No NBA prospect has the capacity to produce offensively like Malik Monk. Monk’s ability to get the ball in the bucket in a variety of ways has him looking like a top ten pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. This depends on whether Monk decides to declare for the draft at the conclusion of the college basketball season.
Monk is one of the more polarizing players among draft analysts. Depending on which mock draft you look, Monk is slotted to go all over the lottery.
In Heavy’s latest mock draft, we have him going to the Knicks with the ninth pick. New York fans may not want to get too excited as other mock drafts have Monk going higher.
ESPN’s Chad Ford is the highest on Monk when compared to other popular draft sites. Ford has Monk going fourth overall in his latest mock draft. Like Heavy, both DraftExpress and NBADraft.net have Monk going a bit lower in their mocks.
DraftExpress has him as the ninth pick while NBADraft.net has him at eight. NBADraft.net compares Monk to former NBA player Larry Hughes. Part of the reason people are torn on Monk is he will be an undersized NBA shooting guard at just 6’3″ and 200 pounds. He will need to get stronger when he transitions from college basketball to the NBA.
No game represents the dilemma of Monk more than his February 25th outing against Florida. Monk had just three points in the first half but exploded for 30 points in the second half to propel Kentucky to victory. He may be streaky, but Monk can heat up in a hurry.
There are plenty of NBA teams in the lottery in need of the scoring Monk would provide. He has had eight games this season with 25 or more points. He had 47 points in a December matchup with North Carolina and followed it up less than two weeks later with 34 points against Ole Miss.
Monk is averaging 21.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 2.4 apg during his freshman season. He is shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from behind the 3-point line. While his game still needs polish, Monk brings plenty to the table that will likely make him a top ten pick with the top five within reach.