The Oklahoma City Thunder are going to finish with one of the top two records in the NBA. They are the favorites to win the title. And they still have a chance to land a lottery pick or two because of smart trades that have amassed a plethora of extra draft picks. If they leap up into the Top 3, they could even draft the next Kevin Durant: Aj Dybantsa.
Kevin Durant was a can't-miss prospect during his lone season in college at Texas. Playing for a middling Longhorns team, he lit the nation on fire with his scoring. He led all major conference teams in scoring, won National Player of the Year and was unstoppable when the games mattered the most in March.
Aj Dybantsa is following in Durant's footsteps
Version 2.0 has just come online. AJ Dybantsa surprisingly chose to play college basketball for Brigham Young University, a school that doesn't usually attract the top prospects. He has been nothing short of exceptional, leading the entire nation in scoring and dominating even in the same competitive Big 12 that Durant once eviscerated.
Come the Big 12 Tournament, Dybantsa dropped 93 points in three games, breaking Durant's freshman record. Playing on a Cougars team without its second-best player, he tried to will BYU all the way through a gauntlet of the nation's best teams in the Big 12.
The impressive performances were not done. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Dybantsa and BYU faced Durant's own alma mader, the Texas Longhorns. The narrative was unfolding as if it were writted ahead of time. And it was fitting that Dybantsa didn't win, but rather just like Durant lost in the first round.
Not to say it was Dybantsa's fault - he was sublime. He dropped 35 points and 10 rebounds, putting the Cougars on his back during an attempted second half comeback. The Longhorns were throwing double teams at him and doing everything they could to slow him down. In the end, they barely did enough to hold on for the win, ending Dybantsa's college career.
Could the Thunder land Dybantsa?
Now comes the NBA Draft Lottery. Would the Thunder love to draft the next Kevin Durant, a player who transformed their franchise and took them to the NBA Finals, a player who put them on the map after their move to Oklahoma and ensured they were a perennial contender? Of course they would. They don't need him to save their franchise, but it sure would be nice to have him.
Add Dybantsa to a team with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams and no one is touching the Thunder for years and years to come. The odds are slim, somewhere around one percent, but they could go up a few percentage points if the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers lose more games down the stretch.
It's a longshot, but it's not impossible. And if someone is grabbing the pencil to write the perfect story, Dybantsa becoming the next Kevin Durant in the town that KD built would be a phenomenal next chapter.