Could rookie Nickeil Alexander-Walker benefit from stint in G-League?

While Nickeil Alexander-Walker continues to show signs of improvement, it might be worth sending the rookie to a place where he can really get cooking.

The New Orleans Pelicans are a team going through many of the issues young teams in this league experience, better known around the world as growing pains. While Nickeil Alexander-Walker has shown some good traits, he’s had issues trying to find an evenness to his game.

It’s been a struggle at times for the rookie, who looked brilliant in summer league action, then even more brilliant in leading opportunities in preseason play.

Alexander-Walker is a reflection of this Pelicans’ unit as a whole. Both are struggling on defense, show a lot of promise on offense, and have a lot of positives to take out of a negative start.

Previously, David Griffin stated his interest in holding one of the team’s underdeveloped rookies in the G-League to refine his skills for the season; except that was Jaxson Hayes. Shattering expectations by averaging 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from the floor, Hayes is far too important to the flagship team’s ability to win to send to Erie for development.

It hasn’t translated as quickly for Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who has struggled a lot more than his rookie teammate. The guard is averaging 6.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting 32.1% from the floor and 34.4% from three on 3.8 attempts per game.

Until Nickeil Alexander-Walker can be a part of winning, it’s going to be hard to justify playing the rookie guard for any extended minutes.

Already, Alexander-Walker is seeing a huge cutback in his playing time as the team’s main guards, Jrue Holiday, Frank Jackson, and Lonzo Ball are all back in playing shape.

In the last six games, Alexander-Walker has appeared in just twice and played under four minutes in both performances. Granted, the Pelicans are 1-6 over that stretch, so one could argue Alexander-Walker might actually be a bigger part of winning than we can possibly imagine.

Unfortunately for Alexander-Walker, he’s looked better in losses than in wins.

When the Pelicans notch a victory, he’s averaging 4.6 points,  3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while shooting 29.2% from three in 15.6 minutes. When they lose, Alexander-Walker averages 7.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 37.8% from three in 13.6 minutes.

Not doing much that translates to winning yet for the New Orleans Pelicans, it’s worth wondering how much of a time chunk this rookie can really receive once the squad is back to complete health.

There are the great Nickeil Alexander-Walker games posts great numbers and  looks like he should have good value as a part of the regular rotation:

• 15 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 turnover; 6-of-11 shooting, 2-of-4 from three in 24 minutes vs. Golden State Warriors (10/28/2019).
• 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers; 10-of-18 shooting, 6-of-9 from three in 30 minutes @ Miami Heat (11/16/2019).
• 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 turnover; 7-of-18 shooting, 5-of-13 from three in 35 minutes vs. Golden State Warriors (11/17/2019).

For Alexander-Walker, the ugly games have been more frequent.

• 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover; 1-of-10 shooting, 1-of-7 from 3 in 12 minutes on opening night @ Toronto Raptors (10/22/2019).
• 4 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, 2 personal fouls; 1-of-5 shooting, 0-of-1 from three in 8 minutes @ Oklahoma City Thunder (11/2/2019).
• 5 points, 2 rebounds, 5 turnovers, and 2 personal fouls; 2-of-4 from the floor, 1-of-2 from three in 8 minutes @ Charlotte Hornets (11/9/2019).
• 2 points, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, and 2 personal fouls; 1-of-4 shooting, 0-of-1 from three in 11 minutes vs. Houston Rockets (11/11/2019).
• 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers; 1-of-6 shooting, 1-of-4 from three in 16 minutes vs. Portland Trail Blazers (11/19/2019).

Truly, all the New Orleans Pelicans really need out of Alexander-Walker is consistency; that’s what the team is spending the first year of their restructure trying to build.

If he’s not going to be involved in the main rotation and isn’t helping this team win games, it seems like it might be better to send him to a destination where he can find his flow. With the Pelicans’ G-League affiliate Erie BayHawks, Alexander-Walker can start balling out, just as he did in exhibition action.

Sometimes a big part of figuring it out for a young player is developing confidence in their game, which might’ve been overestimated in Nickeil’s preseason dominance.

In the G-League, he’d be back to the minutes-heavy opportunities where he looked at his best before the regular season opened in October.

Not only will Alexander-Walker have a chance to use the opportunity to refine his game, but the rookie guard will be playing in competitive games against pretty quality opposition.

Eventually, the New Orleans Pelicans are going to have to find out what they have in the player they selected at 17th-overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was praised by many as a future stand-out player, but his game must get better if he wants minutes.

While some might see the G-League as a demotion for a first-round pick like Nickeil Alexander-Walker, there’s a chance it’s the best thing that could happen for his development.