With the NBA bubble set and the season ready to resume next month, teams are finally getting a better idea of where they might be picking in the NBA Draft. While the Spurs are expected to land somewhere near the 11th pick this year, next year is a mystery until free agency comes and goes.
What that really translates to is that it’s not too early to take a look at next year’s potential Spurs prospects. That includes soon-to-be G-League point guard Daishen Nix.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard was a consensus top-25 recruit with some services higher on him than others. While Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State commit) is the clear top point guard in the class, Nix was a much closer second than people realize. He has excellent passing and awareness qualities you like to see in your lead guard as well as the size to play at the next level.
Nix is a solid shooter at the high school level, but that will remain a key development point for him going forward. If he can show an improved jumper — quicker release and less of a set shot — then he will impress some scouts and find his name moving up draft boards.
The young man could be the third player in NBA history to hail from Alaska and that’s part of the reason he has not skyrocketed up some of the lists for every recruiting service. He moved to Las Vegas to play ball in the contiguous U.S. and didn’t go to a Bishop Gorman or another powerhouse school. He instead chose to play at Trinity International, certainly not a powerhouse in any sense of the word.
Nix has some nice tools to work with and probably could have been a starting collegiate point guard as a high school senior. If he can show that he can run this G-League select team with the likes of Isaiah Todd, Kai Sotto, and Jalen Green all expecting touches, then he will be ready for prime time.
His ability to get by read defenses and find his teammates will be his calling card, but showing a better shot will be what catapults him up the draft board.
