Marial Shayok had a promising season for the Philadelphia 76ers G-League affiliate, but will he be able to have similar success in the NBA next season?
In both the 2018 and 2019 NBA Drafts, the Philadelphia 76ers left the draft with a player selected with the 54th overall pick. Both players were on two-way contracts during their respective rookie seasons. Now the question becomes can Marial Shayok have the same level of success that Shake Milton did during his second season?
The answer, in short, is most likely no. The reason being is that nobody anticipated that Milton would explode with potential as a legit NBA scorer and playmaker this season. He has proven to be at least a starting level player, if not a legit scoring option moving forward. However, that doesn’t mean that Shayok can’t be a valuable role player for the Sixers.
In his senior season of college, Shayok showed real potential as a 3-and-D player. His stint with the Delaware Blue Coats, Philly’s G-League affiliate, hasn’t changed that projection at all.
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During his rookie campaign with the Blue Coats, he averaged 22.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, while converting 45.6 percent of his field goals and 35.8 percent of his 3-pointers. I’ve already written that production alone warrants him getting an NBA contract next season.
Milton had similar success at the G-League level during his rookie year. He averaged 24.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists, while making 48.4 percent from the floor and 36.9 percent from deep.
Despite similar production, Shayok and Milton are two completely different players. Shayok is more of a pure shooting guard. He can create his own offense off the dribble, but he’s best served as a spot-up 3-point shooter. Milton is a combo guard that can initiate the offense and can score anywhere on the court.
The fact that they are two different types of players makes their projected roles in the NBA different. Shayok will most likely be used as a 3-and-D player on the NBA level, which somewhat caps the level of impact he will make on the NBA level.
Unless he proves to be elite on either side of the ball, he’s more than likely projected to come off the bench. This isn’t to say that this being a rotational bench player is a bad thing, especially after he spent pretty much all of his rookie season in the G-League. The 76ers need more solid bench players and Shayok has the potential to be just that for the franchise.
Shayok probably won’t have the same level of success his second season that Milton has had. However, that doesn’t mean he won’t have a breakout season in his own right. It just may not be on the scale that Milton’s successful second season was at. However, if Shayok can become a positive role player off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers next season, then that should be a major positive for the franchise.