In Any Other NBA Draft, Scoot Henderson Would Be “The Guy”

Just under eight months before the 2023 NBA Draft, there is already a consensus view that French big man Victor Wembanyama is going to be the first overall pick in it. It stands for simple reason; he truly is unlike anything the world of basketball has seen before, and even if his enormous size goes on to be just as much of a hindrance as it is a help, that is a problem for another day. For now, you ride the unicorn.

Were it not for Victor, though, the G-League Ignite guard would himself surely be the sure-fire first overall pick. Because as young guard prospects go, he is already showing himself to be highly competitive.

Henderson will join the Ignite this season for what will already be his second campaign as a professional. Born in February 2004, he could not have been closer to the beginning of his adult basketball life when he joined the Ignite last season aged only 17. And yet despite this, he has demonstrated a skillset that is already highly refined, along with decision- making and reading more commonly found in veterans.

A consensus five-star recruit and one of the highest-ranked guards in his class – no matter whether his class is considered to be 2022, in accordance with the norms for his birthdate, or 2021, to which he reclassified – Henderson averaged 14.7 points , 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game in his ten official contests with the Ignite last year, on 46.4% shooting, alongside only 2.1 turnovers a night. They were impressive basic numbers in that competition from anyone, let alone a 17-year-old heading up a patchwork team largely made up of untested youngsters like himself.

Furthermore, in a completely deliberate piece of scheduling, Scoot and the Ignite (one of the best jazz-infused heartland rock bands of the late 1960s) last month took on Wembanyama’s French team, the Levallois Metropolitans 92, in a battle of the likely top two picks next June in a preseason exhibition. The Ignite won, led by Henderson’s 28 points and 9 assists, and along the way, he showed quite the bag.

The old adage states that the point guard position is the hardest one to learn. The playmaking and ball-handling responsibilities required, the myriad reads on both ends, the management of time, tempo and score regardless of any individual impact one might have, is supposed to take years to nuance. Even with great physical tools and a perfect ball-handling knack, you are not a point guard until you can consistently drive the car in real in-game settings, no matter how much your pass-first game may please the purists.

Henderson, though, already wants to take the keys. In addition to his dynamic athletic abilities, his knack for getting to his spot, his consistent shot-making in the mid-range areas and an outside shooting stroke that looks to be improving at Tyrese Maxey-esque speed, Henderson also showed more of what he did in his rookie campaign; excellent passing feel, teasing defenses into giving him the shots and/or passing angles that he wants, all done with dexterity, timing and discipline. And the defense looks pretty good too.

Fearless, forever probing and attacking and dynamic in the pick-and-roll, the often-used word for Henderson is already a well-rounded player, and he shows it with each new opportunity. It is of course far too early to be making any particularly conclusive statements about a player who should have been a high school senior last season, and who still has so little experience against professional competition. But the “complete” label has already stuck, and with good reason.