2021 NBA Draft Profile: Daishen Nix
Once the top point guard prospect in the 2021 class, Nix saw his stock fall after showing up to the G League Ignite on the heavy side and not exactly blowing the league out of the water. Could he be a low risk, high reward reclamation project for the Knicks around the first-to-second-round turn?
Position: Point guard, G League Ignite
Age: 19 (2/13/2002)
Height: 6 ft 4 in
Wingspan: 6 ft 7 in
Weight: 225 lbs.
Strickland 2021 Big Board Rank: Not ranked
The Sales Pitch: The big, pure point guard Daishen Nix is a rare type of draft gamble opportunity. Like Mitchell Robinson before him, he exited high school with a ton of critical acclaim (McDonald’s All American, consensus No. 1 ranked point guard in the class, Grind Session AAU co-MVP with Jalen Green) and then baffled draft-watchers. It’s clear that in the small sample size theater of the G-League, he either didn’t have the right mindset to watch his weight, or — more likely — he got bad advice, doing tons of upper body lifts to bulk up and handle the physicality. That’s important, because his passing and feel for the game is unquestioned, and he was able to get into the lane easily and even finish well, despite being too heavy and being an unreliable scorer because of his strong and shifty handle. The shot results weren’t there, but it looks decent. Given the Knicks’ hole at point guard long-term, why wouldn’t they take a late first or early second round gamble on a big, strong, smart, plus-passing point guard who isn’t far from a solid jumper? There’s likely an alternate non-pandemic universe where he played at UCLA, remained slim, killed other D-1 players, and went in the lottery.
Elite Traits/Skills: Passing/feel
The Devil’s Advocate argument: This is a deep class with useful role player bets well into the early second round, so why are we bothering with a point guard who plays below the rim, hasn’t demonstrated reliable shooting outcomes, and couldn’t control his weight in a professional setting? How many times have we seen NBA expectations of high profile kids be correctly lowered by the year of college or pro ball that followed? More often than we’ve seen the reverse, that’s for sure. Mitch is the exception, not the rule. This guy’s a backup point guard at best.
The Misconceptions: That he was or is overweight. He was larger than expected (225 lbs., per the NBA Combine) in the G League, and people were wondering about his commitment to staying in shape. After all, this wasn’t college where you have limited diets and limited time, this was the G League, with more resources for healthy food and physical development. However, seeing how slim he was both before joining the Ignite and now shortly after his season ended, it is more likely that he simply leaned a bit too far into the “calories and bro lifts” regimen that younger guys use to pack on muscle. I’m not worried about his fitness.
Important numbers:
27.5%: His assist percentage on the Ignite — highest on the team, despite sharing facilitation duties with Jarret Jack and Bobby Brown
1.41: Assist-to-usage rate in the G League bubble, ninth-highest in the league
9: His points per game in the G League in 29 minute per game
38/18/71%: His G-League slash line in 15 games
1.8%, 1.7%: Steal percentage and block percentage
Knicks Fit: Good gamble at position of need as long as the front office is comfortable with a potential flameout. Even with strong handles and passing vision, he doesn’t have enough pathways to regular scoring to leverage those strengths. If you’re gonna be a bad shooter, you need not only be a good passer at the point guard spot, but able to consistently impose your will by getting where you want at will, drawing fouls, etc. … maybe Nix recaptures his pre-G League pedigree now that he’s more lithe and athletic, and gives the Knicks their second second round steal in a few years. If not? No biggie.
