The 2020-21 season was largely viewed as a hurdle for the OKC Thunder to simply hop over in order for their full-fledged rebuild to officially begin during this upcoming summer.
For a team in tank mode, the offseason is where the most important tasks tend to occur, with the most notable point on the schedule being the NBA Draft. This year, the illustrious festivity will be taking place in late July and, on the night, Oklahoma City will be holding the rights to two first-round picks.
Now, while we are still a few months to go between now and draft day, it’s certainly never too early to start planning ahead, especially for a playoff eliminated team like the Thunder.
Because of this, it’s more than likely that the Thunder are already creating a big board for themselves, jotting down specific players they could be interested in drafting with one of their several picks.
In turn, it’s more than likely that the Thunder are already creating some sort of big board for themselves, listing specific players they could be interested in taking with one of their selections.
Recently, we here at TI went about creating our own list of three guards we believe should be high on Sam Presti and co.’s radar.
Today, we continue our big board series by discussing 3 wings the OKC Thunder should be interested in bringing aboard during the upcoming 2021 draft:
OKC Thunder draft prospect No. 1) James Bouknight
First on the big board, we find James Bouknight, the 6-5 shooting guard who spent his two full seasons at the collegiate level suiting up for the UCONN Huskies.
Taking on a bigger role within the offense during his sophomore campaign, the 20-year-old managed to up his point-per-game averages by more than five (18.7) thanks in large to his impressive array of scoring abilities ranging from dribble jumpers to acrobatic finishes at the rack.
With his 6-5 frame coupled with impressive length, Bouknight has the makings of a solid two-way wing at the next level and, while his 29 percent 3-point shooting percentage during the 2020-21 season may be something front offices could be concerned about at first glance but, considering he did shoot 35 percent during his freshman year and shoots 80 percent from the charity stripe, it appears his mechanics are fine, he just needs to find consistency from deep.