NBA executives aren’t concerned with Duke guard Grayson Allen’s tripping incidents of late. They’re more worried that his production has regressed since entering the season as the consensus No. 1 player in college basketball.
Grayson Allen’s NBA draft stock is falling because of his play, not his tripping
Allen’s numbers have dropped nearly across the board as he’s transitioned to Duke’s point guard.
Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports
ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman interviewed a dozen NBA scouts and general managers and found they aren’t holding Allen’s recent controversies against him. The bigger issue is he’s no longer performing like the same player who was an All-American as a sophomore.
“The tripping incidents don’t bother me at all,” one league GM told ESPN. “It’s the fact that he hasn’t played well this year when he’s been on the court.”
“[The tripping is] irrelevant to me,” another GM added. “To me, it’s all about whether he is good enough to play in our league -- and I’m not so sure of that.”
Allen’s numbers have diminished as he’s made the transition to point guard this season
Last season, Allen averaged 21.6 points on .466 shooting from the field and .417 shooting from three-point range while largely playing off the ball. Allen has attempted to transition to a point guard this season as a junior for Duke. While his assists have risen as the new floor general, his other numbers have declined across the board.
Allen’s scoring average is down to 15.2 points per game and he’s shooting only .398 percent from the floor. His three-point shot has also fallen off to just a .333 percent clip.
“I don’t think the incidents hurt his draft stock,” one NBA executive told ESPN. “You have to get to the bottom of the cause. I think what has hurt his draft stock is that for the majority of the year he hasn’t played up to expectations, and I really feel for him if he is now having to play point guard. They tried that last year and it didn’t go so well. It’s definitely not something he is comfortable doing.”
Many believed Allen could have been a first-round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. But this year’s draft is stronger and Allen’s NBA future no longer looks as certain. The guard position is especially deep this year, with Washington’s Markelle Fultz, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, NC State’s Dennis Smith Jr., and the Kentucky duo of Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox all expected to be taken in the lottery.
Allen still has to learn to control his temper
Allen intentionally tripped his man when the Blue Devils played Elon in late December.
He then threw a super temper tantrum on the sidelines when referees assessed him a technical foul.
Duke later suspended its lead guard “indefinitely,” a sentencing later reduced to just one game. In his second game back, he may or may not have tried to trip a Boston College opponent.
Allen’s flailing extremities isn’t unique to this season. He tripped a player in a Duke win over Florida State last February.
And he earned a flagrant foul 1 for blatantly tripping an opponent against Louisville in the same month.
It goes without saying Allen’s tripping players won’t fly in the NBA. That’s probably why scouts and executives aren’t too worried about it: The players themselves will shut that down immediately.
But if Allen’s stock continues to dive while he learns the point guard position, he could find himself projected as a second-round pick. And if that’s the case, the Duke guard may even want to return for his senior year to rehabilitate his image and his standing among pro scouts.
See More:
