Naji Marshall, F, Dallas Mavericks
Naji Marshall opened the month of March with seven points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 15-point loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But with injuries besieging the Dallas Mavericks, he's been putting up All-Star-caliber numbers ever since.
Over his next 12 games, Marshall averaged 23.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 54.1 percent overall. He knocked down only 14-of-52 3-pointers over that span (26.9 percent), which makes his scoring average that much more impressive.
Marshall came back down to earth in Thursday's win over the Orlando Magic, finishing with only six points on 3-of-5 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 41 minutes. Anthony Davis' recent return will bump him down the offensive pecking order, so the Mickey Mouse March fun may already be over for him.
Luckily, the Mavericks signed Marshall to a three-year, $27 million contract this past offseason. He's set to earn only $9 million next season and $9.4 million in 2026-27. They won't count on him to round out a Big Three with Davis and Kyrie Irving, but knowing he can level up his offensive output in their absence is a valuable card for the cap-strapped Mavericks to have in their back pocket.
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NBA news roundup:
- Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant is expected to miss at least one week with the left ankle sprain that he suffered in Sunday's blowout loss to the Houston Rockets, per ESPN's Shams Charania. The Suns are only one game behind the Sacramento Kings for the No. 10 seed in the West, but they're now headed on the road to face the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. It's becoming increasingly likely that they won't even make the play-in tournament.
- The New Orleans Pelicans announced Monday that Zion Williamson (back) and CJ McCollum (foot) are out for the remainder of the season. On a related note, the Pelicans have the NBA's fourth-worst record at 21-54 after Sunday's 98-94 win over the Charlotte Hornets. They're doing everything they can to hold off the free-falling Philadelphia 76ers for that 12.5 percent chance at Cooper Flagg.
- Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young announced Monday that he has accepted a role as the assistant general manager of Oklahoma's men's basketball team and will donate $1 million to the program. He's following in the footsteps of Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, who recently took the same position at Davidson and is working toward creating an "eight-figure fund to support the men's and women's teams at his alma mater," per Chris Vannini and Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Will he start auctioning off personal items for NIL funds as well?
The other L.A. team should be getting more love
As the national media fawns over LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers, their crosstown rivals have quietly become perhaps the top threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West since the calendar flipped to March.
The Los Angeles Clippers went 11-5 last month, including a pair of wins over the New York Knicks and a double-digit victory over the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. They had the fourth-best net rating of any team in March, trailing only the Thunder, Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves. They did recently lose at home to the Thunder, 103-101, but they held Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to 26 points on 7-of-29 shooting in said loss. That was his worst-shooting night of the season.
There's no guarantee that Kawhi Leonard will stay healthy throughout a playoff run, but he's been looking like Kawhi Leonard lately. After slowly ramping up prior to the All-Star break, The Claw averaged 25.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 52.1 percent overall and 39.7 percent from deep in March. (He doesn't fall into the Mickey Mouse March category because he is That Dude when healthy.)
If Leonard is back to being a two-way wrecking ball, the Clippers might have the supporting cast around him to make some real noise in the playoffs. James Harden averaged 25.3 points, 8.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 3.4 three-pointers per game in March. Norman Powell missed the beginning of the month due to a hamstring strain, but he's averaging a career-high 22.6 points per game on the season. Ivica Zubac has also quietly put together a career year with 16.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. Rounding out the Clippers' starting five is Kris Dunn, an All-Defensive-caliber nuisance.
With Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum and Bogdan Bogdanović coming off the bench, the Clippers have a battle-tested eight-man playoff rotation. If they get anything from Ben Simmons, Drew Eubanks or Amir Coffey, all the better. They had the second-best half-court offense in March and were eighth in half-court defense, which is the exact formula you'd expect from an under-the-radar title hopeful.
So, while everyone fawns over the Lakers, Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors heading into the playoffs, don't forget about the other team in L.A. If Leonard stays healthy, there's a non-zero chance that the Clippers will wind up facing the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.