2025 NBA Draft: Is Mexico City's Dink Pate the Next Great Jumbo Creator?

Dink Pate played point guard for last year's G League Ignite squad, but missed the NBA Draft age cutoff. What kind of role will he fill with his new team?

Feb 18, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Team ELY guard Dink Pate (1) of the G League Ignite shoots the ball against Team BallIsLife during the G-League Next Up game at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

In the last three years, Dallas-Fort Worth has been one of the greatest producers of prep basketball talent in the country, a true powerhouse with the accolades to match the hype.

Stars like Anthony Black (Arkansas, Orlando Magic), Ron Holland (Ignite, Detroit Pistons), Keyonte George (Baylor, Utah Jazz), Cason Wallace (Kentucky, Oklahoma City Thunder), Ja'Kobe Walter (Baylor, Toronto Raptors), Tre Johnson (Texas), and Rylan Griffen (Kansas) have all come through the high school ranks in the last three seasons from The Metroplex area.

Who will be the next great Dallasite in the NBA? This year, the biggest upcoming star would be L.G. Pinkston and G League Ignite star Dink Pate, a player too young to be drafted this year, but one who will have two years of professional basketball experience under his belt by the time the NBA calls his name.

Standing at 6-foot-8, Pate has beyond excellent positional size for a point guard, and once again, spent last year playing against NBA-caliber athletes as a 17-year-old. The new wave of point guards in the NBA are the big-bodied creators, players who would have normally been shoehorned into wing roles in the past.

Players like Cade Cunningham and Luka Dončić come to mind when thinking of these "jumbo creators," or lead initiators that typically tower over opposing guards, creating physical mismatches for which coaches must scheme. Pate fits this mold to a tee, but has other elements to his game that could give him a further edge.

A high-flying athlete on top of his size, Pate likes to get downhill with the ball in his hands, attacking the basket using long strides and fluid body movement combined with an elite handle. He has a nice shooting stroke, and while it didn't translate to efficiency at the G League level, the aggressiveness in attacking the basket combined with the willingness to get teammates involved makes Pate an extremely intriguing prospect.

After last season with Ignite, who struggled due to a confluence of factors (mostly youth and inexperience, as well as a lack of floor spacing), Pate has made his way onto the Mexico City Capitanes roster, meaning he will once again play against professionals in the G League, opting out of college or going overseas.

This was the right move for Pate, as often times prospects that go overseas to compete in Australia's NBL, for example, have a hard time getting on the floor, no matter how good they are. Milwaukee Bucks pick AJ Johnson was an example of this, who was given just seven minutes per game as a member of the Illawarra Hawks.

Pate will, on day one, be the guy for the Capitanes at point guard, something that may not have been guaranteed had he gone elsewhere. Additionally, playing with Mexico City will make things much easier for him, as he will be surrounded with players who already have several years of experience.

Last season, Mexico's only G League team featured grizzled vets such as Kenneth Faried and Trey Burke, which can only help the fledgling guard continue to get his footing at the professional level. When with Ignite, Pate played mostly with other first-year prospects, guys like Ron Holland (5th overall, Detroit) and Matas Buzelis (11th overall, Chicago).

While these are extremely talented players, the problem with Ignite was that there were very few complimentary pieces. A player like Pate needs floor spacers around him, guys he can involve in drive-and-kick sets as well as opening up lanes for his own driving.

The roster should be a better fit for Pate, if for no other reason than the aforementioned bump in experience. Given the right team around him, and if his shooting consistency can improve, Dink Pate could easily find himself in the lottery – or higher – of an elite draft.

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