The effort, technique and awareness on display in just that one clip epitomize the role player NBA teams are always looking for, be it in a starting lineup to complement star talents or off the bench to contribute to second units.

Ayayi isn’t the type of guy one would spend a high draft pick on, but there’s been a general feeling around different circles that he may not even grade out as a first-round pick.

I would push back on that notion by laying out a case as to who he is right now, and what he could potentially become for a team in the future.

As is with Corey Kispert, Ayayi isn’t a one-and-done freshman coming out of Gonzaga. He’s a 6’5” (eye test puts him around 6’4”, maybe ever so slightly under) junior guard who has some experience under his belt playing for not just a winning program, but a technically sound one headed by Mark Few.

What do I mean by that exactly? Well, Gonzaga doesn’t operate with multiple isolation shot creators and exceptional ball handlers. Jalen Suggs falls under that category, a main reason for him trending towards being selected near the top of the draft, and Andrew Nembhard had his moments. But outside of him the team is comprised of off-ball players who have figured out how to play the game  at a high level by constantly moving and being aware of miscues by the defense.



And Ayayi has taken advantage of lapses by opposing teams time and time again with his superb cutting.

He isn’t the quickest player on the floor, and he doesn’t have a long stride. But he takes advantage of when defenses turn their back to him and slips right through for easy buckets. This is how he generates a vast majority of the points he puts on the board for the Bulldogs.



It’s not sexy offense, but it gets the job done. Even when he’s able to handle the ball and operate within structure, he looks for simple openings to make his presence felt.

Sometimes it’s astounding how open he finds himself because defenses don’t game plan to keep a body on him. He just keeps moving and floats around the court waiting to strike at a moment’s notice.

There’s a reason why he was in the 82^nd percentile per Synergy Sports on cuts this past year: he’s just always looking for them.



While he’s capable of standing in the corner or at the top of the key for an open 3 as seen below, it’s almost as if standstill jumpers bore him and he’d rather do something more productive like cut in or dive for an offensive rebound, making the defense think a little more and possibly opening up an opportunity for someone else.

It’s important for Ayayi to be able to knock down open jumpers when called upon, and he hit threes at an almost 39 percent clip this year. But off ball movement, screening and hustle can be so effective at getting the defense off balance. And personally I’d much rather have one guy who looks to cause chaos every trip down the floor than only one ball handler, a big and three shooters who are great at doing so but don’t move and cut the way Ayayi does.



Everything about his movement is instinctual. It’s almost as if an alarm clock goes off in his head when a shot goes up for him to crash the offensive glass, or when a shot is missed on the defensive end and he immediately turns, sprints and fills the lane correctly. At least that’s what it feels like when watching him.

Not every play like these lead to buckets, but they’re impactful for teams to see and notice because it allows coaches to breathe a sigh of relief knowing they’re potentially drafting a player who just worries about getting his job done. Coaches will have to make sure Ayayi is comfortable with what they want to run, but they won’t have to spend as much time teaching him the little things regarding spatial awareness, crash technique and off-ball movement principles.

Speaking of crashing the glass, if you watch Ayayi enough you begin to notice that he does so on both ends on EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION.



I would never want Ayayi to break this habit because it’s excellent to see him get a board and push the ball in transition to make an easy play.

When taking a look at how he rebounds the ball, there’s nothing special to his technique. He isn’t a big, physical guard who gets low to box out and keeps everyone off him. Generally he’s just biding time until a shot goes up and scurries to the painted area to at the very least give someone else a hard time who’s also trying to get a rebound. Or, on the defensive end, he just beats his teammates there and snares the ball. It’s evident he genuinely likes to rebound the basketball, which only plays into his “do the little things” persona.

You know what else plays into that notion? His unselfish playmaking.

Last year there was an argument for Desmond Bane being the best passing non-PG in the 2020 draft. This year, depending on how you categorize prospects like Josh Giddey, Ayayi has evidence that puts him near the top of that race.

Look at how comfortable he is dropping dimes out of pick-and-roll sets.

The touch he has both on harder hit-aheads and on pocket passes like these is impressive. Not every secondary ball handler or creator makes life that easy for everyone else around him. Even on this play, look at how he uses his positioning along the baseline to his advantage, drawing a double team and then going around the defense to bounce the ball in for a potential easy finish.

Seeing him operate offensively in the half court, bringing the ball up, pushing in transition leads me to believe he may actually have a future as a backup PG. A lot of scouts are projecting him to come off the bench or act as a spot starter on occasion. Why not let him get some reps under his belt as the primary initiator for a second unit? He’s big enough to see over other guards at that spot, plays at his own pace and doesn’t force errors or get ahead of himself with the ball in his hands.

The counter argument to that statement would be what happens when the play breaks down and he has to force a shot or come up with something himself? His handle isn’t top notch and he’s not shifty off the bounce. But have someone re-screen for him and he can knock down a one or two dribble pull-up inside the arc. He’s not useless in late shot clock situations, and in early offense he knows how and when to pick apart defensive miscues and reap the rewards of lazy efforts.



One thing I would like to see him do more of at the next level is utilize a floater as he does here.

Ayayi has a slender frame and isn’t overly physical. While he’s perfectly content to crash the glass and see what he can come up with, he doesn’t plow into guys when driving toward the basket and hunt for contact to get to the free throw line. Honestly, that may be for the best given his body type. So one way to still hit shots effectively is to take advantage of a floater in the paint. Making that more of a regular shot in his arsenal would up his effectiveness as an on-ball scorer and give defenses reasons to play up more on him, potentially opening up passing opportunities for smart off-ball cutters to take advantage of.

So I’ve laid out a lot of good so far in that he’s a high IQ, unselfish role player with a few scoring tricks up his sleeve. What doesn’t Ayayi do well?

Other than not being a top-tier shot creator, he does have some defensive concerns that surprisingly tie more into effort than anything else.



Ayayi doesn’t have lateral quickness issues or a lazy defensive stance. He knows how to sit, play wide and use his hips to contain a matchup when needed.

But take a look at a few of these plays and look closely at how he fares.

There are a few positives to take away from these clips, like when he recovers and uses his quick hands to force a live ball turnover or when he fights through a screen. But also take note of the separation he allows his man to have in the first place. On both plays, his man gets a step on him and he doesn’t contain the drive properly. Maybe that comes from confidence that he can recover or make a play, or on the second clip maybe he thinks that if he funnels the ball handler a certain direction the proper help will be behind him?

Both thoughts are very wishful thinking. But there’s plenty of evidence to back up the fact that Ayayi can contain his man on drives. To me, this ties back into not constantly applying pressure in man defense and it can hurt him. Coming back to how he’s built, if a more physical matchup gets the step on him and forces him to recover and try to contest around the basket, that’s probably going to lead to a make or a drawn foul.

If I’m Ayayi, why would I even want to let a play get that far? Or rely on someone else to make a play and clean up on a drive?

The film says he’s better than just rating out as “average” per Synergy on defense. With proper coaching and refinement in the NBA, there’s a good chance he rates out better as a defender in the pros than he did at Gonzaga.

Teams picking later in the first round are going to have a tough decision to make. Given the amount of freshman that are likely to declare if they haven’t already, not all of them can be lottery or mid-first round picks. There will be some who slide into a grouping that contains prospects like Ayayi who are well-rounded but may not have the same ceiling if everything pans out.

However, not all of those players with potential homerun outcomes play with the same attention to detail that Ayayi does. Give me the guy who brings his lunch pail to work and gets the job done any day of the weak over someone who doesn’t process the game the same way or doesn’t work as hard.



Ayayi isn’t an elite athlete and doesn’t possess the same size as some other wings or guards at his position, and he may end up having some defensive limitations.

But if some of those shortcomings are able to be coached away, and his offensive package translates to the league as it should? He has the makings of being a similar steal at the end of the first round just like Bane last year.