Sacramento Kings: 5 options for pick No. 10 in 2017 NBA Draft
2. Frank Ntilikina, PG, France
2016-17 stats: 54 GP, 5.6 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, .7 SPG, .1 BPG, 1 TOV, 45 FG%, 39.2 3P%, 66.1 FT%
Of the players projected to be taken in the lottery of this year’s draft, no other players have a level of mystery surrounding them quite as much as French guard Frank Ntilikina.
That isn’t hard to deduce since Ntilikina has spent his life up until this point playing overseas for both club (his hometown club, Strasbourg IG, no less) as well as country. Now on the verge of making the jump to the states to take the next step in his professional career, plenty of teams are intrigued with what the 18-year-old Ntilikina can do on the court.
Sacramento Kings
Possessing a unique brand of physical gifts, Ntilikina has the perfect mix of size, length and athleticism to act as a combo guard in today’s NBA. As such, Ntilikina puts his physical traits to good use on the defensive end and with his high work rate on that end of the floor, he regularly harasses opposing guards as well as utilizes his long arms to swat away shots or force turnovers.
In terms of his offensive production, Ntilikina stands as a useful perimeter shooter after fine tuning his jumpshot over time. While he’s primarily operated in an off ball role when playing for his club, Ntilikina has shown plenty of creativity and composure with the ball in his hands, especially in transition.
The biggest question for Ntilikina will be whether he can harness his developing set of offensive skills to act as a true point guard. Despite showing some solid ball handling, Ntilikina has been quite turnover-prone when used as a lead guard, showing that his instincts and timing as a playmaker remain a work in progress in half-court situations.
Ntilikina has been on the Kings’ radar as they had reportedly been one of four teams to have taken interest in scouting the Belgian-born player before knowing the results of the draft lottery. How much we should read into that at this point is clearly subjective, but it lines up with the prevailing thought that they’re looking for their next point guard in the draft.
The bigger question may be whether selecting Ntilikina hinges on if the Kings take a point guard like De’Aaron Fox with their higher pick at 5. If not, then the Kings may have to work a deal to potentially land Ntilikina, especially with the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks being ahead of them at No. 8 and 9, respectively.