Kobe Sanders 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Kobe Sanders 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We have a saying (adopted by Garrett … not me, the Nevada alumni) that if you’re not Nevada, you’re not Vendetta. We are less than two weeks away from the 2025 NBA Draft, and today, we will be previewing Nevada’s Kobe Sanders! Let’s dive into it!

Height (no shoes): 6’7 (6’8.25 wingspan, 8’7 standing reach)

Weight: 203.2

Draft Age: 23.1

Position: Guard

Sanders was a zero-star recruit out of Christian High School in Spring Valley, Calif. As a senior, he averaged 16.7 points and five assists and earned All-Eastern League first team as a senior before committing to Cal Poly, where he spent four seasons.

He didn’t truly blossom until his senior season, he averaged 19.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists on 45.9 percent shooting, including 33.9 percent from 3-point range and 87.4 percent from the free-throw line. Sanders eventually hit the portal and transferred to Nevada, averaging 15.8 points and 4.5 assists on 57.2 percent true shooting.

Now, let’s discuss some of the specifics in regards to Sanders’ profile!

Strengths:

Sanders was widely regarded as one of the best transfers in the Mountain West last season. The team underperformed, but if you peel back the curtain, Sanders was one of the best players in the conference.

Standing at 6-foot-8 (with shoes), he has excellent positional size. He improved as a passer from his senior season at Cal Poly to his super senior season at Nevada, where he had a steady dose of ball-handling reps in the pick-and-roll. His processing speed and his passing accuracy took leaps, as well as his ballhandling.

Sanders was a scorer at heart, however.

He is one of the best pull-up jump shooters among players in his range. He was comfortable getting to his spots and stopping a dime from 10-to-15 feet with adequate efficiency, knocking down 47.2 percent of mid-range attempts in the halfcourt, according to Databallr. Sanders had a high release with good lift when he did get to his spots, and was well-balanced on shots where he was fading away with his back to the basket.

He did a great job leveraging his upper body strength against smaller defenders, even though he still has room to grow into his frame. Sanders did a good job keeping a low center of gravity off-the-bounce, getting to the lane on straight line drives as opposed to getting pushed off his driving angle.

Weaknesses:

While he played a ton of point guard over the last two years, he won’t be a point guard at the NBA level. He’s a combo guard who can handle as a secondary facilitator, at best. There were times I thought he made quality reads, but I generally wasn’t moved by him getting lead-guard reps because he doesn’t project as a player that you’re relying on to guide your offense.

He was an OK passer, but I also didn’t always love his handle in traffic. I thought it was too loose and I didn’t think he had enough burst to consistently get to the rim. He lacks explosiveness–both laterally and vertically–and is a below-average 3-point shooter.

Sanders got to his spots and was a comfortable pull-up threat from ~15 feet, but he’s going to have to space the floor more and not rely on tough 2s if he can’t get to the cup.

I can’t say I loved his foot speed defensively; I think it was in the “average” category for a college combo guard at 6-foot-8. He used his body well, but he did get blown by a fair amount, even though I always loved his engagement on that end of the floor because he’s got good coordination.

Projection: UDFA

I think Sanders could be a late second-round pick because of how gutted the middle is. But I’ve had an undrafted grade on him from the jump. He’s not very athletic, and while there is some craft to his game offensively, he’s going to be 23-years-old and projects to be a one-way player with a limited upside. Don’t think that’s second-round worthy, but we’ll see what teams think on draft night.

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