Hollinger from the Athletic
18. Dallas – Aleksej Pokusevski, “power” forward, Olympiakos B
Okay, let’s talk about the biggest mystery meat of the draft, because there is a lot of subterfuge to process here.
The rumor is that Pokusevski has a promise from a team in the first round, and that’s why he bailed on the draft combine. Bigger picture, that may also be why he bailed on much of his 2019-20 season, depending on when the promise came.
Adding fuel to the fire are two data points: 1) Pokusevski’s agent, Jason Ranne, used to work for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and 2) The Thunder themselves are notorious in league circles for promising their pick and having him shut down workouts and other public viewings waaaaay ahead of the draft.
I don’t think the Thunder are the only ones playing poker here, though. At the 18th pick, we have a Dallas team with a noted proclivity for swinging for the fences on high-upside international prospects. Sometimes they get Dirk Nowitzki and sometimes they get Pavel Podkolzin, but they’ll keep swinging.
So why wouldn’t the Mavs take a swing here? Instead, there are widespread rumors that Dallas is shopping the pick in search of a high-level wing.
Color me dubious. They’re going to trade this pick for a wing when they’re trying to create max cap room in 2021? They’d either nuke the cap space or end up trading a first-round pick for a rental. This feels more like a smokescreen to dissuade the teams behind them from jumping up to 17 and taking their guy.
I don’t see Pokusevski making it all the way to the Thunder at 25 in either case, which means Oklahoma City may need to use its surfeit of future firsts to move up. Regardless of which team lands Pokusevski, I think he goes in the mid-to-late teens, possibly as high as 14 to Boston.
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