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Early last season, French guard Theo Maledon was receiving some lottery buzz for the 2020 NBA draft.
That didn’t stick. His stock plummeted, and he dropped not just out of the lottery but out of the first round altogether. The Oklahoma City Thunder selected him with the rights to the No. 34 pick, which were acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers in the reported Al Horford trade.
How did the prospect fall into the second round?
Former NBA star Tony Parker, who is the majority stakeholder of Maledon’s ASVEL team, put blame on former coach Zvezdan Mitrovic, who was fired in May.
The way (Mitrovic) treated (Maledon), it cost him a place in the first round,” Parker told French news outlet L’Equipe, according to EuroHoops.net. “A player like that should have been in the top 10. I told him he had to be played and to respect the club’s plans.”
Maledon averaged 15.6 minutes over 20 games in LNB Pro A and 17.7 minutes over 22 EuroLeague games last season. His per-36 minute numbers in EuroLeague were a solid 15.1 points, 6.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. He shot 36.7% from the field.
“He clearly ‘killed’ Theo Maledon. Theo and his family resent him,” Parker said. “He put him under the extinguisher for a lot of games where NBA GMs were there and left before the end after coming from the other side of the world to see Theo.”
For what it’s worth, Parker and Mitrovic do not have a good relationship. ASVEL fired Mitrovic on claims of “serious misconduct,” and Mitrovic is suing the club, according to Sportando.
But Maledon did not reject Parker’s claims when asked by RMC Sport.
The people who were at ASVEL, I think they also understand what he (Parker) is saying. After that, I don’t think it’s something that needs to be leaked. Everybody knows what happened,” Maledon said.
Oklahoma City will now be the judge of whether Parker had a point or is simply trying to play up his former point guard.
The trade that landed the Thunder Maledon is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. At that point, the Thunder will begin to evaluate if they snatched a lottery talent out of the second round.
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