{"id":2007504,"date":"2026-06-24T00:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007504"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:56:38","slug":"kingston-flemings-selected-by-atlanta-hawks-with-the-no-8-pick-in-the-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007504","title":{"rendered":"Kingston Flemings selected by Atlanta Hawks with the No. 8 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p><i>The Athletic has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/nba-draft-2026-live-updates-round-1-tracker-results-giannis-antetokounmpo\/NJNyRbgefCcT\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The Atlanta Hawks selected Kingston Flemings with the No. 8 pick on Tuesday in the NBA Draft. Flemings averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in his one season with the Houston Cougars.<\/p>\n<p>Flemings has enough size to play at the NBA lead guard role, at 6 feet 2.5 inches without shoes with a 6-foot-3.5 wingspan. More importantly, though, he has a powerful, stocky frame at 183 pounds that allows him to absorb contact and be physical on the interior. He doesn\u2019t get bumped off his lines on offense when he drives and doesn\u2019t have issues when he gets hit while in the air. He is a tremendous athlete; extremely explosive and twitchy with a lightning-quick first step that allows him to drive in straight lines toward the rim.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Right now, Flemings\u2019 midrange game is his most effective, efficient weapon in half-court settings. However, it\u2019s hard to live like that in the NBA, given that the best midrange shooters only make about 50 percent of their attempts.<\/p>\n<h2>Sam Vecenie\u2019s draft guide summary<\/h2>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"TMIwEIGfM2CG6JE\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_Root__QeM_i\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_VideoWidth__XjNKI VideoHost_Portrait__XBaJC\">\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Root__AGckL\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Title__npf3B\">Why Kingston Flemings is the point guard NBA teams dream of<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Authors__jxyYV\">Sam Vecenie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_VideoWrapper__Xgp47\">{&#8220;@context&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/schema.org&#8221;,&#8221;@type&#8221;:&#8221;VideoObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/TMIwEIGfM2CG6JE\/&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/TMIwEIGfM2CG6JE\/&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Why Kingston Flemings is the point guard NBA teams dream of&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;Sam Vecenie explains why Kingston Flemings is the type of dynamic lead guard NBA teams covet, blending elite speed, decision-making, and winning basketball.&#8221;,&#8221;uploadDate&#8221;:&#8221;2026-06-09T20:12:42.220Z&#8221;,&#8221;duration&#8221;:&#8221;PT2M2S&#8221;,&#8221;thumbnailUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/TMIwEIGfM2CG6JE\/lUDNKZRdmDdH.0000000.jpg&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/TMIwEIGfM2CG6JE\/lUDNKZRdmDdH\/lUDNKZRdmDdH.m3u8&#8243;,&#8221;transcript&#8221;:&#8221;Houston&#8217;s Kingston Flemings is the kind of dynamic athlete that NBA teams dream of at the point guard position. Beyond that, he&#8217;s a sharp decision-maker, a killer mid-range scorer, and an impact player on winning basketball. Here&#8217;s why Flemings is going to go very highly in the 2026 NBA draft. Flemings took over the point guard range at Houston immediately as a freshman, a wildly impressive feat in and of itself under Kelvin Sampson there. But even more than that, he produced, averaging 16 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds per game while winning second. Team All-American honors. At just under 6&#8217;3, Flemings is lightning quick with an elite first step that allows him to get paint touches with ease. He blends playing at speed with superb processing ability, understanding both where the defense and where his teammates are at all times. Here are some examples of what Flemings is going to bring to the table. Flemings is a great decision-maker who really understands space. Throughout the year, he really had to navigate a ton of bodies in the paint due to Houston&#8217;s lack of shooting around him. Here you can see both Koa Pete and Matteus Crivis for Arizona. Camping out in the paint, while Flemings has to work his way under the digging Ivan Karchenkov from the corner. Once he gets through Karchenkov, he knows that means the corner 3 is open and he has a beautiful pass right into Chase McCarty&#8217;s shooting pocket. When the pass isn&#8217;t there, Flemings always has the bailout option for mid-range. He took about 4 mid-range jumpers per game this year. He&#8217;s a terrific shooter from that area. You can see him just elevate right over the top of Rob Wright here for a bucket with confidence. But when that fails, He always has the blow by speed too. Watch him just completely blow by Jalen Celestin off a little hesitation dribble here. Flemings needs to improve his gathers and go in straight lines more consistently to the rim to draw fouls, but his quick one-handed gathers give him some real potential as a finisher. Flemings is another hard comparison to make at the lead guard spot, but if the shooting comes along, you can see some shades of a De&#8217;Aaron Fox due to his speed, his willingness to defend and his play out in transition, along with how he gets paint touches.&#8221;,&#8221;ineligibleRegion&#8221;:[&#8220;BI&#8221;,&#8221;BY&#8221;,&#8221;CD&#8221;,&#8221;CF&#8221;,&#8221;CU&#8221;,&#8221;IQ&#8221;,&#8221;IR&#8221;,&#8221;KP&#8221;,&#8221;LB&#8221;,&#8221;LY&#8221;,&#8221;ML&#8221;,&#8221;NI&#8221;,&#8221;RU&#8221;,&#8221;SD&#8221;,&#8221;SO&#8221;,&#8221;SS&#8221;,&#8221;SY&#8221;,&#8221;UA&#8221;,&#8221;VE&#8221;,&#8221;YE&#8221;,&#8221;ZW&#8221;],&#8221;publisher&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;NewsMediaOrganization&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/&#8221;,&#8221;foundingDate&#8221;:&#8221;2016-01-25&#8243;,&#8221;logo&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;ImageObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;creditText&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;height&#8221;:&#8221;60&#8243;,&#8221;width&#8221;:&#8221;435&#8243;},&#8221;publishingPrinciples&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/&#8221;,&#8221;sameAs&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic&#8221;},&#8221;author&#8221;:[{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;Person&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Sam Vecenie&#8221;}]}<\/p>\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_root__AKv5b\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16;max-height:min(100%)\">\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_inner__86C_2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16\">\n<div class=\"VideoStreamPlayer_GridStack__2H0p2\"><video preload=\"none\"><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I want to love Flemings, and I think there is undeniably All-Star upside if his development goes right. The intel on Flemings as a human being is strong, and he seems to have a full understanding of what his role will be at the next level, as well as what he needs to work on. He was productive and efficient offensively in what was not an ideal circumstance for his skill set as a driver and athlete at Houston this season. He was rightfully named an All-American as a freshman while playing for Kelvin Sampson, one of the toughest coaches in the country on young players. With more space to operate in the NBA, there\u2019s a chance that he will flourish.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>The key for Flemings to reach that upside is to improve his gathers, get stronger through his lower half and become an even better shooter. I love his passing and decision-making, as he comes up with creative angles. I love his ability to get into the midrange, which will be an essential counter. But he will need a floater game and will need to keep improving his footwork as he learns to play with more consistent slow steps and Euro steps. His size will be an impediment defensively, but he has a good enough frame to improve and avoid being a negative on that end.<\/p>\n<p>@font-face{font-family:nyt-franklin;src:url(https:\/\/g1.nyt.com\/fonts\/family\/franklin\/franklin-normal-500.0f4aea3d462cdb64748629efcbbf36bc.woff2) format(&#8220;woff2&#8221;),url(https:\/\/g1.nyt.com\/fonts\/family\/franklin\/franklin-normal-500.cb85480c30b6ca5f53f673993211036f.woff) format(&#8220;woff&#8221;),url(https:\/\/g1.nyt.com\/fonts\/family\/franklin\/franklin-normal-500.9061b25032eb73a747c2edf738888891.ttf) format(&#8220;truetype&#8221;);font-style:normal;font-weight:500;font-display:swap}<br \/>\n@font-face{font-family:nyt-franklin;src:url(https:\/\/g1.nyt.com\/fonts\/family\/franklin\/franklin-normal-700.91eaf6b5642463af4091160b4bbfdfcb.woff2) format(&#8220;woff2&#8221;),url(https:\/\/g1.nyt.com\/fonts\/family\/franklin\/franklin-normal-700.ab057a3b069a4ecbde7c3ea74411284e.woff) 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439px){background-color:transparent}.player-card__photo.svelte-1u319qg{height:100%;width:auto;overflow:hidden;img.svelte-1u319qg{width:100%;height:58px;object-fit:cover;transform:translateY(2%) scale(1.45);transform-origin:top center;object-position:top center;@media (min-width: 379px){transform:translateY(0) scale(1.5)}@media (min-width: 499px){transform:translateY(2%) scale(1.5)}@media (min-width: 600px){transform:translateY(3%) scale(1.3)}}}}}}.recirc-link.svelte-1u319qg{display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:13px;font-family:var(&#8211;g-franklin);color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-80);text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-underline-offset:2px;font-weight:600;@media (min-width: 379px){font-size:14px}@media (min-width: 720px){font-size:16px;margin-top:14px}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){.native-mobile{.player-card.svelte-1u319qg{background-color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-70);&#8211;g-player-photo-bg-color: var(&#8211;g-color-grays-70)}.player-card__tagline.svelte-1u319qg{color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-20)!important}.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg,.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg .player-name-and-school.svelte-1u319qg,.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg .player-school.svelte-1u319qg,.recirc-link.svelte-1u319qg{color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-10)!important}}}<\/p>\n<div id=\"g-bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA\" class=\"birdkit-body g-bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA g-dark-mode-incompatible\" data-preview-slug=\"bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA\" data-birdkit-hydrate=\"576c8d899cf0d656\">\n<div class=\"tk-embed-wrapper-class graphics-container-impressions fp-ignore svelte-1ma8250\" data-module-label=\"nba_draft_guide_2026\" data-module-type=\"embed\" data-module-context=\"nba_draft_guide_2026\" data-module-id=\"player_card\"><a class=\"graphic-wrapper-link svelte-1ma8250\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/interactive\/nba-draft-guide-2026\/player\/kingston-flemings-houston-guard\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"player-card svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"player-card__player-info svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"content-wrapper svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"position-rank-container svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge svelte-j9csdc\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge__position svelte-j9csdc\">Overall<\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge__rank svelte-j9csdc\">7<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge svelte-j9csdc\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge__position svelte-j9csdc\">Guard<\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge__rank svelte-j9csdc\">4<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p> <span class=\"player-name-and-school svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"player-name svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"player-name-text\">Kingston Flemings<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"player-school svelte-1u319qg\">Houston<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"player-card__tagline svelte-1u319qg\">All-Star upside with lightning-quick first step; must improve his gathers and shooting.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"recirc-link svelte-1u319qg\">Read full profile \u203a<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"player-card__photo-container svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"player-card__photo svelte-1u319qg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/graphics-cdn.theathletic.com\/nba-draft-guide-2026\/images\/kingston-flemings-houston-guard-profile.png\" alt=\"Photo of Kingston Flemings Houston\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"svelte-1u319qg\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>John Hollinger\u2019s analysis<\/h2>\n<p>I like Flemings as the best of the group of point guards because of his turbo-boosted quickness and athleticism, which he uses to impact the game at both ends of the floor. Flemings is especially potent with the ball in his right hand, getting into pick-and-rolls with pace and zipping one-handed, crosscourt passes while going full speed. He also gets great elevation on his pull-ups, although he probably relies on that shot too much.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One reason Flemings is so pull-up heavy is that he\u2019s a poor finisher at the cup; he\u2019ll need to refine his steps and craft around the rim as a pro. That\u2019s a big reason he shot only 47.3 percent on 2s in Big 12 play and didn\u2019t draw fouls at a high rate.<\/p>\n<p>The other swing skill for him, however, is his shooting. Flemings\u2019 form is not ideal \u2014 the ball comes out a bit flat and has some sidespin \u2014 and he didn\u2019t shoot many 3s. On the other hand, he also shot 84.5 percent from the line in his one season.<\/p>\n<h2>David Aldridge\u2019s draft confidential<\/h2>\n<p><strong>College assistant coach (his team played Houston):<\/strong>\u00a0Kingston is smart and (was) coached hard. The year before, (Milos) Uzan was a big part of it and (Emanuel) Sharp. Those are two tough-minded veterans. And I saw them turn the keys over to Kingston. Wow. His speed, his ability to catch on the run, knowing the closeouts already. His ability to finish at the rim, I\u2019m surprised his arms aren\u2019t longer, \u2019cause it never seemed like he struggled. He shoots it kind of like a corkscrew. \u2026 He\u2019s got that midrange, and you can\u2019t get it. He\u2019ll fade, he\u2019ll kick the right leg out a little. Another guy who loved the moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eastern Conference executive No. 1:<\/strong>\u00a0I love his ability to touch two feet in the paint without a screen. He is a super athletic guard. And his ability to make passes at full speed is very impressive. He and Acuff are interesting in terms of passers. Acuff is more of a savant in pick-and-roll. Flemings is more like, I\u2019m going to put defenses in rotation whenever I want. And Flemings is also better defensively. Why I believe he\u2019s going to make it, and he\u2019s a smaller guard, too, is he\u2019s extremely confident. His shot is a little ugly; he kind of thumbs the ball. But he genuinely believes every shot he takes is going in. And that\u2019s half the battle in the NBA.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NBA Draft. The Atlanta Hawks selected Kingston Flemings with the No. 8 pick on Tuesday in the NBA Draft. Flemings averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in his one season with the Houston Cougars. Flemings has enough size to play at the NBA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2007504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}