The first prospect outside the big 4 in this draft is a dynamic point guard whose two way talent separates him from many of the rest. PRO: I think the biggest strength of Kingston Flemings Is his speed plus change of momentum functionality within his dribble. Flemings doesn't have that wide of a set of moves but he's able to create high volume of looks with his first step and change of pace. It's very hard to stay with him as a defender. Flemings mostly utilises this to find looks in the mid range and Flemings has been a really elite guard in the mid range whether thats efficiency or volume. 93rd percentile in attempts and 85th percentile in efficiency. Some may view this as a poor shot selection but if your getting quality looks at the volume Flemings does and can hit them with consistent efficiency he does its a good shot. He also gets to the rim very well at 84th percentile in attempts, we will get to the efficiency later, but it shows a lack of struggle to produce strong looks and there's plenty of potential for him to produce at a higher level at the rim and shows strong advantage creation. One thing I like about Flemings as a guard option is how confident I am in his versatility as an offensive option being able to contribute without the ball off the catch as a three point shooter with the speed to attack closeouts aggressively as well as when he's on ball he's turnover averse and makes some really impressive reads as a passer. Flemings is a very good catch and shoot three point shooter. 38.7% 3pt efficiency at 59% assisted volume does describe a strong off-ball 3pt shot. Utilisation within Houston's offence really did show he can play within a system and produce to a high level. Flemings is a strong playmaker, 81st percentile AST% and a 91st percentile CTOV, Flemings is an elite reader of the floor wether thats swinging a pass or attacking space, he doesn't get overwhelmed under pressure and makes the right reads, 91st percentile ast/to ratio. He may not be the most creative playmaker in this draft but he's definitely one of the most comfortable ball handlers at the point guard position. Defensively he's one of the strongest positionally in the first round. he's benefitted from one of the strongest defensive systems in college at Houston but Flemings had undoubtedly produced, 71st and 72nd percentiles in STL% and BLK% alongside a 73% DRB% Flemings produces on the defensive end and is one of the reasons why he's one of the strongest guards in the class that overwhelmingly effect the possession game in a positive way. CON: The biggest overall concern with Fleming is probably rim efficiency and how his overall scoring efficiency has ended up. Flemings 16PPG ranks in the 55th percentile overall un combination with that his TS% of 56.3 ranks in the 52nd percentile overall. This would describe Flemings as a pretty average scorer if you didn't know how he was getting most of his points. Flemings reliance on tough mid range shots to score points and how well he makes them would tell you his scoring diet is pretty difficult and he's a much better scorer than shown but he's really struggled in other areas of the court to be consistently efficient and its taken down his overall efficiency number. At the rim Fleming's ranks in the percentile in efficiency and out on the three point line, while he's been efficient overall, most of his volume is off the catch and there's not been as much pull up 3pt volume as you'd want. So really there's questions on scoring translation if you want to project him as a star level player at the next level. Some context behind the 16PPG average number is that Flemings has a very normal 26.5% USG%, Houston's offence was never reliant on Flemings to get going and they weren't going to play to a way that put Flemings in that type of position. But he had times where his scoring was allowed to take over highlighted by a season high 42 vs Texas Tech. Overall i'm less concerned about Fleming's scoring translation, the self creation tape ad volume of looks Fleming can get at the rim are really good signs that there can be improvement on these numbers at the next level. There's been questions about the true defensive value he contributes, his 97th percentile DBPM is probably heavily swinged by the cast and system next to him rather than purely his defensive talent and it will be very interesting to see how he measures in at the combine. Listed at 6'4, 190lbs with a 6'9 wingspan is really good measurements but there's a lot of debate over the validity of those measurements and much smaller numbers would probably put him into the "Small guard" tier. Lots of questions on how easy it is to win with smaller guards but to me Flemings defensive production and activity levels are a lot better than typical negative defensive guards at the NBA level. NARRATIVE:LOADED_GUARD_CLASS: Issue: The 2026 class has produced a high number of skilled guards leading to a high concentration of them to be in and around the lottery range. If Flemings isn't viewed in the top 3 of those guys he may fall a lot further than he should. How does Flemings rank within these guards. Flemings is my true PG1 in this draft, 5th on my board I think he's the best of the rest in this class. Listing the guard competition - Wagler, Acuff, Brown Jr, Burries, Stirtz, Philon, Tanner, Anderson all could go high in the draft and there are many different orders of rankings of these prospects. This means somebody of these super talented guard class has to fall into the 20s and if your not the best your risking a lot of money. To me Flemings is on top of the rest. His Versatility, Offensive and defensive production, versatility in usage in the offensive scheme he can play within most systems. Teams like the Pacers, Wizards, Clippers, Mavericks, Hawks who are in and around this range have either shared ball handling, high ball movement systems or star players who will be demanding the ball and while you shouldn't really draft too much to fit in this range, these teams will want to compete and want guys with not only future potential but also versatility so you can have optionality for the future, avoid boxing yourself in and I think Flemings is probably the best representation of that in this guard group. PROJECTION: I think the most accurate and intriguing comparison to what Flemings could look like in the NBA is De'Aaron Fox offensively. I think there's potential for Flemings to be a positive defender past the steal production, but in offensive style and usage, with the killer speed and mid range game and smart playmaking, Flemings has a real pathway to contribute in a similar role.