When the Sacramento Kings drafted Duke forward Harry Giles with the 20th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, the basketball world knew getting him healthy and productive on the court was going to be a process. To the Kings’ credit — at least for the first two years of Giles’ NBA career, they handled that process well.
Giles spent his first NBA season getting healthy and learning. He didn’t appear in a single game during what-would-have-been-but-technically-wasn’t his rookie year. He was healthy, or at least that’s what we were told, and the Kings were just being extremely cautious with a player they had every right to be cautious with.