Aubrey Dawkins poised for a ‘break out’ year in the G League

Erie BayHawks head coach Ryan Pannone believes the sky is the limit for former UCF forward Aubrey Dawkins.

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An injury forced Aubrey Dawkins to miss the first six games of the 2019-20 NBA G League season but once he was healthy, his talent was on full display with the Erie BayHawks.

Dawkins, the son of former Duke great Johnny Dawkins, went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft after playing one season for his father at UCF following a transfer from Michigan. Dawkins helped lead the Knights to the NCAA Tournament and a near-upset of Duke in the second round.

Dawkins averaged a career-high 15.6 points, five rebounds, 1.4 assists and one steal in 33 games with the Knights during the 2018-19 season. He erupted for 32 points against the Blue Devils and was mere inches from tipping in the game-winning basket against Zion Williamson & Co.

After his run with the Knights, Dawkins played for the New Orleans Pelicans in the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging six points in five games played. He eventually signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pelicans ahead of the start of the season and joined the BayHawks.

Dawkins established himself at UCF as an athletic player that could shoot and defend. He converted on 40.3% of his attempts from 3-point range at UCF and was among the best in the country shooting off of screens. In his first season in the G League, Dawkins averaged 9.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 37 games played with the BayHawks while he shot 35.7% from 3-point range.

While Dawkins was a known shooter, BayHawks head coach Ryan Pannone believes it was his defense that improved throughout the year once he was fully healthy.

“I think defensively he got better,” Pannone told Rookie Wire. “I think that was a big thing with him. He got better defensively. Obviously, coming out of college, he was an athletic shooter which he showed this year. He had an injury early on and that kind of prohibited him, he missed [some time] due to it and then coming back was a process. Once he was fully healthy, you can just see Aubrey’s talent.”

Dawkins had his best stretch of the season toward the end of January and into February. He recorded a career-high 22 points on Jan. 30 against the Greensboro Swarm after converting on 6-of-7 from 3-point range. Dawkins averaged 10.4 points in 10 games during the month of February, his best month of the season.

Dawkins has often been lauded as an unselfish player and that carried over to the next level. He has often worked to be a facilitator on the floor with the BayHawks and drew praise from his head coach in that area this season.

“The G League can oftentimes be a struggle for guys that don’t create their own shot as well off of the bounce,” Pannone said. “Aubrey is a guy that feeds off of assists and feeds off of other players and at times those guys can become frustrated and turn selfish themselves. He is someone with a high character that will never play selfish regardless of what’s going on and I think he has a chance to really break out next year as he’s fully healthy and has a year under his belt in the G League.”

Dawkins, along with the rest of the basketball world, has been sidelined since March 11 after the NBA suspended the regular season until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the NBA is hopeful to resume play in the coming months, the G League season is expected to be canceled.

With his first professional season in the books, Dawkins has momentum heading into his second season and appears to have a bright future ahead on the court.

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