Maxime Raynaud Excelling Early in His NBA Career with Sacramento Kings

Is it time to start calling Stanford a basketball school again? In recent seasons, the Stanford Cardinal have struggled to become nationally relevant on the hardwood, having not made an appearance in the NCAA tournament in well over a decade despite churning out several NBA draft picks.

From guys like Zaire Williams and Spencer Jones, there has been no shortage of NBA talent coming out of Stanford.

And since hiring head coach Kyle Smith at the start of last season, the Cardinal have started to look like a program poised for a comeback, finishing with over 20 wins in Smith's first season, while seeing former center Maxime Raynaud evolve into one of college basketball's best players right before our eyes.

Earning First-team All-ACC honors after averaging 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds last season, Raynaud ended the year as a prospective NBA lottery pick. For a lot of the year, he was in the discussion for being the best player in the nation, the same season where Cooper Flagg was playing for Duke.

Despite the accolades, Raynaud fell in the draft, selected 42nd overall by the Sacramento Kings. Despite his later than expected selection, Raynaud has not let that faze him during the early part of this season, playing very well for an otherwise struggling Sacramento Kings team and proving to be one of the draft's biggest steals.

So far this season, Raynaud has played in 18 out of Sacramento's 26 games, starting four games. Averaging 8.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists, Raynaud's best game came in a Dec. 3 loss to the Houston Rockets, where in 32 minutes, the 7-foot-1 Frenchmen scored 25 points while contributing six rebounds and three assists.

With Kings' star Domantas Sabonis injured, Raynaud has been elevated to a starter in recent games and has shown that he can be a major contributor going forward. Even though he was a second round draft pick, the Kings still signed him to a three-year fully guaranteed rookie contract, showing how much they valued him when they selected him.

Known for his dominance on both sides of the ball, Raynaud's early season efforts are helping him become a key piece to the Kings' rebuild under head coach Doug Christie.

One thing that has made Raynaud's transition to the NBA so successful is his ability to learn things quickly. When he first joined the Kings, Christie described Raynaud as a sponge for his ability to take in what he learns from coaches so quickly, also praising his basketball IQ, positioning and awareness on defense.

Raynaud himself even said that a big reason for his recent run of success is from being more comfortable with his surroundings.

"I know where I have to be and when... It's easier now than on the first day of training camp," Raynaud said in a Eurosport interview.

Sabonis has been sidelined since Nov. 19, and there is still no official timetable for his return, meaning that for now, Stanford fans can look forward to continuing to see Raynaud take the NBA world by storm.

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