Sam Vecenie weighs pros, cons of Khaman Maluach as prospect in NBA Draft

Sam Vecenie can’t decide where he stands on the current draft stock of Duke C Khaman Maluach.

Vecenie, a draft expert at The Athletic, recently spoke about Maluach during an episode of the ‘Game Theory Podcast’. He said that his opinion on him changes a lot considering how he views him as a prospect.

“I keep going back and forth on Khaman Maluach in a real way,” said Vecenie.

On one hand, Maluach has posted quality statistics as a freshman for the Blue Devils. He’s averaging 8.1 points on 74.7% FG, which would be the best in college basketball, along with 6.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 21 appearances.

“The numbers say what they are,” said Vecenie. “Like, his numbers are absolutely insane and, like, the efficiency numbers, the block numbers? You can look at, like, the box plus-minus numbers. Like, whatever you want to use, right. Also, when you watch him play, there are really good things. Like, I think he’s actually been a lot more switchable this season than what I expected or anticipated.”

On the other, though, Vecenie sees some things in the eye test that he’s not so sure on. However, he also acknowledged his reclassification with a lot of development left for him and his game at only 18.

“But, also…he struggles to catch the ball, which we knew was an issue coming into the year. I don’t think his offensive feel is particularly great yet. Defensively, I think that, like, the drop coverage stuff is a little bit messy in terms of, like, footwork and where he is consistently going to be. I actually think he has gotten better at throughout the season,” said Vecenie. “That’s another thing that Jon Scheyer kind of told me in the preseason – like, hey, just like, we went through this with Dereck Lively, you know. Evaluate him in February and March in terms of where he gets to as opposed to what he is now.”

For reference, On3’s James Fletcher just labeled Maluach as the No. 1 center for the 2025 NBA Draft. That has him as a projected lottery pick when the time comes in June.

All of that has made it a difficult evaluation for Vecenie as he doesn’t know which of those that he buys into more with Maluach. That still leaves much to then determine about him over the rest of his freshman season and before he eventually makes the move to the NBA.

“Like, I keep going back and forth where I’m like, okay, look, like, guys with this toolset? It doesn’t fail. You know what I mean? It just does not. It does not fail. He is a seven-foot-one, seven-foot-two dude with a seven-foot-six wingspan who’s a real athlete, who can rim run, who can switch defensively. Like, there’s just so many things that you can look at and just go, okay, it’s almost impossible to imagine this guy not working,” Vecenie said. “But, on the same level, like, there are flaws. And you’re just like, okay, what do we do with these flaws now too?”