OKC Thunder: Theo Maledon has a future as a starter in the league

When the OKC Thunder took Theo Maledon with the 34th pick in the 2020 NBA draft there was not a huge amount of fanfare. All the focus was on the 17th pick Aleksej Pokusevski who was a young 7-footer who could dribble and shoot the ball.

Well, after watching Maledon for the first quarter of the season, the lack of attention suited him perfectly. He is not the most demonstrative player and lets his game do the talking.  From the first moment he hit the court, Maledon showed incredible poise in his play.

Obviously, Maledon had some growing pains adjusting to the pace of a new league and a new country. on top of this, he had to do this through a pandemic at the age of 19. That could not have been easy, to say the least.

Why the OKC Thunder had to use Theo Maledon as a starter.

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When George Hill injured his thumb the Thunder had several options to replace him in the starting lineup. They could have used Hamidou Diallo as a straight swap, moved Luguentz Dort back to the two-guard role, and started Isaiah Roby among many other options.

Instead, the Thunder brain trust decided to try Maledon as the starting two-guard and the results were something extraordinary. To compare, Maledon averaged  6.0 points, 2.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.6 steals in 19.8 minutes off the bench.

As a starter, he is averaging 11.6 points, 2.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 29.8 minutes per game. Part of the reason is that he is not the primary ball-handler and therefore is not drawing the best defender on the court.

However, most starting guards have a better level of defense than most second-unit players. The biggest reason is that Maledon understands his role and is able to play it well. He plays on-ball and off-ball and this does not allow the opposition to get into a defensive rhythm.

When both he and Hill come back from injury, it would be more beneficial to the future growth of Maledon to keep him in the starting lineup and Hill can run the bench unit. One thing is apparent, Theo Maledon has a bright future in this league.