The Houston Rockets used the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Reed Sheppard, a talented guard out of Kentucky.
And then he barely played in his rookie season.
It was a tough spot for Sheppard to break into, a veteran team with solid perimeter talent. And so Sheppard got to mostly watch and learn.
His role will be much bigger this season, especially following Fred VanVleet's recent injury. That makes this next month or so crucial.
Sheppard gets the preseason action, and then in the last 10 days of the month, will transition to the regular season.
MORE: Victor Oladipo, Frank Kaminsky make surprise NBA cameos
His NBA future won't be defined only one what Sheppard does in the next handful of weeks. But it'll certainly be shaped by that in some ways.
It's just not yet obvious if Sheppard is good enough.
Clearly, he oozed enough talent to be the third pick. But now he has to prove it.
In Monday's preseason game against the Hawks, Sheppard had seven points in 19 minutes. He added three rebounds, one assist and turned it over three times. He was a minus-6.
The assist-turnover ratio, albeit a small sample size, isn't promising. And Sheppard was just 1-for-4 from 3.
Houston is back at it for another preseason game Wednesday, which will allow Sheppard to grow his sample size and hopefully prove he belongs with a substantial guard role when the season begins.
But if Sheppard isn't able to put it all together, it'll be a major blow to a Rockets team that wants to contend for a conference title.
Sheppard might be the X-factor to the whole thing. And his chances of meeting the moment start with improvements each and every time out there this month.
More NBA News:
- Nikola Topic's testicular injury for OKC Thunder won't sideline him as long as you'd think
- Brandon Ingram's debut reveals how he'll fit in with the Raptors