Xaivian Lee: The Ivy League Star
Xaivian Lee’s playmaking and scoring make him an intriguing NBA prospect. What's the long-term vision for the Canadian Princeton Tigers star?
Xaivian Lee has caught the world’s attention with his electric style of play and craftiness. The 6’4 junior guard out of Toronto, Canada is looking to lead one of the best mid-major teams in the country in Princeton to yet another NCAA Tournament, while raising his stock in the 2025 draft. Let’s dive into his professional potential.
The Physical Profile
Xaivian Lee has the standard physique of a traditional combo guard. Lee stands at 6’4 and weighs in at 180 pounds. He measured a 36.5” max vertical and a 28” standing vertical. For comparison, the average measurements for NBA point guards are 36.1” and for shooting guards it’s 37.8”. Height wise, Lee fits in with the shooting guard average of 6’4 in the NBA, but this gives him a height advantage when running point.
One player that immediately came to mind for a physical comparison was Andrew Nembhard from Gonzaga, now on the Indiana Pacers. Nembhard is listed at 6’4, 191 pounds. He has a few pounds on Lee, but as I like to mention in my scouting profiles, he’s already played two full seasons in the NBA, so he’s had plenty of time to bulk up. Nembhard’s max vertical came in at 35”, so a shade under Lee’s.
Keyonte George out of Baylor, who is now on the Utah Jazz also features a similar physique. George is listed as 6’4, 185 pounds. There is no vertical information for George, however, he has some sneaky hops, so he might hold a bit of a competitive advantage over Lee, but nothing drastic.
The strength and training programs at Princeton are probably not up to speed with the likes of power schools in college or NBA programs, so realistically, Lee is going to continue to get stronger and put on more muscle once he makes the professional jump. He’ll be right up to speed with many other guards in the league.
What’s the Vision?
Why would an NBA team draft Lee? His offensive capabilities really shine and make him a realistic potential NBA player. He is a tremendous ballhandler, he can dish it out to his teammates all while been lethal from inside the arc. When he is running point, he makes the game fun. There are times that I see flashes of Tyrese Haliburton in him, especially when he drives in the paint with a spin move and crafty finish around the rim. His ability to finish tough shots around the rim is single handily enough to make him a viable draft pick next season.
His ability to create shots for himself is already at a professional level in my opinion. It may be the single reason a team uses a draft pick on him next year. As I mentioned, he is crafty around the rim, he can finish tough shots, but what’s intriguing is his mid-range game. Due to his high offensive abilities, he’s able to cause defenses to collapse when he starts to drive to the rim. Once the defenders fall back, he can stop in his tracks, shift gears and knock down a 10-15 foot shot very consistently. Approximately 64% of his shots last season were unassisted. I want to be clear here, it’s tough to scale this against the talent that he’ll face in the NBA. At Princeton, he isn’t facing many top-level defensive talents, so it’s reasonable to assume there will be some retraction from this skill once he is playing professionally.
I love his offensive abilities, but I may love his flashy passes even more. There are times where he can get out of control, but as he matures and develops, those will become rare and allow him to become an elite ball handler. Overall, he has a solid basketball IQ as he limits the turnovers, which at his age considering last season was his first full year as a “go-to player” is rather impressive.
One aspect of his game that people might overlook is his rebounding abilities. He can crash the boards for a 6’4 guard. He’s a physical player, as he fights for the ball in nearly ever possession. He won’t average 8 boards a game in the NBA, but he will be pesky enough to frustrate opponents and round up two to four a game in extended playing time.
On the defensive end, he isn’t going to be a star racking up multiple steals a game. He’s average, which might be a tad concerning considering the talent that he faces at Princeton. However, I don’t believe this will be detrimental to his draft stock as there are plenty of guards in the NBA that are average at best at defense and make up for it with their offense and playmaking.
How Can it break down?
The most glaring part of Lee’s game from my opinion is his three-point shooting. Looking at the stats, he shot just 23.2% as a freshman and just 33.8% as a sophomore. His three-point abilities aren’t the highlight of his game, as he is crafty and loves to drive into the paint. However, to be an excellent NBA guard, you must be able to reliably knock down shots from outside to round out your game. I truthfully have a hard time interpreting his shooting form. He has the potential to knock down tough shots from outside, but there are times where it appears that he’s just throwing the shots. You might be able to argue that some of the reason he’s capable of knocking these shots down currently is the fact Princeton is going up against mid-major talent the majority of the games. However, just keep any eye on his three point development this season. He’s going to have to make this a statement point in his game to develop well in the NBA.
One other area of Lee’s game that could cause some issues is, can he breakdown elite defenses? This comes back to the question around the level of competition that he is playing against in the Ivy League. To have a viable career in the NBA, Lee has to be able to run point as a combo guard because there’s no doubt that he is an offensive first player. As a result, let’s say the three point abilities don’t improve. At that point, he will have to shine through as a floor general to compliment his offensive capabilities. For example, driving into the paint, kicking it back out for teammates. Stretching the floor, picking up defensive pressure to open up opportunities for others. These are the things that I want to see more and may be hard to determine prior to his career beginning in the NBA.
What’s the Pathway?
The Princeton Tigers are playing just one power conference school in Rutgers this season, as a result Lee’s statistics will be skewed by the competition his team plays. However, some things to keep your eyes on here are once again his three point shooting. Can Lee take a step forward in consistency from his outside shot? The other aspects of his game, the passing, the catch-and-shoot, and driving capabilities are what make him an NBA prospect. Developing an outside game that can translate to the NBA takes him from a late second round flier pick, or even undrafted free agent, to a legitimate high second round pick. I doubt we see him increase his stock enough to make it to the first round this season, but never say never.
Where he stands now, he has the makeup of being a spark off the bench for an NBA team. Someone to come in, give your starters some breathing time while knocking down tough spots and dishing out assists. We’ve seen second round picks become stars in the league and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Lee do the same. View him as a long-term development piece who will probably spend the majority of his first season in the G-League ranks.
Long-term, he has the potential to be a meaningful rotation player. Realistically, the raw talent is there, so a team will need to take a flier and look to invest in him as he moves from the mid-major ranks to the professional world.