The 2021 NBA Draft was a success for the Knicks, drafting Quentin Grimes with the 25th pick and then taking Miles McBride late in the second round. However, the production from that draft could get even better as the future of 22-year-old Rokas Jokubaitis comes into question.
Selected by the Knicks with the 35th pick in the draft, the young point guard came into the 2021 NBA Draft with a fair amount of hype around his future.
He made his Lithuanian National Team debut at age 19 in February 2020. He was named the 2020-21 EuroLeague Best Young Player winner, as voted on by the EuroLeague Players Association, and was also the runner-up for the 2020-21 EuroLeague Rising Star Award, voted on by EuroLeague coaches for best under-22 player.
The scouting report on Jokubaitis was that he was a combo guard with clear offensive instincts. He had the makings of a solid shooter from both long-range and mid-range and had outstanding court vision. He was billed as a high-IQ player who made good reads and was effective in pick-and-roll situations.
So far in his professional career, much of that scouting report has proven to be correct, except that Jokubaitis seems to be developing into more of a pure point guard rather than a combo guard.
After the 2021-22 season, the Knicks’ draft pick earned the EuroLeague Rising Star Award, averaging 7.2 points and 2.8 assists while shooting 59% from behind the arc. The win put Jokubaitis in a group with previous honorees like Luca Doncic, Ricky Rubio, and Danilo Gallinari. He was the first Lithuanian-born player to earn the award.
Rokas Jokubaitis is currently in Spain, playing with FC Barcelona of Liga ACB for the past two seasons. This season, he helped his team make the EuroLeague Final Four, where they lost to Barcelona’s main rival in all sports, Real Madrid.
The Knicks’ guard struggled a bit in that big showdown, finishing with six points, two rebounds, and three assists in just 12 minutes, while also suffering a broken…
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