Do you know which rookie leads the NBA in plus/minus this season? The answer is Hugo Gonzalez at +219. In 2nd place is second overall pick Dylan Harper at +96. Hugo has doubled up the rest of the field.
(Congratulations to Harper’s brother and Celtics two-way guard Ron Harper Jr. for making the G-League team for the Rising Stars Challenge.)
Sure, plus-minus is a flukey stat, but he has been awesome for the Celtics. According to databallr.com, the Celtics are 18.2 points per 100 possessions with Gonzalez on the floor than when he is not.
So when the NBA announced the rookies who made the Rising Stars team, Gonzalez had to have been on it, right?
The 2026 Castrol Rising Stars NBA Rookies ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/RkN1Kmnzor
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 26, 2026
I think there are fair arguments that leaving Hugo off the team is just. His minutes total for the season is 609 and he has only scored 4.0 points per game. You can understand why the NBA went with more prolific scorers which is why the chose Collin Murray-Boyles who is averaging 7.8 points per game and has played 798 minutes for the season.
Double the amount of points per game as Gonzalez has but he has not been nearly as impactful when it comes to winning as Hugo has.
You could argue that no rookie has been as impactful this season as Gonzalez. He is the NBA rookie plus minus leader by 123 points for a reason. His defensive abilities, on and off the ball, have been what jumped out the most.
He just makes plays on that end of the court that rookies do not typically make. His man to man defense is also very good with the way he is able to move his feet and stay in front of ball handlers.
According to Cleaning the Glass, Gonzalez is 0.9% defending shots in the 73rd percentile and stealing the ball 1.9% percent of plays in the 79th percentile. That is really exciting things to see from a rookie.
He is fouling a lot, 5.3% which is the 4th highest rate in the NBA for wings. Thus, he needs to improve on that but he is a 19-year-old rookie, he is going to make mistakes. He makes up for it by making a ton of plays for Boston on that end.
Gonzalez is also shooting the ball extremely well, 51% from the field and 39% from three at 60% true shooting. He is not taking a lot of shots, just 130 field goal attempts this season, but when he does shoot the rock, it goes in at a high clip.
Hugo Gonzalez has been one of the 10 best rookies in the NBA this season and he should have made the Rising Stars Challenge. If you are going to make me kick one of the 10 players who made it off the team, I’d choose Murray-Boyles or Nets guard Egor Dënim. The 28th pick in the draft has shown he is going to be a winning player for years to come.
