Malik Reneau NBA Player Comparison

A More Realistic NBA Comparison: Trendon Watford

One of the younger brothers of former Hoosier legend Christian Watford, Trendon is a 23-year-old big man with a versatile skillset. At 6'8" and 235 pounds, the product of LSU has the size to bang with the big bodies down low. The physicality is definitely a plus, but his swift agility and wide array of tricks are his calling card and make him a useful weapon on the offensive side of the court. He is mostly keen to scoring in the low post area, but can capably knock down outside shots and can even dribble the ball up the floor if necessary. Watford is also a highly underrated passer, similar to Reneau.

Currently in the middle of his 1st season with the Brooklyn Nets (3rd NBA season overall), Watford has put up 2023-2024 averages of 12.2 MPG, 5.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 1.6 APG (to 0.8 TOPG). He has always shot the ball efficiently from the floor (career 53.8 FG%) and has connected on roughly 38% of his triples in the past two seasons. He might not be a flashy name, but Reneau could do a lot worse than matching the current career trajectory of Trendon Watford.

A Best-Case Scenario NBA Comparison: Jusuf Nurkic

Jusuf Nurkic would never be an NBA general manager's first choice at starting center (as evidenced by the Nuggets trading him to clear the way for a young Nikola Jokic back in the day), but the foreign big man has been really solid throughout his career. He controls the boards (career 8.8 per-game), can score in a plethora of manners (career 12.3 points-per-game) and has really grown as a secondary playmaker over the years (3.5 assists-per-game this season). He has never mistaken anyone for a rim protector, but he has the frame to strike fear into those considering entering his lair down low. Reneau is a tad smaller than Nurkic (Nurkic stands roughly 6'11" and weighs about 290 pounds), but he already has the type of bulk to overwhelm opponents.