Aleksej Pokusevski had a rather remarkable stretch to start his NBA career. Over about 312 minutes of play, he took 97 shots. Fifty-eight of them were 3-pointers. Zero came from the free throw stripe.
This had been covered closely by The Defecter, a site created by the writers who left Deadspin in protest, as the outlet kept track of “the most baffling ongoing statistical mystery” in which first Aron Baynes, then Pokusevski, racked up NBA minutes yet had not reached the free throw line.
Finally, in the 7-footer’s 18th game of his NBA career, he stepped up to the charity stripe. PokuWatch can end.
On Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks — the first game of the second half of the season — Pokusevski attempted and made his first free throws of the season. He caught the ball on the left side of the arc, drove against Dallas center Dwight Powell and drew a foul on the layup attempt.
🚨🚨POKU IS GOING TO THE FREE THROW LINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE NBA 🚨🚨 #PokuCam pic.twitter.com/hCsoQc20yt
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) March 12, 2021
He hit both of them.
That wouldn’t be the only time he got to the line. Pokusevski was intentionally fouled with 17 seconds to play and drained two more free throws to score the final points of the 116-108 victory.
In what was his first start of the season, Pokusevski scored 14 points and had eight rebounds, three of which were offensive. He also contributed three steals and had two blocks in 30 minutes of play.
Those were NBA career-highs in points, rebounds and minutes for the rookie.
Pokusevski was in the G League for the last month. Over 13 games in the bubble, he averaged 7.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 25.2 minutes per game. That’s where he had his first free throws as an NBA player, attempted seven shots from the stripe and making four of them.
He returned to the NBA during the All-Star break and got the start in place of the injured Darius Bazley on Thursday.