ForTheWin mock draft: Thunder take ‘home run swing’ on Keon Johnson
The Oklahoma City Thunder could go in quite a few directions with this NBA draft, and much of it depends on their luck in the lottery.
Should they stay at No. 6, ForTheWin’s Bryan Kalbrosky thinks the Thunder should take a “home run swing.”
In his latest mock draft, Kalbrosky had the Thunder selecting wing Keon Johnson out of Tennessee.
“He showed flashes of star potential while at Tennessee, like scoring 27 points against Kentucky. He also has the elite athleticism that Oklahoma City’s front office has often valued in the prospect evaluation process.”
The Thunder have some good young pieces, but they still need a secondary scorer to pair with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The hope in Johnson would be that the 6-foot-6 forward could eventually be that guy to slot in next to SGA and Lu Dort.
Johnson averaged 11.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He was rather inefficient, shooting 44.9% from the field and just 27.1% from 3.
“The Thunder are collecting assets and with a ton of first-round picks available to use over the next few years, they can take a home run swing on Keon Johnson.”
With the Miami Heat’s pick at No. 19, the Thunder got Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin.
The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 47.1% from the field and made 41.8% of his 3.5 attempts from behind the arc per game.
“He has a fascinating mix of shooting and athleticism, which gives him the ability to score well near the rim and from the perimeter. With his size, it is not hard to imagine his path to becoming an even better player on the defensive side as well.”
Oklahoma City loves athletic players and the team needs more shooting, so there could be a fit there.
In the second round, the Thunder took Virginia’s Trey Murphy with the No. 31 pick. Over three seasons, the 6-foot-9 wing averaged 11 points and shot 40% from 3.
With pick No. 37, they got 6-foot-10 big Alperen Sengun out of Turkey. Sengun posted averages of 19 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game this season for Besiktas in the Turkish Super League.
The Thunder used the 55th pick on Juhann Begarin, a 6-foot-5 guard out of France. The 18-year-old averaged 11.6 points per game this season for Paris Basketball.
