https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6429478/2025/06/18/nba-draft-confidential-guard-2025/?source=emp_shared_article
Kaspaas Jakucionis
College assistant coach No. 2 (his team played Illinois): If you allow him to go left, into his stepback, he’s deadly. He did tail off the last 10 to 15 games because, obviously, the scouting is good and people started figuring him out a little bit. Got the size. Very turnover-prone, because he takes risks, as many European players do. I hear he’s a great kid. They played him at point guard. Defensively, very average. We got our guards in a switch with his guy and he wanted no part of it. But I think he had a great reputation coming over. He’s going to get you 16, at least, and give you six turnovers. But very good player.
Western Conference executive No. 3: You’re going to be at a disadvantage every night if he’s your starter. Because he has to go against 29 of the best guards in the world. I could see him having trouble defensively. One-on-one, iso, pick-and-roll. But he makes it up with the intangibles because he plays hard. He tries. Offensively, if he could play five-on-four, he would be really, really good. He can shoot, he can pass, he can handle, he can distribute. But I do not see this kid, if you’re not a Play-In (team), I don’t think he’s good enough in that context as a starter. As a reliable backup? Sure.
Western Conference executive No. 1: A couple of our guys are real KJ fans. When I studied him on film, he just looked solid to me. I didn’t see anything special. Can shoot it, but he doesn’t have great speed and quickness. He’ll have to be a fit guy. If he doesn’t get exposed athletically, he can look decent. But if you draft him to be your point guard and the face of it, I think you’re going to be disappointed. I see more backup than starter.
Eastern Conference scout No. 1: I know he’s had some times where he’s struggled. But I think he got a little bit of the hype train. Then he had one or two teammates get hurt. There’s a difference between him and Fears to me. There’s a little more maturity and dependability with him that I feel better about. I saw him at Northwestern, and he couldn’t make a shot in the first half, but didn’t force anything. He came out in the second half and made some shots, some big shots. But he rebounded the ball. He’s not a negative defender. I think he’s neutral, and maybe a tad better than neutral. If we keep calling games the way we’re calling them, he can be all right. He can shoot when he’s not on the ball. He’s got enough size. He can get stronger, but he’s strong enough. He may never be a starting point guard; he may be a backup. But he’ll be a really good backup.
EGOR DEMIN
College assistant coach No. 4 (his team played BYU): The first thing that stands out is you walk out there and he’s 6-8 1/2. (ED: Demin measured slightly shorter – 6-8 1/4 – in Chicago.) He’s tall. He’s frail, but he’s tall and he’s long. When we played them, our whole thing was we were going to get up and pressure him, pressure him, pressure him. He can make all the reads, all the passes, both hands. He’s got all that down, especially when he sees the same coverages over and over. … We were like, let’s attack him. Trap the ball screen, go under. We kept switching it up. He struggled a little bit with that. I think he’s a good player, the Josh Giddey-ish type guy. I think he’s going to end up shooting it better. The NBA guys were asking me, “Well, what worries you?” It’s so physical (in the NBA). He’ll have to get adjusted to that, because he’s light in the ass that way. I think he’s going to just have to figure that out. Once he (does) that, he’ll be fine. Probably will wind up being a backup point guard for some years, because he’s got size, he can make shots. And he can really pass.
Eastern Conference scout No. 2: Egor shot the ball well in Chicago in that one-on-none; but the game’s played at 7, with people in the stands.
Western Conference Executive No. 3: His vision and passing stuff, he’s not (Luka) Dončić. But this kid can pass it and has size and can play in an NBA game, because he can think on his own. He doesn’t need a script and look at it and has to learn it. He understands flow, who needs touches, time management, already. He’s mature beyond what he would be as a rookie. At worst, (he’s Josh) Giddey, in that hemisphere of a clone. The shooting piece, I’m not concerned with. He’ll figure that out. … Overall, he may be getting a little undervalued. When I saw him early, I figured if he played 34, 36 minutes a game, he could come close — I’m not saying he would — to averaging a triple-double. And I don’t think he was playing with that great (a group) of guys around him. How many other guys from that team are going to be pulling down a pro paycheck, except for maybe one or two of them?
JASE RICHARDSON
Western Conference executive No. 1: All 30 teams? No. But he can shoot the basketball. I give him that. Before he measured what he measured at (in Chicago; 6 feet-1/2 inch), everyone saw him as a two-guard. They claim he played point guard a lot in high school. Because if he can mimic the one like Jalen Brunson, he played point and he had some leadership skills. But he was more of a scoring guard than a point guard. I think it just depends where he ends up. He can shoot, and I like the pedigree. I wouldn’t be surprised either way.
College assistant coach No. 1 (his team played Michigan State): I don’t think he’s quite ready. It’s one of those cases where he had too good of a year to go back. Strike while the iron’s hot. But he’s not ready for the NBA. He’s going to spend 95 percent of his time next season in the G League. He just doesn’t know how to play. And I love the kid. We recruited him. Know his dad. The mom’s awesome. They’re great people. He’s going to figure it out, but he’s not ready. I hope he doesn’t go to a franchise that’s impatient with him. The reason he’s leaving is he has to leave. It’s not because he’s ready to leave. He has to leave, unfortunately. Because they’re going to draft him. They’re going to draft Jase Richardson. … It’s going to take another year or two before he can help a team, even the bad ones. The best thing he does is make hard shots. He got better as a catch-and-shoot guy, but he shoots hard shots off the bounce. He’s not a great athlete. … Great kid, tremendous kid. I just think it’s too soon.
College assistant coach No. 2 (his team played Michigan State): He’s a great college player. He was their best player. He is small. He does not have the hops his dad did. I love their family. The dad is a wonderful guy, and so is the kid. He made big shots, and if you let him get left to his midrange, he’ll make the college 3.
WALTER CLAYTON JR
College assistant coach No. 5 (his team played Florida): I did a terrific job (on the scout), when they kicked our ass (laughs). You can’t speed him up. To me, you can talk about being able to play fast. Tremendous pace. Has NBA size for the (guard) positions. Built to do it, good base. When you see him make sidestep 3s that are really difficult, I think he’s really powerful in the hips. He’s an NBA shot maker. He does it with confidence. And there’s very few guys that can do it. They take big shots. He takes and makes. His ability to create separation is great. Good range. And he’s sneakier than you think going downhill. We didn’t think he was a great finisher. This would be my only concern: How competitive is he? He was one of the guys we would go at. Who gets tired? Who will give in? We didn’t think he was a guy who would really guard. Walter was a load to handle at the offensive end.
Western Conference Scout No. 1: I liked him at (Iona). Since then, he’s gotten better. Because when the game is on the line, that’s when he shows up. Because he can score the ball. He knows who he is. He’s confident as hell. He can also make plays. He’s a score-first point guard (who) can pass. Plays hard, plays the right way. And he fits in with this new NBA.
Eastern Conference executive No. 1: Great kid, all-time great kid. Tough as hell. Needs to go to the right team. He’s not a point guard. He’s like a tough, powerful combo guard. I like him more than I did a year ago, but I’m not sold he’s going to be quite as good as people think. What a great kid. He’s a little bit undersized. But he’s strong. Nobody thought Jalen Brunson was going to be what he is, either. You never know.
Eastern Conference executive No. 3: I like him as a scoring point guard. He has to play the point. And in today’s game, the point guard has to be able to score. But you also need to be able to involve your teammates and get them good shots. He does that occasionally, but not on a consistent basis. The other thing is that because he has to have such a large offensive load, the defensive intensity is lacking at times. I think he has the ability to do it, but not at a consistent level. He isn’t going to have the usage level he did at Florida. Clayton was the point guard for Florida. But he also had to be the scorer. He was in that dilemma of whether to look for his shots or help his teammates get good shots.
NOLAN TRAORE
Eastern Conference executive No. 2: He never got a summer (last year), and I think he hit a wall. He got brought to the French national team for the Olympics. They strung him out. Maybe someone told him wrong, but I think he thought there was a chance he’d make the roster, because he had a hot end to the year. … He spent that entire time really going for it and trying to make that roster. If you really looked at that roster, numbers-wise, he wasn’t going to make it. But he thought he was. When he didn’t, it really pissed him off. So from there, he goes straight from that, they find a deal (for him) in (France’s) first division. So he never had an offseason. Started off gangbusters, then kind of hit a wall. … Just the timing of him sort of having some rocky games, that was the timing of everybody was there in France, because we were there for the NBA Paris Games. So all the teams were in and out of Paris in those two weeks, and in those two weeks, he really struggled. It almost piled on, when he didn’t really need to be evaluated and scrutinized that much, that was the exact time he was struggling. But if you watch him now, he’s like 6-3, good athlete, can really pass it. Gotta play with his left hand more; he’s very, very right-hand dominant. They’ve been working with him on that. …
When you let him play, (he’s) really talented. He can see it. He’s really good in transition. He can make a shot, but he’s not a deadeye guy. I think he goes early 20s. Late teens, early 20s, is a good comfortable landing spot for him. He’ll probably start his career as a good backup. He’ll be a little more mature than a lot of the younger guards, because he’s played professionally for so long. …I don’t know if his motor is such… to be one of those guys in the league, you have to have that killer gene. I don’t think he has it. Hoops Summit, he played out of his mind. But he still doesn’t come at you with that like, I’m going to kill you in this game.
Western Conference executive No. 3: Our scouts have an equation for French guards. They don’t make it in the NBA. Killian Hayes. (Frank) Ntilkina. Not Tony Parker; he made it (laughs). I went in with my eyes colored. And then I went, OK, what if this kid was playing in the United States, as a freshman or sophomore? Would he be First Team All-ACC, or First Team All-Big Ten? I don’t think so. But he’d be flirting with it. Would he be a starter on most ACC or Big Ten squads? Yes.
BEN SARAF
Western Conference executive No. 3: Extremely confident kid. In the same context as (Warriors guard Brandin) Podziemski. One of Brandin’s best traits is he thinks he’s the best player on the floor. This kid has that same characteristic. When he has the ball, stop me. Aside from that, the offensive piece is NBAish. Defensively, he’s going to get tested a little bit, but he’s going to figure it out. This kid thinks he’s Jordan. And that may be a little bit cuckoo, but every time I’ve seen this kid, whether he’s playing for Israel or for Ulm, you can write it down. There’s maybe, legitimately, 13 to 15 guys I would take swings with. But his range, I would be comfortable with, maybe, early 20s. I think he will have a career in somebody’s rotation. If he goes to a team that really knows him, that will increase his chances of, after his first contract, he’ll get paid, get a good deal. He will absolutely kill summer league.
Western Conference executive No. 4: I personally like his size and grit. Plays hard, smart, good decision-maker with the ball. Needs a consistent jumper but will make plays and run the team adequately. He is a tough SOB.
