Written by Ben Dull (@SplitThePost)
Will an NBA team look beyond the lofty one-and-done expectations and high school injury history, take a hard look at the tape, and come away convinced that Malik Pope has a future as a core rotation player at the highest level?
Even if his name is not called during Thursday’s draft, the prevailing opinion of the San Diego State alum tells us that he will get a shot at NBA Summer League with a team. The coverage of Pope as a pro prospect since his sophomore season at SDSU has been quite sparse. Let’s start with his (perceived) injury history.
He suffered a broken left leg twice in his final years as a rising prep star. As a freshman at SDSU, he was not cleared to practice until December. Pope missed five non-conference games that season, then played in every game through the end of his sophomore season. He missed nine games his junior season with a nagging knee injury, but did not miss another game due to injury after returning to the floor in January of 2017. (Pope was suspended for one game this past season after his name appeared on a list alleging that he received a $1,400 loan. Pope was cleared after an internal investigation, which “found no evidence that Malik received any impermissible benefits or violated any NCAA rules.”)
Aside from the knee injury his junior year, Pope was a reliable presence throughout his SDSU career. As devastating as his high school injuries were, the scale ought to tip more in Pope’s favor to give him more credit for coming back from that to have a very successful college career, where he developed his game and body, and flashed the same NBA potential many saw in him 5-6 years ago.
With that out of the way, let’s get right to it. The goal of this scouting report is simple: give people a chance to catch up on his overall body of work then offer some thoughts on a reasonable outcome for Pope as an NBA player.
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