Since going undrafted in the 2019, Memphis Grizzlies guard John Konchar has mainly been notable for being a statistical oddity. During his four years as the greatest Mastodon in Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne’s history, he became the only player in NCAA history to amass 2000 points, 1000 rebounds and 500 assists over the course of their career—for reference, Hall of Famers Jerry West and Sidney Moncrief are the only other guards to have even crossed both the 2000 point and 1000 rebound benchmarks. Before this year, there had only been four seasons in NBA history in which a player has had an offensive rebound rate above 10%, an assist rate above 15%, a steal rate above 2% and a True Shooting above 65%; Charles Barkley posted three of them. The fourth? Konchar! As a rookie! By the numbers, Konchar looked like one of the most productive players in basketball history; by the eye test, Konchar looked like an econometrics TA or an information technologist.
Last night, though, Konchar transcended his status as a niche Draft Twitter meme and entered the mainstream with a 15 point, 17 rebound masterclass against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In this breakout performance, Konchar paired his sparkling counting stats with efficient shooting (6-7 from the field, 3-4 from three), positive on-court impact (the Grizzlies outscored Minnesota by 15 points during Konchar’s 30 minutes), and genuine highlight-reel material (he crammed a putback dunk on Karl Anthony-Towns). While Kon-heads have long preached the good word, last night’s performance represented Konchar’s introduction to a wider audience beyond the small group of sickos (i.e. me) who have been irredeemably Jitty-pilled.
He’s here and he’s perfect.