https://youtu.be/30I7SDnJ3s0
Is 25 points the most points scored by an undrafted rookie this season? In an effort to answer this question, I am expending inordinate amount of brain power on the Herculean task of thinking about every undrafted rookie that I can remember, but the problem is, I didn’t pay attention to the most recent draft at all, so I have no idea which rookies were drafted and which rookies were undrafted. So all this brain power is just flowing out of my facial orifices and dissipating into the environment without really having been put to good use.
Now that I’m in a braindead stupor, I decided to scroll through the basketball-reference list of NBA debuts, which is the most comprehensive list of rookies that I know of. Unfortunately, the page doesn’t list each player’s draft status, and I got tired of checking each player individually, so I just eyeballed it and came up with an OFFICIAL DTB ANSWER: yes, 25 points is the most scored by an undrafted rookie this season. In second place is Mason Jones, also of the Rockets, with 24 points.
There are no meaningful conclusions to be drawn from this fact, or, if there are, my brain doesn’t work well enough to draw them. All I can say is, Jae’Sean Tate is more than just a guy who throws basketballs at James Harden out of frustration. He’s a guy who throws basketballs at James Harden out of frustration while also being able to score 25 points, a full 1/4th of Wilt’s record, in a sanctioned NBA contest.