Top 3 NBA rookies playing less minutes than expected so far in the 2021-22 NBA season
Not all NBA lottery picks are gifted minutes early in their careers. Nothing at the professional level is guaranteed. However, usually the top half of the lottery is filled with teams that lack talent at their current stage. They are therefore willing to give young prospects time to play through their mistakes with the hope of speeding up the growth process.
Nine players from the 2020 NBA Draft averaged at least 25 minutes per night throughout their rookie campaigns. Anthony Edwards, Isaac Okoro, Tyrese Haliburton, LaMelo Ball, Cole Anthony, Patrick Williams, Saddiq Bey, Theo Maledon and Killian Hayes.
Edwards, Okoro, Haliburton, Ball, and Bey were all talented enough to contribute to winning basketball on most occasions. The rest of the group were on subpar rosters that fell into the situation I previously laid out to expedite development.
Of that list of names, only three players were not lottery selections: Anthony (15), Bey (19), and Maledon (34). Anthony and Maledon were on underwhelming Orlando and Oklahoma City rosters, and Bey proved to be NBA ready after his time at Villanova.
Meanwhile, there were four lottery talents to average less than 15 minutes per night - all of whom were unexpected at the time of selection: Onyeka Okongwu (6), Obi Toppin (8), Jalen Smith (10), and Aaron Nesmith (14). Typically, older players and specialists are able to carve out their NBA contribution niche quickly, but that is not always the case.
In the most recent 2021 NBA Draft, there have been some unexpected names who have not seen much opportunity on their rosters. Here are three first-round picks from the most recent draft who are getting fewer minutes than expected early in their rookie season.
#3 Moses Moody
The Arkansas wing was predicted to be NBA-ready as a three-and-D player early in his NBA career. The Golden State Warriors seemed to be the perfect place for Moody to fit that role alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Moody's shotmaking upside was evident throughout his college campaign, but Golden State's improved offseason depth has led to the rookie not seeing many NBA minutes. Those additions include Otto Porter Jr., Nemanja Bjelica, Gary Payton II, and Andre Igoudala.
With six games on the record books, Moody has only one game with significant minutes that came against the underwhelming Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA rookie tallied 20 minutes that night, but 12 of them came from playing through the entirety of the fourth quarter of garbage minutes.
The Golden State Warriors elected to send Moses Moddy to their G-League roster so he can see more playing time and properly adjust to the NBA game. There is still plenty of reason to believe in Moody, by no means am I saying he was a bad selection - no conclusions of that extent can be made after limiting playing time and only six games down.
With Klay Thompson's return looming, that will make breaking the rotation just that much more challenging for Moody. A strong performance during his time in Santa Cruz could be what is needed to find that NBA opportunity this season.