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While some already deserve a Hall of Fame jacket for French prodigy Victor Wenbanyama, one NBA team executive appreciated the 2023 draft potential.
Mike Vokunov of The Athletic reported that executives saw Scoot Henderson at the NBA G League Ignite and saw shadows of Russell Westbrook and John Wall.
Henderson avoided comparisons to current NBA stars.
“No, I want to have my own career. Where people say, ‘You have a career in Scoot.’ I want to go my own way. Of course not. Russell Westbrook and John Wall are great players. They are great guards and leaders. But I want to make my own way.
The 18-year-old has seven NBA G League appearances, averaging 21.0 points and 6.4 assists on a 49.5% field goal percentage.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman predicted that Henderson would finish second overall behind the Charlotte Hornets in the latest mock draft:
“Explosive finishing, dribbling creativity, midrange scoring/shootmaking, improved three-point shooting, and just enough playmaking to make Henderson the #2 overall talent in the draft. Improving as a decision maker (shot selection and turnovers) stands out as the only key area he needs to prioritize early in his professional career.”
With personal fortunes plummeting in recent years, it’s easy to overlook how flattering the comparisons to Wall and Westbrook are.
The former made five straight All-Star appearances, averaging 23.1 points and 10.7 assists at his peak. The latter is an All-Star.He was named nine times, was a former NBA MVP, was a member of the league’s 75th anniversary team, and averaged four triple-doubles in five years.
Wembanyama really looks like a cross-generational vision. He needs to fill his 7-foot-2, 229-pound physique a bit, but he does things a player his size shouldn’t be able to pull off.
But the extent to which Wenbanyama dominated the 2023 NBA Draft debate has made Henderson’s potential a little less prominent. Imagine if the consolation prize for winning was choosing a John Wall or Russell Westbrook type of talent.
It may look a little like the 2019 NBA Draft. Widely regarded as the best player of the year, Zion Williamson has lived up to the hype when healthy. For the Memphis Grizzlies, losing to Williamson and settling for Ja Morant for the second pick still did pretty well.
The same goes for anyone in a position to acquire Henderson this summer.
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