Kaleb Banks Scouting Deepdive
The former four-star recruit transferred to Tulane after two quiet seasons at Indiana. Now, Kaleb Banks has burst on the seen and caught the eyes of NBA scouts. What does his future look like?
After spending his first two seasons at IU, Kaleb Banks transferred to Tulane and experienced a breakout season. The former four-star and top 100 recruit in the country features a strong build, prolific scoring capabilities, and plays excellent defense. How has the 6’8 forward gone from averaging just 2.6 points in 10.7 minutes to now on NBA scouts’ radars? Let’s take a look at what a potential pathway to and career in the NBA looks like for Banks.
The Physical Profile
Kaleb Banks registers at 6’8 with a 7’1 wingspan and weighs in at 210 pounds. He has a solid build and while his verticality hasn’t been officially registered, Banks has some hops. Let’s take a look at a couple of comparable players.
One player that comes to mind when watching Kaleb Banks is Pascal Siakam. Look, I don’t love to make comparisons of current college players to NBA All-Stars, however, from both an eye-test level and from an early career level there are some strong similarities. Siakam is 6’8 and 245 pounds, so he’s a bit thicker than Banks, but you could imagine that Banks will still bulk up more. Both players are super crafty around the rim and use their length to finish some tough shots. They both have that natural lanky layup and dunk ability. Coming out of college, Siakam was not a three-point threat and Banks already has that advantage. Will Banks end up being an NBA All-Star? My guess is no, but hey, you never know.
Another player that resembles Banks’ style of play is Jeremy Sochan of the San Antonio Spurs. Sochan is 6’8 and 230 pounds, so pretty similar to Banks. From a production standpoint, Sochan is shooting 29% from beyond the arc on 2.5 attempts per game over his three-year career. From the floor overall, he’s shooting 46.8% and he’s grabbing 6.1 rebounds. Banks is a much better shot blocker, but Sochan is a better playmaker as he’s averaging 2.8 per game on his career. Both players are strong finishers around the rim and are strong rebounders. At this point, I don’t see Banks coming into the league and averaging 11 points per game as a rookie, however, I think long-term Banks could realistically match a similar level of production.
What stands out to me about Banks from an athleticism point of view is how quick he is on his feet. Banks isn’t a small man, but he is super quick and he has strong verticality that allows him to finish around the rim using his length or flushing down an impressive dunk. Athletically, I believe he’ll do just fine in the NBA.
What’s the Vision?
Kaleb Banks is a prolific scorer at 6’8. He shot 50.6% overall last season and 34.1% from beyond the arc on 4.3 attempts per game. He finished the season with a 120 offensive rating which was 232nd in the country according to KenPom. His 58% effective field goal percentage was 147th, while his 60.4% true shooting percentage was 60.4%. In conference, he was virtually unstoppable from inside the arc as he finished shooting 69.4% while still knocking down 31% of his 71 three-point attempts. All this being said, Banks can simply score. Last season was his first expanded opportunity thus far in his collegiate career, so I think there is some room for him to grow on the three-point shooting. However, at this moment there is a lot to like about his craftiness. At the rim, his lights out as he shot 70% on 45% of his total field goal attempts. We highlighted his quickness previously and it allows him to carve to the paint as he is an excellent driver.
Defensively, there’s still a lot of room to grow for Banks, but the raw talent is there already as he finished with a 4.8% block rate which was 213th in the country. His metrics jumped to 5.1 in conference play. He’s not afraid to use his body in the paint and he has tremendous verticality that allows him to smother players driving to the paint. On the flip side, he doesn’t really generate steals. He featured a 1.5% steal rate last season, so there’s plenty of room for him to grow where he could pick driving players’ pockets on their way to the rim. He's nimble enough to play some defense around the arc if Holtman wants him to, so I’m curious to see more of what he can do this season. On the boards, he finished with a 15.5% defensive rebounding percentage and a 7% offensive rebounding percentage. He finished with double-digit rebounds seven times last season as he uses his length to his advantage to rip down boards on both ends of the court.
Playmaking is currently Banks’ least skillful piece of his arsenal. He averaged just one assist last season, and he finished with just a 5.8% assist rate. However, while he might not be dishing out assists, he rarely turns the ball over. His 8.6% turnover rate was the 67th best in the entire country. If he could emerge as more of a playmaker, while still playing to his true position and maintaining the same level of ball control, Banks could dramatically increase his potential draft stock.
How Can It Break Down?
One area of concern I have is his lack of a mid-range shot. He essentially only shoots at the rim or from beyond the arc. In college, he can get away with that, but if he wants to solidify his potential at the next level then he’ll need to take a step forward this coming season. At this point, if you are limited to just a couple of options on offense then teams will know where to force you on defense. If you are down low, double-team and force him to take the 15-17 foot shot. If you are defending outside, force him to drive and close the lanes. I do believe he’ll improve in this area as he has the raw talent to do so.
Another potential concern I have is his lack of playmaking. As I previously mentioned, he doesn’t turn the ball over which is great. However, at the professional level in the NBA he is going to have to be able to make plays for others to stay on the court and earn minutes. He doesn’t have to be averaging 3+ assists per game, however, he needs to be able to dish it back out to teammates when he’s driving to the paint or gets fed down low. While the AAC is a top ten conference in college basketball, he isn’t playing against a ton of NBA talent so he often didn’t have to feature a strong playmaking ability. We’ll see what happens this season in the Big East.
What’s the Pathway?
Following his breakout season at Tulane last year, Banks entered the transfer portal and will play his senior season alongside his former Indiana teammate CJ Gunn at DePaul for Chris Holtman. This move to the Big East is going to help show scouts what he can do while going up against some of the best basketball talent in the country. Joining a DePaul team that Holtman is pulling out of the cellar provides him a great opportunity to continue to grow and become the go-to player for the Blue Demons next season. Here are a couple of things that I’d like to see Banks work on this season:
Playmaking – I highlighted this pretty in depth in the “how can it break down” section, however, I really want to see him improve on his playmaking. He takes tremendous care of the ball, so I want to see him drive and kick it back out to teammates for an open three, or even drive to the basket and dump it off to a closing in center. He doesn’t have to play like a guard, that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for him to add an additional tool to his arsenal that can solidify his ability to do more than just score and rebound. I think he has a great opportunity to work on this at DePaul this coming year.
Consistency – For all of the amazing things that Banks did last season for Tulane, he can be very streaky and he lacks consistency in performance overall. Let’s compare some stats. From December 1st through January 15th, he averaged 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks. Following that stretch, between January 15th and February 15th, he averaged just 6.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks. Over his last five games he scored eleven, seven, 13, 17, and two. You are going to have your ups-and-downs, but at times it was like a rollercoaster.
At this point coming into the season, Banks would most likely not hear his name called on draft night. However, he has a mix of skills and the raw talent to play at the next level. He’s shown us what that ceiling looks like at Tulane and now he has a chance to start to catch NBA scouts attention even more in the Big East. If we see another step forward in development this season, I believe that Kaleb Banks could be a huge steal in the 2026 NBA draft.