Aleksej Pokusevski Took His First Free-Throws Over 300 Minutes Into His Career


Aleksej Pokusevski hasn't made much of an impact for the Minnesota Timberwolves during his rookie season, which is fine because he was always known to be a work in progress. The 19-year-old Serbian has played in 18 games and averaged 18.1 minutes after being selected with the 17th pick in the last draft. Despite sending 7-feet in height, 62-of-his-104 field-goal attempts have come from behind the arc. Despite shooting so frequently from deep, he's converting a disastrous 19 percent on three-point attempts.
As a result, getting to the free-throw line has proved difficult thus far. Actually, it'd proven impossible until Thursday night. Pokusevski entered the game having played 295 minutes without taking a single free-throw attempt. Quite a streak — pointed out by Tom Haberstroh this morning after Pokusevski did the impossible and shot four from the charity stripe.
This is probably the biggest story in the NBA. Pokusevski took a free throw. And then another. And then another. And then another. Zero all season and then FOUR. I will tell my grandkids of this day pic.twitter.com/fRWHB49kaD
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) March 12, 2021
Even more shocking? He went 4-for-4. We're not saying he's the greatest free-throw shooter in NBA history but the stats suggest no one has been better. Perhaps this can be his thing. Take 14 or 15 from the line every year and make them all. Potential legend in the making.