The curious case of John Butler, the undrafted Pelicans rookie with the most polarizing NBA future

He accomplished something only reached by Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, and Jabari Smith.

Nineteen-year-old big man John Butler Jr. legitimately had a perfect game for the New Orleans Pelicans during his final performance at NBA 2K23 Summer League in Las Vegas.

He was 9-for-9 from the field, connecting on all six attempts from beyond the arc. The big man added 7 rebounds and finished the game with 25 points. It was a masterful performance from Butler, who played just one season at Florida State before turning pro. While there, he showed why he was such an intriguing prospect.

Four freshmen in college basketball recorded more than 30 blocks and more than 30 3-pointers last season. Three (Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith) heard their names called back-to-back-to-back with the first three picks in the 2021 NBA Draft. The other was Butler, who believe it or not, went undrafted.

“I was stunned that not one team would draft this kid in the 50s,” one NBA scout told For The Win. “[He is] A 7-footer who showed 3pt potential and shadow guards 94 feet? You can’t find a developmental role for someone like that?”

Butler may have made some of those front offices second-guess themselves on Sunday when he had his perfect outing. Many, like the scout who spoke to us, may wonder what happened here.

If you learned about a 7-footer who averaged fewer rebounds per game in college (3.2) than 5-foot-8 guard Isaiah Thomas did (3.5) while in college, you might not be very optimistic about his potential.

That same prospect also shot worse from the free-throw line (44.0 percent) than Shaquille O’Neal did in any of Shaq Diesel’s three collegiate campaigns, so it’s a bit easier to see why not everyone agrees about Butler.

Butler’s testing at the 2022 NBA Draft Combine yielded some fascinating results. He was just a quarter inch short of 7-foot-1 in shoes, but he weighed less than 175 pounds. His max vertical (28.5 inches) ranked in just the 5th percentile among all participants in combine history, per Stadium Speak. He didn’t particularly impress in any of the other categories, either.

The sell for Butler was never his speed or his vertical pop. Part of the pitch was his length, which made his rim protection look easy. You saw as much from Butler when he was playing Summer League, too:

However, folks were mostly optimistic about his unique shooting ability for someone his height. He was 39.3 percent from long-distance while in college, one of the best marks for a 7-footer who shot at his volume.

Considering that he went undrafted, perhaps there were holes in his shooting projections that some evaluators noticed and flagged? A deeper dive into the numbers for someone like this is always helpful.

Butler averaged an excellent 1.27 points per possession when shooting off the catch, per Synergy, which ranked in the 90th percentile. But he scored just 0.65 PPP on jumpers off the dribble, finishing Butler in just the 30th percentile. Each of his 3-pointers were assisted, via Bart Torvik. Fortunately, however, he did show some ability on the ball while in Las Vegas.

While at Florida State, Butler connected on long 3-pointers less often than he did when shooting from shorter distances on the perimeter. Although the freshman scored 42.9 percent on the closer looks, he shot 29.0 percent beyond 25 feet. Would that matter, though, if his release was quick and his touch was good?

Although he was 6-for-6 against the Thunder on Sunday, this was Butler’s fourth game in Vegas. During the previous three outings, he failed to connect on a shot from 3-point range during the other 32 minutes he logged.

It was noteworthy that even in his hot game against Oklahoma City, Butler was used more like a wing than as a traditional center. He wasn’t setting screens then lifting to the perimeter for a pick and roll, but rather spotting up off the ball as a floor spacer. He wasn’t reinventing the wheel with pin-downs, off-ball screens, or dribble handoffs. It was simple stuff, and it worked.

Last year, Butler was considered a consensus top-100 recruit and the second-highest from his state. The potential is there, though the range of outcomes for his next steps is incredibly wide, and it’s hard to predict where on that spectrum he lands.

He may have gone undrafted, but his road to success in the NBA is far from over. Plenty had similar paths, and while he needs to work on his consistency, don’t be surprised if Butler’s name is one you hear for years to come.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5x3v4hcz7e10g image=https://ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[lawrence-related id=1932639,1934285,1928283,1930279]

[listicle id=1905805]