Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green saw firsthand how one special offensive player Stephen Curry could transform the entire NBA and basketball as a whole.
Now, Green says he sees another player who has star written all over him in former Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham, who was selected No. 8 overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2024 NBA Draft and then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Who won the draft to me was the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Green said on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. “And the reason the Minnesota Timberwolves won the draft is because they drafted their point guard of the future in Rob Dillingham, who I think is a very special player.”
Green says Dillingham is so special offensively that he can go and create his shot instead of playing through a system to create one and that teams will regret not drafting him when they have the chance.
“Some of those teams at the top of the draft were afraid because he got swag and he got game and they don’t know if his game is going to fit into their systems that don’t work and get them fired when you can just get a really good player who can score the basketball–Steph Curry–and figure out how the system works for him and then all of a sudden the franchise is in territory it’s never been in before,” Green said. “At times, we run into these guards with swag that – they just don’t fit in the system and so teams run away from them. There’s going to be some teams that are going to regret passing on Rob Dillingham.”
As a rookie, Dillingham will be in the perfect position to learn from veteran point guard Mike Conley before eventually replacing him and playing alongside one of the league’s brightest young stars in Anthony Edwards, who helped drag Minnesota to the Western Conference Finals this season at just 22-years-old.
Dillingham, who declared for the NBA Draft while forgoing his remaining eligibility on April 9, was named SEC Sixth Man of the Year, Second Team All-SEC by the league’s coaches and to the All-Freshman Team after averaging 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 steals while shooting 47.5% from the floor, 44.4% from beyond the arc and 79.6% from the free throw line off the bench.
Dillingham posted eight games of 20 or more points, highlighted by a career-high 35 points on 14 of 20 shooting and 6 of 8 three-pointers in a January loss to No. 5 Tennessee. Dillingham also finished with 27 points and 7 assists in a loss to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.
Coming out of Overtime Elite in Atlanta, the one-time NC State commit was ranked as the No. 16 overall prospect and No. 3 point guard in the 2023 class according to the industry average 247Sports Composite.
