Sacramento Kings rookie Nik Stauskas was known for his three-point shooting during his two seasons at Michigan. Almost all of Stauskas’ shots came from long range, and he knocked down more than 44% of them. He’s also a below-average defender, which the Kings were willing to overlook when taking him with the No. 8 overall pick in the draft. Stauskas doesn’t expect opponents to do the same.
After his preseason debut against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, Stauskas said he expects opponents to attack him this season for two reasons.
“I understand that I’m a rookie and I’m white, so people are going to attack me at all times,” he said, per Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “Just coming out there in the game, I felt it right away.”
While there is certainly a stereotype attached to white players in the NBA (Kevin Love has acknowledged it in the past), Stauskas will be attacked more because it is his first year in the league and he doesn’t have much experience defending great players. The same can be said of almost any rookie at the NBA level.
You think opponents are going to shy away from Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins just because of their skin color? Playing defense in the NBA is far more difficult than college, and most rookies are introduced to that the hard way. Some may feel that Stauskas isn’t as athletic because he’s white, but for the most part he’ll just be getting the standard rookie treatment — not necessarily the white guy treatment.
