The can’t-miss kid who missed
College shooting star hopes the 905 are part of his road back to NBA
The most valuable thing Nik Stauskas has learned on a journey pockmarked by great highs and low lows is perspective.
He knows now that his selfworth is not measured by three-point shooting percentage or salary or the exalted status as one of 450 people on Earth who have the job that he does. And that realization may one day lead him back to the pinnacle of his profession.
If it doesn’t? Well, he knows now there are other things that matter just as much.
“I think what this whole experience has taught me is that there’s a lot more to life than just basketball,” Stauskas said Monday. “Just always counting your blessings, (I’m) just being appreciative of the fact that I’m married, I have a wife, I am healthy, I have an amazing family and friends, a great support system. Just reminding myself of those things …
“I feel like it helps me just approach basketball with a different mindset and maybe with a more clear mind set than I had in the past.”
The 27-year-old native of Mississauga is grinding it out now with the Raptors 905 in the G League bubble just outside Orlando, Fla., trying to get back to the NBA. It has been a long and, at times, difficult journey for the six-foot-six forward. He was an NBA lottery pick — the eighth selection in the 2014 draft — and spent five seasons bouncing from Sacramento to Philadelphia to Brooklyn and Portland and Cleveland.
There are myriad reasons Stauskas never stuck in the NBA despite coming out of Michigan as one of the best shooters in NCAA history. He admits he took his place in the league for granted, it was years before he understood the nuances of and the need for constant preparation and work. Having so much success so early can be the ruination of players who don’t understand what it takes to be a professional.
That part was of his own doing but there were other circumstances that came into play. Sacramento, which took Stauskas in the draft, was not a glowing example for developing young NBA talent. And never finding a fit, or a team willing to work on skill development and find a role for a young player, doomed Stauskas to a bit of a spinning existence, a player of whom greatness was expected but a player who didn’t get the right opportunity, or take advantage of his situation.
Besides, the NBA can be cruel business: Once someone gets branded an underachiever, it’s hard to shake that tag. Stauskas became a salary cap ballast addition to trades. When a young player gets to that point, it’s almost always curtains on a long and productive career.
“I think just … having success at a young age and then kind of just getting used to that almost — just kind of expecting that and just expecting things to work out all the time — when
you go through some failures and when you face adversity, I just feel like it humbles you,” he said.
“And obviously you live and learn, and it just gives you a different perspective of things and I think over the last couple years between just things off the court and my failures on the court, I feel like I’ve learned a lot and it just helps me approach the game with a little bit of a different mindset now.”
That’s part of why the Raptors 905 sought him out. He is still skilled and the team wants to win and utilize his basketball abilities but his life lessons will be part of what he brings to the team.
”I think we have a very balanced roster this year with some rookies who are fresh out of college and then some guys that have been both in the NBA and even the overseas experience, so he’s been through this and some of the young guys can really look up to him for advice,” Raptors 905 general manager Chad Sanders said. “He’s a pro off the court. You can see him taking care of his body, nutrition and sleep, and things like that. I think he’s a really good veteran for some of these young guys to look up to.”
A 2019-20 season spent in Spain — when he suffered a knee injury, had season-ending surgery and got married in the off-season — was something of
an epiphany for Stauskas.
“One of the things that I’ve tried to work on over the last couple of years, and it’s still a work in progress … is just realizing the basketball, it’s not who I am, it’s just something that I’m good at and something that I do, and just kind of not putting my self worth all on the basketball court,” Stauskas said on a Zoom call with reporters.
“In the past, I’ve done that. The way I feel, the way I think about myself is all dependent on how I’m playing, and obviously if you do that there’s so many ups and downs throughout the course of a season or a career that it’ll drive you a little bit crazy.”
But the drive still exists in Stauskas to climb back on to an NBA roster. He could have gone back to Europe and probably made more money than he will in the G League but, after surveying the global basketball landscape, he felt the best route to the NBA was through the minor-league bubble on the Disney grounds in Florida.
The compact G League season — 15 games in about 25 days with a post-season to follow for eight of 18 teams — will not only present all kinds of quick chances to make an impression, having the league in one spot will attract laser attention from NBA teams who may need help at some point in this odd sea- son.
“With the NBA kind of going through what it’s going through and teams postponing games and missing guys due to COVID, I think there’s definitely going to be a lot of attention on the G League this year, and it kind of presents a good opportunity for a lot of us to showcase,” Stauskas said.
Coach Patrick Mutombo figures to use Stauskas in much the same way.
“He’s a veteran, has been around, played overseas, he’s played in the NBA and we love his disposition,” Mutombo said Monday.
“We have a lot of young guys on our team also, so he brings (talent) on the basketball side, but also off the court … people can go up to and ask questions. So, he’s a valuable resource to have.”
And given this chance, and with a refreshing perspective, Stauskas won’t take shortcuts.
“I’ll be the first to say that there was a number of times over my five years in the NBA where I truly took that position for granted,” he said. “I really didn’t cherish those moments. Every time I stepped on the floor, I didn’t cherish it as much as I will moving forward.”