Sacramento Kings: Initial grade and analysis of the 2019 NBA Draft class

Round 2, Pick 60 — Vanja Marinkovic (Serbia)

To close out the 2019 NBA Draft, the Kings decided to add a little international flair to their draft class by selecting Serbian shooting guard Vanja Marinkovic. And yes, for those counting at home that’s three picks and three shooting guards.

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Marinkovic joins a Sacramento team already with plenty of Serbian pride with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica already on the roster. Not to mention the team’s president of basketball operations and head-honcho Vlade Divac.

There isn’t too much out there on Marinkovic but the 22-year-old has been playing in his home country for KK Partizan for the better part of the last five or so years. Last season, Marinkovic averaged 12.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while playing in Serbia’s top basketball division.

Marinkovic is a skilled swingman with the ability to score at a high rate from the perimeter but his overall game remains very unpolished. As such, it’s likely Sacramento allows him to play overseas for the time being while he develops his game.

Given that the Kings did wind up making three second-round picks, it’s unlikely that they would have been able to secure a roster spot for each of them.

On top of that, each team is only allowed two two-way contracts meaning that they could now use each of them on James and Guy while not having to worry about Marinkovic.

An international player makes sense, but Marinkovic’s age could limit his upside — similar to James. Still, there are worse ways to spend a second-round pick.

Final Grade: C+