Milwaukee Bucks NBA Draft Prospect Watch: Theo Maledon

What the experts say

ESPN [$] (Jonathan Givony): 15th

The Athletic [$] (Sam Vecenie): 23rd

Sports Illustrated (Jeremy Woo): 11th

Sporting News (Chris Stone): 13th

Bleacher Report (Jonathan Wassermann): 15th

The Ringer (Kevin O’Connor): 23rd

Quotes:

Placing him 11th on his most recent Big Board, Woo pointed to Maledon’s size, shooting and natural abilities for why he could be a useful, versatile backcourt guard in the NBA:

"“Although this has been a rockier year than expected for Maledon, who has battled injuries and been in and out of the starting lineup for ASVEL, while his numbers have dipped across the board. The situation here is far from damning, but the lack of substantial progression on that front has essentially kept him in this second tier of guards. Maledon is a solid athlete with impressive end to end speed, but is still learning to run a team and play in the halfcourt, although his ball-screen play continues to improve. Some evaluators have begun to view him as more of a combo guard long-term as long as he shoots it from outside, which the eye test and solid career free throw percentages suggest he will. Maledon is big, fast and strong enough to fit in as a complementary backcourt player, with some upside as the rest of his offensive game expands, and could be a value pick in the late lottery/mid first if he slips.”"

SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell cautioned Maledon’s defensive potential, but similarly projected the French international of being able to hit shots and create some offense in a complementary role:

"“Tony Parker’s understudy in France, Maledon is a 6’5 point guard who can hit shots while playing a heady floor game. Maledon isn’t going to dust defenders off the dribble or have the speed/power combination to finish through length at the rim. What he can do is run offense as a secondary creator and stretch the floor with his jump shot. How he holds up defensively could be the biggest question.”"