After weeks of dormancy, the NBA offseason heated up once again yesterday, with Damian Lillard headlining a blockbuster, three-team trade that will see him heading to the Milwaukee Bucks. Other names included in the deal are former number one overall pick Deandre Ayton, All-Star Jrue Holiday, and former UNC nemesis Grayson Allen.
A name that may have flown under the radar for many in this trade was former Tar Heel Nassir Little. The 23-year-old, who played just one season in Chapel Hill, will join the Phoenix Suns who have their eyes on a championship. How can Little help them? Let’s dive in.
Little’s Short Stint in Chapel Hill
Little’s single season at UNC represents the end of an era of dominance that Hubie Brown and his staff are working tirelessly to get back to. The 2019 North Carolina Men’s Basketball team was dominant. Despite starting zero games, Little was immediately impactful as a Freshman. He was one of those players that could do a bit of everything, allowing Head Coach Roy Williams to lean on him in different ways each night.
Little Heads to Phoenix
After being drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, Little continued to showcase his jack-of-all-trades skill set. He’s been surprisingly efficient, producing a higher true shooting percentage (TS%) in each of his last three seasons than he did at North Carolina. Little grabs a ton of defensive rebounds and uses his speed to create advantages racing up the court.
As he heads to Phoenix the biggest question surrounding Little is obvious; how will he fit in next to Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal? With Booker and Beal occupying the guard spots, and Durant playing power forward almost exclusively, Little, standing 6’5, is a natural fit at small forward in between those 3 stars.
Many basketball fans think impact is linear. But how good a player is in a vacuum does not always correlate with how impactful a player can be in their role. Little doesn’t need to be a star in Phoenix. What they will ask him to do is defend his ass off and knock down an open three when he gets the opportunity. If he makes enough early on there’s no reason he can’t play a huge part in Phoenix’s pursuit of a championship.
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