Coby White has Paul George’s vote for Most Improved Player

When a basketball team loses its starting point guard, it loses the orchestrator of its offense.

Such was the case with the Chicago Bulls entering the 2022-2023 season, who lost Lonzo Ball to a knee surgery. Ball has since suffered complications, delaying his return to the court.

Luckily for Chicago, it has another budding star at point guard in Coby White, who spent his lone collegiate season at UNC in 2018-2019. White helped lead North Carolina to the Sweet 16 that season, when it lost in the Sweet 16 to Auburn, by averaging 16.1 points per game.

White hasn’t started a majority of the Bulls’ games in three years, but is making the most of his opportunities. He’s averaging a career-high 19.6 points per game, which ranks Top-50 in the NBA, while reaching double-digits in 60 of Chicago’s 62 games.

This type of play is gaining White national attention, including from future Hall-of-Famer Paul George.

To give you an idea of how good PG is, he’s a 9-time All-Star and 2-time All-Defensive First Team. He’s part of a loaded Los Angeles Clippers squad with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, one that’s expected to contend for its first NBA title.

The Bulls (34-35) have been hovering around .500 most of the year, but White has them ninth in the Eastern Conference. This would normally put them outside of the playoffs, but introduction of the Play-In Tournament has Chicago 3.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for that final spot.

Unless White’s Bulls suffer an epic late-season collapse, he’ll lead them back to the playoffs for the first time in two years.

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Story originally appeared on Tarheels Wire