Kasparas Jakucionis Scouting Deepdive
Kasparas Jakucionis Scouting Deepdive
This dribble-pass-shoot guard has the chance to make serious noise for the Illinois Fighting Illini.
I spent a bit of time in Madrid, Spain as a young adult in 2015 before starting college, and while there, had the chance to meet my friend Laurynas, who I regrettably haven’t had the chance to talk with in quite some time. A native of Vilnius, Lithuania, Laurynas and I immediately connected over basketball. He grew up playing basketball himself, and his pride for Lithuania’s best players and basketball in general was palpable. Nine years later, I still remember his excitement as we chatted about a rising Lithuanian player who was set to enter his second season in the NCAA: Domantas Sabonis. It turns out his excitement was very, very justified. Ever since then, it gives me great pleasure hearing about Lithuanian NBA prospects, as it’s evident that they have their country’s support behind them.
Enter incoming Illinois Fighting Illini freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, who is perhaps the top Lithuanian-born prospect since Sabonis in the lead-up to the 2016 NBA Draft. As with just about any other prospect at this stage of the draft cycle, however, nothing is certain with Jakucionis. This scouting report will dive into some of his perceived strengths and areas for improvement coming into the college basketball season, the things that will need to happen for him to be considered a first-round (if not lottery) prospect by the end of the cycle, and some potential limitations that could hurt his draft stock by the end of the cycle.
Background & Measurables
Jakucionis is a 2006-born prospect hailing from Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius. At only 18 years old, his international basketball background is already quite extensive, dating all the way back to his 2020 debut with Perlas Vilnius as, yes, a 14-year-old, in the 2nd division of Lithuanian professional basketball. After playing a lone debut game for Perlas Vilnius, Jakucionis made his way to FC Barcelona in 2022, where he made his debut in their U16 team. Since then, he’s slowly made his way up Barcelona’s ranks and eventually became the third-youngest player to debut for Barcelona’s main team in the Spanish ACB in the 2022-’23 season. The very large majority of Jakucionis’ playing time leading up to today has come with Barcelona’s U18 team and 2nd division team in the Tercera FEB (formerly Liga EBA), along with various stints with the Lithuanian National Team in international competition. Since his professional debut in 2020, his upward developmental trajectory cannot be understated.
Coming into his first NCAA season, Jakucionis is listed at 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds on the Illinois Athletics website, although if I were to guess, I’d say he’s closer to 6-foot-5 or even a healthy 6-foot-4.5 with a roughly equal or slightly plus wingspan. At this size, assuming his athleticism (which we’ll talk about shortly) serves him well, defending both guard positions in the NBA should be feasible for Jakucionis.
Strengths & Areas for Improvement
Now for what most of you are probably here for—what makes Jakucionis a bona fide NBA prospect. Outside of his convincing and extensive professional experience as a teenager, he brings several traits to the table that give him NBA-worthy upside.
Strengths
Scoring
Jakucionis already profiles as a player that can step on the court and put points on the board at all three levels. His cumulative stats per game over the course of his international career appear somewhat underwhelming at first glance, having only put up 11 points on 40% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc (per Cerebro), but these numbers undersell his upside (and gradual improvement).
In watching film, it’s quickly evident that Jakucionis is a comfortable scorer—he strikes me as an unselfish player, but completely lacks hesitation taking shots off the catch and off the dribble. He’s capable of driving to the rim and finishing with both hands, has an in-between game marked by surprising shiftiness with the ball, and is unafraid to take threes with NBA range. Even if the efficiency isn’t always there quite yet, successful NBA scorers must have both willingness and confidence to put the ball in the bucket. If there’s any evidence of that willingness and confidence, it’s Jakucionis’ 39-point (albeit inefficient) game against Alfinden with Barcelona’s second team, where he put up 26 total shots including 17 three-point attempts. Early on, Jakucionis’ willingness to take shots is something I’m confident will translate early assuming Illinois head coach Brad Underwood gives him the green light.
With his underwhelming numbers in mind, though, there are some signs present that efficiency will come as he continues to develop. Not only is Jakucionis a career 84% free-throw shooter in his international career, but comparing the efficiency between his two seasons in the Tercera FEB (where he has his largest sample size of both games played and minutes per game) may illustrate his improvement better than anything else. In his 2023-’24 season, Jakucionis attempted nearly an identical number of threes, nearly doubled his attempts from inside the arc, and took roughly 50 more free throws compared to his 2022-’23 season, yet improved his shooting splits from 34/31/90 to 48/38/89, all in four fewer games.
Jakucionis’ shooting mechanics should also leave evaluators mostly optimistic, as they strike me as being consistent, repeatable, and fluid—particularly in the upper body. There are some inconsistencies in his base, he tends to swing his feet forward on jump shots, and his shot prep on catch-and-shoot attempts could stand to improve, but these are correctable nitpicks
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Playmaking
While the appeal in Jakucionis’ scoring mostly lies in his upside as opposed to his current production, his playmaking and general court vision are already very impressive, to the point that it’s probably his most desirable offensive trait in the eyes of most scouts at the time of writing. His combination of finesse and impressive processing speed allow him to successfully execute a wide variety of passes both in the rhythm of the offense or off the dribble as the ball-handler.
Jakucionis shows quite a bit of flair in his passes, using eye manipulation and head fakes to catch defenders off balance or in the air. He’s hit live-dribble passes with both hands, jump passes off drives, cross-court passes, bounce passes through tight windows, and just about any other type of pass imaginable. That playmaking acumen extends to transition and inbound situations as well, where he’s capable of hitting outlet passes in stride and catching defenses sleeping, respectively. Jakucionis averaged nearly 13 assists per game in three games at the most recent U18 Adidas Next Generation Tournament, led by a 17-assist game against ALBA Berlin and a follow-up 14-assist game against the Overtime Elite.
Ball-handling
In short, if Kasparas Jakucionis is on your team, you want the ball in his hands. He isn’t necessarily someone I consider a good ball-handler purely because of his dribble moves (despite having some nice ones in his bag), but more so because of the combination of those moves and his poise. Generally speaking, he’s quite crafty with the ball, often making defenders struggle to anticipate his moves and decisions.
I hesitate to say that Jakucionis plays with “pace”, as this tends to denote a slower play style. In reality, while Jakucionis makes use of a slower and more intentional pace often as the ball-handler, I’d argue for now that it’s his change-of-pace that makes him as much of a threat with the ball as he is. He rarely appears rushed or under pressure, and when he’s able to catch defenders flat-footed or off-balance, he can quickly react and blow by with a deceivingly good first and second step. Despite not being an elite athlete, he’s good enough to get to the rim at a decent rate.
As stated, however, Jakucionis does also have some dribble moves in his bag. He likes pulling out a right jab step with a left crossover, where he’ll often comfortably pull up for a midrange shot off the dribble. Beyond the arc, he seems comfortable with taking step-backs going left. Jakucionis is generally shiftier with the ball than he’s often given credit for in part because of these moves, and he’s able to somewhat consistently create space by using them.
Areas for Improvement
All of the above should leave many evaluators high on Jakucionis, but he isn’t a perfect prospect. For him to be considered an early-first-round prospect in the later stages of the draft process, he’ll have to convince NBA front offices that he can address (or at the very least hide) some of his areas for improvement.
Decision-making
Jakucionis is undeniably creative as a ball-handler and plays with a good amount of bravado. Like many other young ball-handlers, though, he could stand to improve as a decision-maker. As comfortable as he is with the ball, Jakucionis is prone to over-dribbling and passing up open shots as a result.
Furthermore, Jakucionis tends to attempt some very difficult passes which, while admirable to some extent, leads to mixed results. While he’s typically responsible for many of his teams’ easy points because of his playmaking acumen, better understanding the risk of his passes in comparison to the potential reward would do him good. Generally speaking, he’ll need to strike the right balance between his selflessness and selfishness, which isn’t uncommon among young ball-handlers.
Defensive Fundamentals
In this early stage of the draft cycle, Jakucionis’ defense (or lack thereof) has been a bit glossed over, as he doesn’t have the requisite size to defend up teams’ lineups and isn’t an elite athlete to boot. So, if he’s able to defend both guard positions one-on-one in the NBA, that will be considered a win. Even if Jakucionis’ defensive tools are somewhat lacking, though, I’d argue he makes up for it ever so slightly in his sheer aggression.
For now, Jakucionis tends to showcase brief lapses in attention and lingering flat-footedness on defense that will need to improve for him to be an effective defender in college basketball, let alone the NBA. But when his defensive focus is there, he can be a pesky, playmaking defender in his own right. He’ll need to improve his strength to better navigate screens and defend drives one-on-one, but on the perimeter, he’s already shown evidence that he has active hands and can be disruptive in passing lanes. Defensive playmaking, particularly away from the ball, is where he has a bit of upside on this end of the floor.
Otherwise, he’ll need to continue developing as an athlete, be more consistent when contesting jump shots, avoid needless fouls, choose better angles on closeouts, and generally clean up the little things.
In-between Game
If there’s any area of Jakucionis’ game that could take his scoring to the next level, it’s the refinement of his in-between game. As stated, there are already some promising signs of an emerging in-between game to be optimistic about. He’s already comfortable taking pull-up shots in the midrange and his shiftiness allows him to create some space on those attempts. But seeing as Jakucionis is strictly a below-the-rim finisher at this stage, adding an efficient shot like a short floater to his game could add yet another dimension to his game that would give defenders trouble. Jakucionis could struggle to finish at the rim around higher-level athletes in both college basketball and the NBA, so adding this to his game sooner rather than later would be beneficial for his draft stock.