Player Facts
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 198lbs.
Date of Birth: Oct. 8, 1995
College Experience: Duke (4 years)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 7
Physical Strength: 5
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 6
Midrange Scoring: 4
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 4
Interior Defense: 3
Rebounding: 4
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STRENGTHS
Intro
The former Blue Devil star and NCAA champ Grayson Allen has adjusted to become a reliable contributor at the NBA level. He’s carried his strong outside shooting to the league, serving as a spacer for teammates. Allen carries some north-south juice too and is not a complete liability on the other end.
Bounce Translation
Grayson was famous, or perhaps infamous, for his many newsworthy moments while at Duke. On the more positive end of that spectrum lies many highlight-reel dunks. That at-the-rim pop has stayed in his bag into his NBA career - these days more for effective layup-making than big slams.
The 6-foot-3 two-guard realistically has more true bounce rather than game bounce. What that means is that he cannot always maximize those physical gifts in the context of a game environment. Still, he cuts and attacks closeouts and can occasionally finish with ferocity around the hole.
DHO Use
Grayson can get sling-shotted downhill using weave actions. In Milwaukee, he had skilled bigs to work with like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, and Brook Lopez - Naz Reid can fill that role now. Allen uses nifty footwork to curl tightly around his teammate to maximize the advantage created. 2025-2026 saw him finish in the solid 64th percentile for his DHO scoring.
He will showcase his solid vision on DHO-started takes. He is ready and willing to find the big who helped create the initial space. Conversely, open shooters can be found by the heady Grayson. He keeps his cough-ups low by staying within his role on offense.
Allen can also be pitched the ball and/or use a hand-back to drill open threes. He is a nice dual-threat in DHO’s because of his versatile skillset. He is a very nice option for coaches to slot into the perimeter role of chase/get actions.
Off-Ball Setting
The Florida native can also be used in multiple off-ball roles in the half-court offense. Cutter, movement shooter, and spot-up spacer are all fillable roles for Grayson. The best of the bunch for him is undoubtedly standstill shooting.
Grayson’s shot prep is great – he is always ready to fire off-the-catch. He has a smooth one-motion shot with a silky energy transfer up through his 6’3” frame. He tends to end up around 40% on his catch-and-shoot treys each year. 2025-2026 saw him drill 43.7% of his spot-ups.
Extra Offense
As a cutter or catch-and-goer, Allen uses nice speed to get to the cup. His finishing numbers are perfectly respectable for his position/role. Grayson is unafraid of contact and will earn some trips to the line too.
Allen pads out his offensive repertoire with the ability to be an open-court threat. His transition efficiency and productivity marks compared to those of Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Wiggins back in 2021-2022. He can flare for three or fill the lane for a strong rim attempt.
Passable Defense
Over his career, Grayson has graded out around a neutral defender to this point though some metrics paint him as a bit weaker than that. His defensive win shares and defensive box plus-minuses vacillate around that average mark. He can move his feet well, and his effort is usually not something that can be questioned.
He will not give you many steals or blocks, but Grayson will play sound team defense for the most part with good off-ball alertness. Allen can be reasonably matched up with a couple different positional opponents. He spent almost 30% of his time on forwards and nearly the other 70% on guards during 2021-2022. Allen at this point, though, is better suited guarding up positionally than down.
All told, he is not a glaring hole on defense. He refrains from over-fouling, can reasonably defend both backcourt spots, and has an adequate size/length combo for his position. It is completely realistic to expect five-man defensive units with Grayson to be average-to-above-average.
WEAKNESSES
Archetypical Limitations
Grayson carries many of the token weak points found in a player of his archetype. He is a little less one-way than many other shooters though. For potential comps like Duncan Robinson and Malik Monk, they bleed a lot of value on defense.
A true limitation of Grayson is his merely middling on-ball game. He can attack closeouts and use DHO’s, but it is not the wisest move to hand him a string of ball screen possessions. This functionally limits his role, as better ball skills would allow him to run second units more than he does now.
Power Struggle
On defense, he is solid but unspectacular. The worrisome elements of his resume mostly have to do with size/weight. He is a slighter guy so muscular players can move him with relative ease.
Switching two-man actions with Grayson is not always smart. Small-small pick-and-rolls can be fine – most other actions are not. Swingmen will look to abuse Allen down low with their often-pronounced mass advantage.
Allen was a sieve on post-ups defended in 2021-2022. He finished up in the 26th percentile here. His like-sized but much stronger teammate that year, Pat Connaughton, was in the 93rd percentile here. Flashing forward, this worsened to the 7th percentile in 2025-2026 as a Sun.
Substandard Rebounding
Grayson could apply his athleticism to be a more impactful player on the boards. There are some defensive stats sitting there for Allen to take. Expecting larger steals, deflections, and blocks totals may be unrealistic – but an uptick in rebounds seems feasible.
Players Appearing Here – Check Out Their Profiles
- Giannis Antetokounmpo [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Bobby PortisOpens in a new tab
- Brook LopezOpens in a new tab
- Naz ReidOpens in a new tab
- Tyrese Haliburton [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Andrew WigginsOpens in a new tab
- Duncan RobinsonOpens in a new tab
- Malik MonkOpens in a new tab
