Scoot Henderson has made a name for himself as the 2nd best prospect in this upcoming draft class. Victor Wembanyama is quite possibly the most coveted prospect since LeBron James, but the team who gets the 2nd overall pick should not be majorly disappointed. Scoot Henderson is a phenomenal basketball player and would go first overall in many draft classes. He is reminiscent of a young Derrick Rose or prime John Wall. It’s interesting to think about how that kind of player would fit in different teams systems, especially considering that some of the projected worse teams in the NBA already have a young guard that they are building around. There are some teams that I think would be perfect landing spots for Scoot though.
The Houston Rockets are my favourite landing spot for Scoot Henderson, largely due to potential dynamite scoring duo they would create. Jalen Green is proving himself to be one of the best young scorers in the NBA. Add Scoot Henderson to that backcourt? Mind blowing. A backcourt of Scoot and Jalen would be lethal when it comes to scoring the ball. I’m talking about both of these player’s potentially averaging 25+ points per game. Scoot makes so much sense for the Rockets as the point guard of the future. That Rockets team would be a lot of fun to watch with Scoot and Jalen dunking ability, and they could have the potential to make the play-in game if players like Jabari Smith Jr, Alperen Sengun, and Tari Eason develop well. If Scoot ends up in Houston, the league better watch out.
San Antonio makes a lot of sense as a landing spot for Scoot. Their only actual point guard is Tre Jones (unless you want to count Blake Wesley as a point guard, which I think he is more of a shooting guard). Obviously the Spurs want to get the first pick so they can draft Victor Wembanyama, but Scoot Henderson would be the perfect consolation prize for San Antonio. The spurs will still be a bad team, but their young core of players becomes a lot more interesting with Scoot Henderson added to the mix. A Scoot Henderson—Devin Vassell backcourt is also quite interested. Vassell has looked great so far into the season. If this version of Devin Vassell that we are seeing right now is permanent, then he would be an excellent fit with Scoot Henderson if the spurs drafted him.
Utah is in a similar situation to San Antonio. They are a bad team in need of some young talent, and Scoot Henderson makes a lot of sense for them as the player they could build around. They do have another younger point guard on the roster right now with Collin Sexton, but he has not been good enough to stop Utah from drafting another point guard in 2023. So Scoot should be able to join the Jazz and get a lot of minutes right away.
Oklahoma City is just the weirdest Scoot Henderson landing spot ever, so I am obviously going to talk about it. They already have two point guards starting right now in Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Josh Giddey, but both have a lot of size. Shai is 6”6 and has played shooting guard in the past, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to move him over there. Josh Giddey is 6”8, so he has the size to play the wing. He would need to make improvements defensively, but you can see where I’m going with this. Scoot, Shai, and Giddey should be able to play together in theory. It would be a pretty big experiment for the Thunder, but one that could turn them into contenders if it works out. The Scoot—Shai—Giddey guard trio is fairly interesting to think about. Scoot is an electric point guard who gets a lot of his buckets around the rim. Shai is a shifty guard who can score from just about anywhere on the court. Giddey is not the scorer that Scoot or Shai is, but he is an incredible playmaker. The versatility the Thunder would have from those three guards alone is incredible, and I haven’t even mentioned Lu Dort yet. I would imagine Lu is made the 6th man or is traded for a power forward if OKC drafts Scoot.
Orlando would be another interesting situation for Scoot to land in. They already have three point guards on the roster that are rotation worthy, but none of them appear to be the longtime starting point guard option for the Magic. Scoot Henderson could be the long term starting point guard and he fits perfectly in their timeline with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Wendell Carter Jr. Paolo and Scoot could be an excellent duo one day with their offensive capabilities.
Do I dare talk about New Orleans as a landing spot for Scoot? It doesn’t make sense right? Well maybe it does make sense. The Pelicans only two positions where you think they could realistically add a starter in this years draft class are the shooting guard and center positions, so Scoot doesn’t fit the bill. However, CJ McCollum has played a lot of shooting guard in the past, so it wouldn’t be a problem to start him there. That leaves all the room in the world for Scoot Henderson to be the starting point guard, and then it becomes scary. Any situation where the Pelicans add a top 5 talent in this draft is scary, but adding Scoot? Just like with Victor Wembanyama, the Pelicans could propel themselves into contender status, and quite possibly be the best team in the NBA.
There are so many interesting landing spots for Scoot Henderson, too many for me to talk about fully about in this post. I have listed my favourite landing spots for him, but here are a couple other teams that Scoot could be interesting with. Charlotte (doesn’t make a lot of sense because of the fit, but they just need any talent they can get their hands on right now), Washington (not likely that they are bad enough to be able to get Scoot, but he is such a good fit with their roster), and Indiana (once again doesn’t make a ton of sense because of the fit, but a Haliburton—Scoot backcourt would be insane). There are a lot of different places Scoot could go, but I am sure he will succeed no matter what team he plays for. He is an incredible prospect and should be coveted by any NBA teams who won’t be getting Wembanyama.