3 college basketball players to keep an eye on for the OKC Thunder

Brandon Miller is one of the most interesting prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft for the OKC Thunder

For this final slot, it is obviously a difficult choice, from the Arkansas prospects in Anthony Black and Nick Smith to the Duke trio, and Keyonte George at Baylor, but I eventually settled on Brandon Miller because I find his skillet just so appealing for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While Miller is a 20-year-old freshman which will sound the alarm for many people, the OKC Thunder are not that far away from competing, and as we have seen with other players like Desmond Bane in Memphis, maybe we should not totally freak out over age. How many incredibly young players did OKC select that never materialized vs passing up on “older” prospects that turn into really good NBA players?

Brandon Miller is a 6’9 200-pound forward who averages 19 points, nine rebounds, an assist, and a block per game while shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc on seven attempts per game.

Synergy grades his defense as “very good” ranking in the 83rd percentile, to match his great offensive game.

While people worry about Miller’s ability to create his shot, I call it the “Jabari Smith Jr effect” sure Jabari Smith Jr has struggled in Houston due to his lack of self-creation and trouble playing alongside the Rocket guards, but what if he was playing with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey who are excellent playmakers with Giddey’s passing ability and Gilgeous-Alexander’s drive gravity to force a kick out to Miller who will be wide-open to knock down a triple.

If you have not caught on, the theme to this NBA Draft for me in regards to the Oklahoma City Thunder is shooting and projectable defense.

Brandon Miller’s NBA Draft range: 4-9

Who are some of your top prospects in college basketball to watch this year?

Note: as a reminder, Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, and the Thompson twins are not playing college basketball so that is why they were excluded from this list.