Auburn's Jabari Smith is likely the top pick in NBA Draft, but how does he feel about OKC Thunder?

Jabari Smith barely got off the bench as a freshman on the Sandy Creek varsity team in Georgia, but even then, Sandy Creek coach Jon-Michael Nickerson could see Smith’s remarkable upside.

“I was emailing high-major coaches that he was gonna be a top-30 player in the country if he kept progressing,” Nickerson said.

More like top-10.

Smith signed with Auburn as a five-star prospect in the 2021 class, and after his standout freshman season with the Tigers, Smith is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, which is less than three weeks away.

If the Magic passes on Smith at No. 1, the Thunder would be in line to select Smith with the No. 2 pick. And what a match that would be, pairing Smith, a 6-foot-10 forward with a buttery jumper, alongside playmaking guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. Oh, and on the other end, Smith has the length, athleticism and tenacity to defend multiple positions.

Before the NBA lottery, when the draft order was unknown, Nickerson said he and Smith had a conversation about the Thunder.

“Man, I would love to go there if that’s an option,’” Nickerson remembered Smith saying.

Smith raised to play in NBA

Smith grew up in Fayetteville, Georgia — 25 miles south of Atlanta — and he’s never really left that part of the country.

He attended nearby Sandy Creek High School, where he stayed all four years, before enrolling at Auburn, just 100 miles southwest of Smith’s hometown.

“You can tell just by staying at his local public school and not being courted to going to one of those big prep schools that he’s just real down to earth, loves his friends and teammates,” Nickerson said. “He’s just a simple kid.”

Nickerson credited Smith’s parents, Jabari Smith Sr. and Taneskia Purnell.

Jabari Sr. was a two-time All-SEC player at LSU, and he was drafted by the Kings with the 45th pick in the 2000 NBA Draft.

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Jabari Sr. was a role player in Sacramento, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Nickerson described Jabari Jr. as a superstar with a role player’s mentality.

“He’s gonna be front row when you’re lighting him up in film,” Nickerson said. “Great eye contact. You tell him one thing, he fixes it. Just very attentive to the details.”

Smith was slow and skinny as a freshman, according to Nickerson, but by his junior year at Sandy Creek, Smith was on the national radar.

“I watched him play as a ninth grader and saw, wow, he’s got some physical tools and some talent, but never did I think he would progress to be what he is,” said Auburn assistant Ira Bowman, who recruited Smith. “And I think all that credit goes to him and his dad.”

As a high school senior, Smith averaged 23.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. Sandy Creek lost in the Georgia Class 3A state championship game.

Smith was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia, and he was selected to the McDonald’s All-American Game.

“I feel like I should be way more surprised,” Nickerson said of Smith’s path, “but I’m not because I was around it every single day.

“Some practices I’m just like, ‘Yo, this s--- is not normal.’”

Pearl calls Smith 'an old soul'

Smith just turned 19 last month. He’s six months younger than Paolo Banchero and a full year younger than Chet Holmgren — the other two players who are in the No. 1 pick discussion.

“He’s young, but he’s got an old soul,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “He was one of the most disciplined players I’ve ever coached, and I’ve been doing this since, I don’t know, 1978.”

That’s when Pearl became a student assistant at his alma mater, Boston College. Pearl has been Auburn’s head coach the last seven seasons, and he’s coached recent first-round draft picks Chuma Okeke (No. 16 in 2019) and Isaac Okoro (No. 5 in 2020).

Smith should easily be the best of that group.

“He’s not just the No. 1 player taken, he’s gonna be an NBA All-Star,” Pearl said. “He’s the best jump-shooting big in college basketball in the last 10 years. The fact that his numbers kinda mirror KD’s, it’s not a coincidence.”

That’s lofty praise, especially to the ears of Thunder fans, who witnessed Kevin Durant’s greatness for eight seasons.

Pearl might be prone to hyperbole, though.

Durant turned in one of the best freshman seasons of all-time. He averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Longhorns in 2006-07 on 47% shooting, including 40% from 3-point range.

Smith best compares to Durant in his lanky body type and dead-eye 3-point shooting.

Smith shot 42% from deep at Auburn on 5.5 attempts per game. He averaged 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

Smith was a consensus All-American and the SEC Rookie of the Year.

“All he cared about was winning,” Pearl said. “He knew that he had to do a job as an individual, but he affected everybody else around him. As an 18-year-old, he almost acted like a senior.”

The Tigers went 28-6 and finished atop the SEC (15-3). That included a regular-season win over Kentucky.

“I’ve never had the best player on the floor when I’ve played Kentucky,” said Pearl, who also coached at rival Tennessee for six seasons. “We’ve beaten them, I don’t know, seven of the last eight years or something like that, but this time I had the best player on the floor. He knew it, our guys knew it, and they knew it.”

As a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Auburn was upset in the second round by No. 10 seed Miami.

Smith grabbed 15 rebounds, but he shot just 3-of-16 from the floor in the loss.

“He may be a nice kid, but he’s a tough kid,” Pearl said. “He’s got a confidence and a swagger about him that a lot of nice kids don’t have.

“But I’ll tell you when he gets angry. He gets angry when he loses. He competed at everything. I don’t care what drill we were in. He competed at stretching. He did it the right way every time. He cut no corners.”

Bowman likened Smith to the U.S. Postal Service.

“Rain, sleet or snow, he’s gonna show up,” Bowman said.

Auburn star's 'game fits the NBA'

Bowman is aware of the Thunder’s workmanlike reputation, and he said Smith would have no problem blending in.

“Never since I’ve been (at Auburn), and I’ve been here five years, has a kid come into our culture of hard work and immediately established himself as the hardest worker,” Bowman said. “That hadn’t been done.”

As for the basketball fit?

“His game fits the NBA game perfectly,” Pearl said.

The Thunder was the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA last season. Smith projects as an instant catch-and-shoot threat alongside Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey, whose creation abilities should take pressure off Smith, whose ball handling and playmaking ability for others has been questioned by scouts.

Pearl said Smith will improve as a one-on-one scorer, and at Auburn there were already glimpses of that. Smith’s size and high release allows him to shoot over most any defender. Once defenses sell out on his shot, Smith can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim.

He’s also lethal as a mid-range scorer, with a Dirk-esque one-footed fadeaway shot. Some have compared Smith’s offensive game to that of Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

Smith is most known for his 3-point shooting, but his former coaches talked as much or more about his defense. He’s comfortable defending on the perimeter, with active hands and quick feet, and he should become a better post defender as his body matures.

“Defensively, people are gonna be shocked at how good he is,” Bowman said.

“If you go by mocks and what people are saying between him, Chet and Paolo, he’s obviously the best shooter, but outside of that, he’s the guy that can guard any position,” Bowman added.

Smith is likely Orlando-bound, according to most reports, but much can change leading up to the June 23 draft.

If not Orlando, Nickerson loves Smith’s fit in Oklahoma City.

“He needs to be around winners,” Nickerson said. “If he’s around dudes that wanna win and work their a----- off, you’re gonna get the best of Jabari.”

2022 NBA Draft

7 p.m. Thursday, June 23 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. (ESPN)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NBA Draft 2022: Why Jabari Smith 'would love to go' to OKC Thunder