NBA Draft: LaMelo Ball goes first in 2020 NBA Redraft

Aleksej Pokusevski, Oklahoma City Thunder. Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

We can start by stating the obvious: Aleksej Pokusevski was not a good NBA player this past season. Out of every player drafted in 2020, he had the lowest win shares at minus 1.9. Not only was he bad, but he soaked up 1090 minutes on a tanking Oklahoma City Thunder team.

Even so, “Poku” rose from his previous draft slot at 17 into the lottery at 12. The reason is that one year in, no one is completely sure whether Pokusevski has star-level upside or not. It is rare but certainly possible for a player to be abysmal as a rookie and grow into something great. Pokusevski absolutely had flashes of something special, from running a pick-and-roll as the ball-handler or sinking a deep 3-pointer. He scored 29 points on 10-for-19 from the field and a whopping 6-for-9 from 3-point range.

He’s also the rawest player to enter the NBA in some time, all Mr. Fantastic limbs and turnovers trying to create with the ball. It’s very possible that Pokusevski ends up flunking out of the league, more so than any other player in the lottery mix. Yet there is also still a possibility he can grow into something special, and for a franchise with a rebuilding mindset and plenty of patience, he is worth the swing. The Sacramento Kings should have the former and probably lacks the latter, and they would be an intriguing place for Poku to land in this redraft.