Kansas basketball's Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun invited to NBA draft combine

LAWRENCE — Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun will have the chance to represent Kansas basketball at the NBA draft combine, the league has announced.

Agbaji and Braun are each coming off a season in college in which they helped the Jayhawks win a national championship, and among more than 70 prospects who are set to participate in the event next week. At the event, they'll interview with NBA teams, play in five-on-five games and participate in shooting and strength and agility drills. Various mock drafts have projected them as selections when the draft is held in June.

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“(Agbaji) went through the process last year like (Jalen Wilson) did and made the decision to come back, and when he came back he was going for the throat and he went for the throat,” Kansas coach Bill Self said at their team’s banquet in April. “He got it.”

Self, at that banquet, said about Braun: “When we recruited (Braun) we thought he’d be a good player. His mother thought he was a pro from day one. He probably needed to show us a little bit that he was, but, folks, there’s no doubt he is.”

Agbaji has routinely been viewed as a first round pick in the upcoming draft. Braun, on the other hand, seems to be in line for either a late first round pick or an early second round pick at this point. How they perform at the combine in Chicago at Wintrust Arena could very well go a long way in determining what’s in store for them as the draft process continues.

Agbaji was a senior guard this past season for the Jayhawks, and started all 39 of the games in which he played. He averaged 18.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game across those appearances. And among the many accolades he earned, he was a consensus first-team All-American, the Big 12 Conference’s player of the year and the most outstanding player of the Final Four.

Braun was a junior guard this past season for the Jayhawks, and started 39 of the 40 games in which he played. He averaged 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game across those appearances. And he was an all-conference player for Kansas, too.

“We all believe Christian is a first round talent,” Self said in a Kansas release last month, after Braun declared for the NBA draft. “We think he has a shot to go high in the draft and we are very hopeful that he does. If he doesn’t get the feedback, he wants to keep his amateur eligibility available to him and keep his options open to return to school. I honestly believe if Christian performs like he is capable of performing, he’s a guy who is talented enough that the feedback he’ll receive is one that he can be a high draft pick and then it will be Christian’s and his family’s decision to do whatever they want to do after that.”

Self, in a Kansas release after Agbaji declared last month, said: “We believe Ochai has a chance to be a lottery pick. The process that he went through last year, in returning, helped him tremendously. It’s obviously time for Ochai to move on and what a great way to go out — being a Big 12 champion, a Big 12 Tournament champion, a first-team All-American, the MOP of the Final Four and a national champion. I don’t believe anyone could have scripted a better ending to Ochai’s career at Kansas.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas' Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun invited to NBA draft combine