PJ Haggerty Scouting Deepdive
After withdrawing from the 2025 NBA Draft and committing to Kansas State, PJ Haggerty has his eyes set on 2026. What does the offensive-minded guard's future NBA career look like?
After transferring from Tulsa to Memphis, PJ Haggerty didn’t miss a step. His metrics across the board represent how talented the 6’3 guard is and why as a redshirt sophomore he entered the 2025 NBA draft. After withdrawing from the draft, he committed to Kansas State where he will look to continue his growth and development while setting his eyes on the 2026 NBA Draft. What skills does Haggerty need to work on this season and what does his potential NBA career look like?
The Physical Profile
At the 2025 NBA Draft Combine, Haggerty registered a 6’6.5 wingspan with a 27.5 no step vertical and a 32-max vertical. The 6’3 guard weighed in at 189 pounds. A couple of players that come to mind when watching Haggerty are:
One player that comes to mind when I watch Haggerty play is Brandin Podziemski of the Golden State Warriors. Podziemski is a better three-point threat, but he also can get crafty and score around the rim. As a 6’4 guard he out rebounds for his size and he can dish out some nice assists as a non-primary ball handler. He averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 45.4% overall and 38.5% from three-point in his first season with the Warriors last year. I could see a similar level of production for Haggerty if all things fall right but slide down on the three-point shooting and slide up on the interior scoring.
Another player that I see some similarities in is Bennedict Mathurin of the Indiana Pacers. Physically, they aren’t that far off from another as Mathurin is 6’5 and 210 pounds. How their play as offensive minded guards is what stands out to me. Mathurin is the type of player that fights through traffic to get to the rim, but he can also step out and take some outside shots at a lesser success rate. Both players are strong on rebounding, and neither are offensive facilitators in their teams’ offenses. Neither player is afraid to shoot as Mathurin attempted 11.8 shots per game last season. I don’t believe that Haggerty will immediately average 16.7 points per game like Mathurin did on the Pacers, however, I do think that you should expect to see a similar style of play for Haggerty as he works his way to a consistent role.
Haggerty isn’t an incredible athlete, but he’s very quick. His speed allows him to score with ease in transition and play some strong on-ball defense as well. He’s not afraid to use his body to slash to the rim and finish some tough shots.
What’s the Vision?
There is no doubt that Haggerty’s offensive prowess is his most impressive skill set. He averaged 21.2 points at Tulsa as a redshirt freshman, then it increased when he transferred to an even more talented team in Memphis to 21.7 points per game last season. From the floor he shot 47.6%, but he improved dramatically on his three-point shot. At Tulsa, he shot just 28.9% from beyond the arc, but at Memphis that jumped to a respectable 36.4% on 3.1 attempts per game. In conference play, that jumped to 42.9% which was fifth best in the AAC. Overall, his true shooting percentage finished at 58.3% which was 336th in the country. While his three-point shot is admittedly a bit funky to watch, we’ve seen other players like Tyrese Haliburton with unconventional forms on jumpers translate well to the next level.
At the rim, he is a prolific finisher. He shot 57%, in which 40% of his total shot attempts were at the rim. He’s a strong athlete, so he can use his body to slash and fight through contact. This helps him lead into one thing that he does incredibly well, which is getting to the free throw line. He drew on average 6.1 fouls per game, which put him at the line an incredible 274 times. On those attempts, he shot 81.8% from the stripe, which was 271st in the country.
He's a strong ball handler as well and that’s led by a decent basketball IQ and awareness when he is on the court. There are some questions around whether he could be a leading point guard for a team, however, he’s strong enough to serve as at least a secondary ball handler in an offense. He finished with a 20.4 assist rate which was 393rd in the country. He does turn the ball over a decent amount as his assist to turnover rate was 3.7 to 3.3.
On the defensive end, he isn’t going to win defensive player on the year, but he featured a strong 2.8% steal percentage putting him at 370th in college basketball. He has some decent length for his position and he’s reasonable quick on his feet which allows him to generate some on-ball disruption from fellow guards. He’s also a great rebounder for 6’3. He averaged 5.8 per game last season, in which 1.1 was offensive. His freshman season nearly mirrored those averages. His 13.7% defensive rebounding percentage for a guard is a strong showing in the metrics.
How Can It Break Down?
While Haggerty is no doubt an incredibly skilled offensive player…I have concerns around whether he can read the moment on when to stop shooting. He is a volume shooter as he averaged nearly 15 shot attempts per game, which when you are the go-to guy on a Memphis team that ended up being a five seed in the NCAA Tournament, sure I get it. However, when you are in the NBA and having an off night, he’s not going to have that “star protection” where he can just keep shooting through it or else he’ll hurt his team and end up on the bench. Some examples looking back at last season include their NCAA Tournament first round loss to Colorado State. Haggerty finished the game shooting just 30.4% and 12.5% from three point going 7-23 total and 1-8 from beyond the arc. Ultimately, the Tigers fell by just eight in a 78-70 loss. While Haggerty had just three assists, Dain Dainja finished shooting 8-13 and Colby Rogers finished shooting 7-12 and 4-7 from three point. Looking at the box score, you could easily say that Haggerty lost them the game. On the largest stage, you must know that if it’s not your day then you start to facilitate offense for others.
It wasn’t just the Colorado State game either. In the AAC tournament when they won by just one point against Tulane in the semifinals, he went 2-13 and 0-5 from three. Against UAB in the championship, he went 8-22 and 0-1 from three. In their regular season loss to Wichita State by five points? He went 4-18 and 2-7 from three. Are you going to be at risk of losing games if your best player isn’t doing well? Yes. However, it elevates that potential loss exponentially when that player continues to toss shots up at an attempt to find rhythm.
What’s the Pathway?
Haggerty’s stock for the 2025 NBA draft was a bit all over the place before he withdrew and committed to Kansas State. I must say that it shocked me a bit because there is no doubt in my mind that Haggerty can be an incredible microwave scorer for whichever NBA team, he ultimately lands on. Now, he’ll have another year to work on a few things to help increase that draft stock. In particular, there are two areas I’d like to see improve over the next twelve months:
Playmaking – Haggerty is a phenomenal scorer, however, if he wants to catch the eyes of NBA scouts and increase his stock for the 2026 draft, he’ll want to work on his playmaking abilities. We’ve highlighted throughout this report that the potential is there, however, at 6’3 he needs to play more into that role. At his size, he’ll translate more as a true point guard, but his style of play up to this point is more of a wing. If he can cut back on the turnovers and dish it out more to teammates when he’s driving to the basket and there is coverage or when the defenders are closing quickly outside, then he’s opening more opportunities for his teammates. He already draws a lot of attention from defenders, so he might as well take advantage.
Shot selection – I highlighted my concern around his volume of shooting in the “how can it break down section”, but if he can focus on the quality of shot that he takes then it’ll unlock a lot of opportunities. Not only opportunities for himself, but opportunities for his teammates because it plays into his playmaking. Instead of taking contested shots, work to open opportunities for others because you are already drawing defenders. He doesn’t have to take 20 shots a game. He’s good enough at getting to the line that he could take 12-15 shots a game and get to the line another 8-10 times and still finish with 20+ on average.
Overall, this is going to be a crucial year for Haggerty. He’ll be 22 years old, heading into the 2026 NBA Draft and this will be his fourth college already in his career. He’s proven that he has what it takes for his offense to translate to the NBA, but there are questions around what else does he brings to the table. That’s where the two improvement areas come into effect because if he can harness his shot selection and put an emphasis on his playmaking he could slide his name into the first round.