The day after Killian Hayes’ complicated debut, Théo Maledon regaled us against Spurs. Control, lucidity, initiative, passing and scoring: the French ignited the Thunder Nation with his first outing.
He fell to the 34th pick of the Draft, and a lot of teams will bite their fingers. Théo Maledon made a perfect entry into the league last night, contributing to the Thunder’s victory over Spurs (121-108)
From the start of the game, the Frenchman appeared confident and uninhibited, scoring 11 points in his first 11 minutes of play. Runner, outside shot, lay-up in traffic, almost everything happened.
French rookie Theo Maledon is already COOKING ????
11 points in his first 12 minutes ‼️ pic.twitter.com/eQfkn1tzrA
— Overtime (@overtime) December 13, 2020
The 2nd half was almost the same for Maledon, who ended this first outing by being his team’s top scorer: 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists at 7/14 shooting (including 2/4 at 3 points) and a clear free throw (4/4), all in 29 minutes.
Surprised, the commentator on the official Thunder channel said the Frenchman “didn’t look like he was 19,” to put it mildly. If he still has to improve in defense, Maledon has for example allowed himself to cause an offensive foul from DeMar DeRozan, or to obtain two shots in good rogue on the other side of the floor.
As for his vision of the game, beyond the low number of passes, it was indeed at the expected level, especially on several side changes. In short, a hell of an evening for the French!
Theo Maledon is smooth. Really impressive debut for the Thunder rookie.
– Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) December 13, 2020
Théo Maledon is fluid. Really impressive debut for the Thunder rookie.
Without being expected, Théo Maledon reminded everyone why he was top 5 in some mock drafts a year ago. Let him continue like this, that’s all we want him to do!
