Malik Monk
Sacramento Kings

Player Facts

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 200lbs.

Wingspan: 6'5"

Date of Birth: Feb. 4, 1998
College Experience: Kentucky (1 year)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 9
Physical Strength: 4
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 5
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 6
Three-Point Scoring: 7
Dribbling: 8
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 2
Interior Defense: 1
Rebounding: 2

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Dual Off-Ball Threat

> Roving + Movement Shooting

> Attacking Off the Catch

> Functional Driving Athleticism

> Shot-Creation Juice

> Bonus Playmaking

> Transition Jet

> Offensive Nitpicks

> Poor Defense

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of ZH Highlights (YouTube),

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

The former Kentucky star Malik Monk is a hyper-athletic 6-foot-3 guard. Malik has a deep bag on offense and can contribute in a bevy of ways as a scorer. With very below-average defense, the sparkplug guard stays productive overall by being a sneakily great offensive weapon.

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Dual Off-Ball Threat

The depth and breadth of Mr. Monk's scoring package is actually very profound. A reasonable starting ground would be his off-ball repertoire He's been cast in this role across many team contexts – Malik has played with LaMelo Ball, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, De'Aaron Fox, and Domantas Sabonis.

Monk is one of the truest dual threats off-the-ball. He is bordering on elite as a cutter and has several functional skills as a spot-up shooter. Malik can even shoot off movement nicely – replacing, re-locating, lifting, and drifting as the action unfolds.

The slender guard does a great job of having repeatable jump-shot mechanics that he can reliably replicate across multiple situations. He leverages a springy base to elevate up into his jumpers. This helps him remain accurate on 25-foot+ launches.

While his overall three-point clips can be streaky, his catch-and-shoots have remained respectable as of 2023-2024. In his lone Laker season, he drilled 41.9% of his threes off the catch. His 1.01 points per chance on spot-ups mirrored the mark of shooter Franz Wagner (2021-2022).

He continues to rip the chords playing off of Fox and Sabonis in Sactown. Most importantly of all to his shooting value, he puts up volume from deep and has many ways he can get deep shots up. This keeps his spacing/gravitational value high.

Roving + Movement Shooting

Monk can be used in set plays as the shooter flying off screens. This roving, movement style is great for his current fit with the Sacramento Kings and their playstyle. 2021-2022 had him at in the 73rd percentile scoring off screens.

What increases the combo guard's threat level as a movement shooter is his legitimate threat of screaming backdoor. He is an exceptionally twitchy, bursty athlete who will then use a potent last step to finish at the iron. He finished in the 65th percentile scoring on cuts in 2021-2022.

Attacking Off the Catch

Malik is uber-comfortable commencing his dribble after a spray-out pass. For instance, he will deftly take that one-dribble sidestep when the situation calls for it.

Where Monk can really engage his top percentile athleticism is on closeout attacks with multiple dribbles. He averaged 7 drives to the rim in 2021-2022 and did well finishing on them. That figure outpaced strong drivers Andrew Wiggins and Josh Hart.

Functional Driving Athleticism

Monk can finish with aplomb around the basket on his catch-and-go's. When he has a clear runway, he can uncork a violent rim finish. Monk can also finish with craft around help defenders. He will take off from way out and use his in-air body control to contort into an optimal position for him.

The Arkansas native melds nuclear athleticism with solid touch to be a quantifiably above-average rim finisher positionally. 2023-2024 saw him make 63.6% of his restricted area attempts. He remained relatively efficient at 44.8% on all other paint shots that year. He pairs this with an average ability to get to the stripe and a well above-average ability to convert there.

Malik can also play-make on his drives to the hole. He is by no means a tunnel-vision type of attacker. Monk consistently hits the big man when help steps up for high-leverage layup passes. Kicking to shooters is also in his scope of ability - sometimes flashing incredible vision here.

Shot-Creation Juice

Despite the narrative suggested in this scouting report thus far, Malik does not need a pre-made advantage for him to score. In fact, he is a completely viable iso option in mismatch or end-of-clock scenarios. He uses a great dribble package and the ability to hit sidestep/step-back jumpers here.

Malik will of course still welcome the addition of a ball screen from one of his bigs. He was in the 62nd percentile scoring out of the pick-and-roll in 2021-2022. His DHO mark was also strong that season, a 0.9 PPP figure that bested Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal.

Malik can either get to the hole or hit dribble jumpers after using the pick. Monk has a decent comfort level in the midrange too. His on-ball scoring malleability in these play types is a nice value-add for his squad.

Bonus Playmaking

Monk can also be a superb on-ball distributor. He can effectively run second units when primary playmakers are resting. Monk makes all the reads well during his opportunities. He produced a massive sum of 945 points for others in 2023-2024 with a comfortably positive AST/TO ratio.

Transition Jet

Malik rounds out his offense with monstrous open-court ability. He routinely finishes amongst the most productive per-minute scorers in transition. Highlight-reel dunks are commonplace for the explosive guard, coupling this with the ability to flare out for three.

WEAKNESSES

Offensive Nitpicks

Offensively he is quite the surprisingly complete player. Picking nits, he does turn the ball over a bit more than you would like. Also, his shot selection can at times be less-than-ideal. Lastly, his multi-dribble and even overall jumper conversion rates can be streaky.

Poor Defense

Monk is one of the league's worst defenders, full stop. The effort waxes and wanes, but the bottom line is he is extremely slight. These physical limitations prevent him from providing any tangible resistance to opponents.

In 31.8% of his possession in 2021-2022, he guarded forwards. By the numbers, these possessions proved very fruitful for the opposition. The wings he checked that year shot 54% from the field when matched up with Malik. 2023-2024 saw similarly troublesome figures.

Digging even deeper, Monk's defensive box plus-minus oscillates between -1 and -2 each season. Those are extremely paltry figures. He provides slim-to-no paint resistance either (whether late to the scene or there but too small/thin to deter).

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Beacon Bacon

Monk reunited with his Kentucky Wildcat teammate De'Aaron Fox in the 2022-2023 NBA season in Sacramento