2020 NBA Draft: Desmond Bane is the ultimate draft sleeper

NBA Draft prospect Desmond Bane (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
NBA Draft prospect Desmond Bane (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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NBA Draft
NBA Draft prospect Desmond Bane (William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports)

Off-ball scoring/movement

As highlighted with his shooting, Bane is fantastic at moving without the ball and creating openings for himself off the catch or cuts. He understands how to bait defenders to create opportunities for cutting lanes and to get them to chase him. Bane has the selflessness and awareness to realize that if he can keep his man moving, while forcing the entire to defense to constantly move, it will lead to better shot opportunities for everyone.

You can see this in one of the plays below where Bane back cuts, forces the defense to rotate to help and then delivers a great cross court pass to the weak side for a wide open corner three. Those kind of plays might not pop the eye of the casual fan or basketball viewer, but those are the kind of plays that make teams great and are invaluable offensively.

The combination of high intelligence with the lack of ego and want to help the team win at all costs, is another reason I would value a player like Bane so highly in a draft like this.

Bane good back cut, cross court pass to weak side corner for open 3
Bane good back cut, cross court pass to weak side corner for open 3
Bane scoring off ball, good cut, defender loses him, finish off glass
Bane scoring off ball, good cut, defender loses him, finish off glass