{"id":121055,"date":"2025-01-30T19:19:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=121055"},"modified":"2025-01-30T20:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T01:15:10","slug":"kendrick-nunn-scouted-for-nba-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/30\/kendrick-nunn-scouted-for-nba-return\/","title":{"rendered":"2019-20 ROY Runner-Up Scouted For Possible NBA Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not selected in the 2018 NBA Draft<\/a>, Kendrick Nunn<\/a> didn\u2019t make his NBA debut until 2019. The Miami Heat are known for finding undrafted \u2018diamonds in the rough<\/a>\u2019, and Nunn was another example of one. He looked like he could be a vital part of future Heat teams for years. Instead, he hasn\u2019t played in the league since 2023. Could a Kendrick Nunn return to the NBA be in the cards?<\/p>\n

2019-20 ROY Runner-Up Scouted For Possible NBA Return<\/h2>\n

Plays For European Powerhouse Panathinaikos<\/h3>\n

Now 29 years old, Nunn is in his second season playing overseas. Both years have come with Panathinaikos, based in Greece, of the EuroLeague. The powerhouse European squad features numerous former NBA players including Cedi Osman<\/a>, Jerian Grant<\/a>, Juancho Hernangomez<\/a>, Kostas Antetokounmpo<\/a>, Lorenzo Brown<\/a>, Omer Yurtseven<\/a>, and Wenyen Gabriel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even with a loaded roster, Nunn has clearly been the team\u2019s number one option. In 22 EuroLeague games, the 6-foot-2 guard is posting averages of 20.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.1 steals in 30.2 minutes. He has shot 48.2% from the field, 40.7% from beyond the arc, and 87.9% from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

His play against some of the top teams in Europe has caught the eyes of some in the NBA. He has been out of the league for two years, but Nunn may be playing his way back into it. Per Kevin Martorano of Sportando<\/a>, there are NBA scouts in Milan, Italy that went there to watch Nunn. Panathinaikos fell to Olympia Milano 87-75<\/a> on Thursday, but Nunn performed well with 18 points, three rebounds, and five assists.<\/p>\n

Last season, his first with Panathinaikos, was a rather successful one. They were both the EuroLeague and Greek League champions. Nunn was named to the All-Greek League First Team and was the Greek League Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

Nunn Had An Excellent Start To NBA Career<\/h3>\n

As previously mentioned, Nunn went undrafted in 2018. He would go on to spend the entire 2018-19 season with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the G League.<\/p>\n

In 2019-20, Nunn was able to make the Heat\u2019s opening day roster. Not only did he make the roster, but he was a part of Miami\u2019s starting five for everyone of his 67 appearances. He finished as the runner-up for Rookie of the Year behind Ja Morant<\/a> and was a First Team All-Rookie member. His first NBA season also saw the Heat reach the NBA Finals where they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

The following season, Nunn started 44 of his 56 outings. His shooting improved across the board, and there was no reason to think the then 25-year-old didn\u2019t have many more solid seasons left. With Miami adding Kyle Lowry<\/a> in free agency in the 2020 offseason and re-upping Duncan Robinson<\/a> for large money, the Heat rescinded Nunn\u2019s qualifying offer<\/a>. He ended up signing with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the 2021-22 season was a lost one for Nunn. A bone bruise in his knee and a subsequent setback while rehabbing sidelined Nunn for the whole year. He split the 2022-23 season with the Lakers and Washington Wizards. In January of 2023, he was dealt to Washington along with three second round picks for Rui Hachimura<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not selected in the 2018 NBA Draft, Kendrick Nunn didn\u2019t make his NBA debut until 2019. The Miami Heat are known for finding undrafted \u2018diamonds in the rough\u2019, and Nunn was another example of one. He looked like he could be a vital part of future Heat teams for years. Instead, he hasn\u2019t played in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":121092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,61,62,3],"tags":[1721,2521,3129],"class_list":["post-121055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-international-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-euroleague","tag-kendrick-nunn","tag-panathinaikos"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121055"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121086,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121055\/revisions\/121086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}