Could Kasparas Jakucionis fit with the Sixers?

Illinois star guard Kasparas Jakucionis is a likely top-10 selection in the 2025 NBA Draft. Does he make sense for the Sixers?

Kasparas Jakucionis is a 6-foot-6, 205 pound 18-year-old star point guard out of the University of Illinois and a projected top-10 selection in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Jakucionis came to Illinois making the jump from Spanish club power FC Barcelona and made his presence felt right away as the key cog of a top-25 Illinois club that earned a six seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Let’s take a look at what makes the Lithuanian sensation worthy of such a high draft selection.

Kasparas Jakucionis Stats (PER 40 Minutes):

18.8 PPG

7.2 REB

6.0 AST

1.1 STL

59 TS%

Strengths

Passing/Playmaking: Jakucionis possesses elite passing feel and processes the game at a very high level. He’s extremely adept playing out of pick-and-roll where he displays excellent passing and understanding of manipulating defenses. He graded out in the 96th percentile of pick-and-roll ball-handlers, per Synergy. Jakucionis is well versed at hitting pocket passes and lobs to rollers, throwing skip passes to shooters, drawing defenders and making the proper reads to get his teammates open looks.

He’s a capable scorer as well driven by his pull-up shooting ability. He leverages his pull-up shooting ability to bend defenses and hit teammates with on time and on target dishes. All of these attributes are what drives Jakucionis upside as a primary initiator and the hub of an offense.

Pull up shooting: Jakucionis is an elite pull-up jump shooter. Jakucionis hoisted 151 off-the-dribble jumpers in his lone season at Illinois which made up 73.3% of his total jump shot attempts on the year. He ranked in the 97th percentile on pull-up twos and the 63rd percentile on pull-up threes, putting him amongst the elite guard shot creators in the country and in this draft class. Jakucionis possesses a nasty step back going in either direction that he uses to create space to knock down shots both out of isolation and in ball screen situations.

His step back going left is his go-to move in his scoring arsenal. Jakucionis is also an excellent free throw shooter, he shot just under 85% from the line at Illinois. Jakucionis does however struggle as a catch-and-shoot player which brings questions about his ability to potentially scale down or play as an off-ball player at the next level.

Three-level scoring: Jakucionis is an efficient scorer at all three levels. He uses advanced craft, touch and footwork to evade defenders and score around the rim particularly when playing in ball screens. Jakucionis posted a 50% free throw rate this season, a trait that’s often a positive indicator of a player’s ability to score at the next level. Jakucionis is an excellent pull-up shooter in the midrange going in either direction and is able to generate quality looks due to his size and ability to leverage his passing threat out of ball screens as well.

Areas of concern

Turnovers: Probably the biggest weakness in Jakucionis’ game at this point is his frustratingly high turnover rate. He had a 25% turnover rate in his one season in college. When you are a high-usage primary who’s tasked with being the hub of an offense, you are going to have some turnovers. The frustrating part for Jakucionis is that many of his turnovers came due to opponents applying ball pressure in isolation situations and blitzing him on screens. Too often he would pick up his dribble or try to force an errant low percentage pass due to his inability to beat the pressure off the dribble.

Athleticism: Jakucionis, despite his 6-foot-6 frame, only threw down one dunk on the season which is indicative or his lack of vertical pop and explosion. The more concerning part of his athleticism is his lack of standstill burst or first step quickness. He struggled at times against the better competition he faced to separate downhill or create an advantage in isolation situations. He also lacks strength and force which make him almost fully reliant on using his craft, touch and footwork to score going to the rim.

Defense: As we touched on earlier, Jakucionis displays just average burst and speed which shows up on the defensive end as well. His lack of lateral quickness and agility cause him to struggle at times defending quicker guards and staying in front. His size does help him be able to contest shots of smaller players. His lack of strength makes it hard for him to defend more true wings as well. He does have a good understanding of defensive principles, has active hands, and has high feel and IQ which help him as a team defender.

Jakucionis’ biggest weakness as a defender is screen navigation. He often is taken out of plays when screened and struggles to fight through due to his lack of strength. He does not however lack effort on the defensive end which could lead to improvement down the line with added strength and some refinement to his technique.

Fit with the Sixers

The Sixers do have an excess of guards on the roster, including three young core pieces with Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and Quentin Grimes, who they expect to re-sign in free agency this summer. It could be argued that the Sixers lack a true point guard and Jakucionis would fill that void. With the Sixers having so many scoring options and off-ball scorers, it could allow Jakucionis to operate at his best running the offense as a pure point guard and playmaking out of pick-and-roll and dribble handoff actions with Joel Embiid as well.

Jakucionis’ pull-up shooting makes him an ideal pairing with Embiid, especially as the former MVP has had a ton of success in the past in dribble handoff situations playing with the likes of JJ Redick and Seth Curry. Jakucionis would allow Maxey to lean into and assume more of a primary perimeter scoring and secondary playmaking role — one that he thrived in next to James Harden.

Would this create a roster log jam though and shrink the minutes and role of McCain and Grimes? That’s a question that the Sixers’ front office would have to ask themselves while considering Jakucionis as an option. He would be a great fit as far as getting looks for the likes of Grimes and McCain off the ball but is there enough minutes to best optimize all of their roles and development?

Concerns over his defense, high turnover rate, and athleticism bring some pause on Jakucionis’ NBA projection, but his combination of positional size, feel, basketball IQ, high level passing, toughness, and diverse shot making arsenal give him an All-Star ceiling and an enticing upside as a primary creator in an NBA offense.