5 biggest warning signs for an NBA Draft bust

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Thon Maker greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number ten overall pick to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /

Biggest warning signs for an NBA Draft bust: 4. Limited exposure/mystery

If you have limited information about a prospect, he could literally be anybody. That is a great and terrible thing.

Limited exposure/mystery prospects possess the following attributes: did not play college basketball, have limited footage, come with a series of unanswered questions, and rise up draft boards due to their upside and physical ability. Some recent examples include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bruno Caboclo, and Thon Maker.

Antetokounmpo proved to be an all-time great, while Caboclo and Maker are out of the league.

Despite playing high school basketball in the United States, Maker carried an abundance of unanswered questions from controversy surrounding his age to limited game action against high-level competition. To the frustration of scouts, he even elected to skip 5-on-5 at the combine.

Most NBA teams had not even seen Caboclo play in person. The “Brazilian Kevin Durant” was famously “two years away from being two years away”, per ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla.

Mystery prospects are the epitome of boom-or-bust, but given the right circumstances, it is a justifiable risk to take.

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