Shaedon Sharpe wants to be the best player ever, has not spoken to SGA about OKC

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in an interesting position in the 2022 NBA Draft, controlling the 2nd pick as well as the 12th pick, making them prime candidates to trade up on Draft day given their treasure chest of future draft picks. Could they be targeting Shaedon Sharpe? Well, that is one of many rumors out there right now regarding Sam Presti’s draft strategy.

NBA PR has begun making 2022 NBA Draft prospects available to the media, and last week we were able to talk with Shaedon Sharpe who went to Kentucky but never played a game for the Wildcats. Sharpe is the mystery man of the draft, with one of the highest upsides in the class but a scary floor without a baseline of him playing above the high school level.

However, Sharpe was able to talk to the media about his pre-draft process and decision-making over the last year. I still have the guard in the top five of this draft, and I believe he will be one of the best players selected on Thursday.

From his deep routed connection with Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, his decision to not play a game in college, and how his workout in Bricktown went, Sharpe’s media available offers a lot of takeaways.

Shaedon Sharpe speaks to the media about his pre-NBA-Draft process, connection with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and never playing a game at Kentucky

The Oklahoma City Thunder are known for taking risks and going outside the box, so their interest in Shaedon Sharpe is not surprising. Not only do many grade Sharpe as one of the best in class, with perimeter shooting, athletic ability, and defensive potential being his strengths to this point in his career. With a good developmental home, Sharpe could be an NBA star.

Shaedon Sharpe’s current representation also represented Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at home time, and while Sharpe has a relationship with SGA, he says the two “have not talked about OKC yet” Sharpe said the feedback he got after his OKC workout was “pretty good” that the Thunder wanted him to “compete, get my teammates involved.”

Shaedon Sharpe told us on June 17th he conducted pre-draft workouts with Detroit, Charlotte, San Antonio, and Portland, while he is slated to work out with the Pacers as well.

The mystery prospect made his goals clear, “I see myself being one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball” while rattling off his goals as “Rookie of the Year, All-Star, then later, Hall of Fame.”

You have to love the confidence of the unknown prospect who says he does not have any regrets after not playing a game at Kentucky “Everything happens for a reason, I don’t regret not playing, I’m working out with NBA teams now, so I guess I did something right.” He added that while he talked with his camp and Kentucky head coach John Calipari, the decision to not play was Sharpe’s at the end of the day.

While I do not think Sharpe will fall to the 12th pick, I do believe he will fall into a range that OKC can comfortably trade up from 12 to get Sharpe if they so choose.