OKC Thunder NBA draft profile: Jalen Johnson – versatile forward with upside

Pro Comparison:

Johnson draws impressive comparisons such as Aaron Gordon, Rudy Gay, bigger RJ Barrett, Stephen Jackson, and TJ Warren. Each of these players possesses all-around games with the ability to excel as a two-way player.

Most of these players bring aggression to both ends of the court and none of them were ever saddled as being non-committal.

OKC Thunder fit:

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Again, the biggest red flag is concern over his commitment to the sport as he exited both IMG Academy (in senior year) and Duke (after 13 games) early. Doing that once especially during a pandemic can be forgiven but doing it back-to-back is harder to disregard.

Character is a quality the OKC Thunder put a great onus on. While Johnson meets the timeline and would fit the system would the brain trust be willing to ignore those situations?

The Duke forward is among those the team has worked out and could fall to the 16th pick especially if other clubs aren’t willing to overlook the commitment and desire concerns.

Ultimately, it might come down to how confident Sam Presti is Johnson can be developed in their system and shine to bring out his best qualities.