NBA Draft: Can Kasparas Jakucionis Reach His Star Potential?

Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis is labeled as many as one of the best playmakers in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Lithuanian prospect spent the plenty of his freshman campaign at Illinois with the ball in his hands, trialing as a lead guard in the Big Ten.

He put up solid counting stats, averaging 15 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, but efficiency was an issue as he averaged 3.7 turnovers per game while shooting 44 percent from the field. He's not alone, as many young guards often struggle with efficiency and end up with a successful career in the association – but it's not an enticing quality.

Jakucionis sported an impressive 26 percent assist percentage, but also a reckless 25.4 percent turnover percentage. Since 2008, the notable NBA players to reach those numbers in their college careers are Kendall Marshall, Elfrid Payton and Iman Shumpert, who each were sub-par offensively in the NBA. Jakucionis has time to clean up his act, as Marshall and Payton were both given chances to captain multiple different offenses before falling out of rotations.

A main reason those two flamed out quickly was due to their lack of self-creation and offensive versatility, which will have to be the area Jakucionis outperforms them in to become a successful lead guard. He certainly has the ability to do so, however, as he attempted off-dribble jumpers throughout the season.

Although he shot just 31.8% on 3-pointers the past season, he shot 84.5% from the free throw line, and 38 percent from the 3-point line during 2023-2024 with FC Barcelona's second team. The jumper is a bit clunky, but he fires it off at will, and there's a chance his poor beyond-the-arc shooting at Illinois was just an extended slump.

Partially due to the clunky jumper and passing vision, many have drawn comparisons between Jakucionis and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton – who's just three games away from winning the NBA Championship as the offensive engine. Haliubrton, however, was a much more complete and impactful product, nearly doubling Jakucionis' box plus-minus and far surpassing his shooting splits.

He also has plenty of ground to make up in the athleticism department, lacking both a lateral burst and verticality needed to put downhill pressure on defenses at the next level. Jakucionis only attempted one dunk on the season, a prime example of his non-existent finishing above the rim. That same lack of athleticism also gets him burned on the defense end often – too slow to keep up with guards and too weak to guard forwards.

It's highly unlikely Jakucionis' athleticism improves enough to alter his game in a major way, meaning his level of play will come down to how much he can improve his decision making, and if the jumper returns to form.

Jakucionis is most effective with the ball in his hands, with his future as an off-ball weapon looking minimal. In the NBA world, team's typically want their best player to have the ball in their hands the most, meaning that Jakucionis likely needs to become an elite engine to succeed.

Jakucionis showed flashes of playmaking wizardry and has the skills to advance to the next level, but has plenty of growing left to do before he hits a potential All-Star level ceiling.