The NBA Draft begins on Wednesday, June 25, when the first round will take place in Brooklyn. We know one freshman from Duke will be the first name called in Cooper Flagg, but according to the odds and mock drafts, we should expect to see three Blue Devil freshman selected in the top-10.
One of those names is Khaman Maluach, a 7-foot-2 center from South Sudan. The most important piece of draft betting I can give you in any sport is that your opinion doesn’t matter. It’s not about if you think the player will be good or bad, it’s about the information we can collect on how teams feel about the player. And in this case, NBA teams seems to have lofty expectations for Maluach. The large majority have him being selected in the top eight picks, which is where his draft position prop is set.
Maluach averaged a modest 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds, but this is a raw player that NBA teams feel has a lot of room to develop. While he started all 39 games that he played in, he was seeing just over 21 minutes per game — meaning he was barely on the floor for more than half the game. Maluach is super efficient around the rim, which helped him shoot 71.2% from the field in his lone season in college. The big man also has touch, evident by his 76.6% mark at the free throw line. As you’d expect given his size, Maluach is a major paint presence on defense, and blocked 1.3 shots per game.
Maluach’s name has been mentioned as high as the No. 3 overall pick, whether that be to a 76ers’ team that is starting to lose faith in Joel Embiid, or to a trade partner. There seem to be a handful of spots in the top-eight in this draft that would be fits for Maluach. But even if this draft is consumed by trades in the top-10, his name consistently appears in the top-eight when ranking pure prospects.
Betting drafts is an imperfect market, but there feels to be a much stronger chance Maluach hears his name called by the time we’re through the first eight selections than not.
NBA Draft Best Bet: Khaman Maluach Draft Position UNDER 8.5 (-120)
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