New York Knicks draft target Frank Ntilikina is busy with Strasbourg, but he still found time to meet with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Knicks will be looking for a guard in the draft with the seventh pick. Dallas, at number eight, may be thinking the same.Frank Ntilikina, one of the guards New York will target, met with Mavericks owner Marc Cuban and Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson yesterday after his French Pro-A playoff game against Lyon-Villeurbanne.
Nitilikina was a menace defensively in the game before meeting with the Mavericks brass, recording three steals to go along with 10 points, three assists, and three rebounds.
While the 18-year-old Ntilikina’s playoff success is a positive for him, NBA teams could get cold feet due to Ntilikina’s availability, or lack thereof, as Marc Berman pointed out.
Had Strasbourg lost Friday, Ntilikina planned to be on a Saturday flight for New York, where he will be based in the run-up to the draft. But the best-of-five finals now start Tuesday and may not finish in time for Ntilikina to stage personal workouts with teams or — more importantly — interviews and measurements ahead of the June 22 draft.
Ntilikina will likely not slide too far due to this development, but crazier things have happened in drafts prior. He will know his fate soon enough, as the NBA Draft is less than two weeks away.
He will know his fate soon enough, as the NBA Draft is less than two weeks away.