The Oklahoma City Thunder emerged as one of the teams in the NBA that has ascending young talent in the 2022-2023 season, and they could add to that core of players in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The Thunder hold the 12th spot in the NBA Draft Lottery that is coming up on May 16. In all likelihood, the Thunder will keep the 12th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft as a result of the NBA Draft Lottery. Oklahoma City has an 8% chance to land a top four pick, and a 1.7% chance of getting the first overall pick in the NBA Draft, according to Talkathon. If the Thunder do keep the 12th pick in the upcoming draft, there is a prospect that they should absolutely pounce on if he falls to that spot, and that players was one of, if not the best shooter in college basketball during the 2022-2023 season.
That player is Jordan Hawkins out of UConn. There were many things that needed to come together for UConn to be competitive and win its fifth national championship, and Jordan Hawkins taking the leap in his sophomore year what one of the main things. Spoiler alert: Hawkins did that and more.
In his freshman season, Jordan Hawkins shot 33.3% from three, and took a leap to 38.8% in his sophomore season, according to sports reference. He shot 35.3% overall in his freshman season, and took a leap up to 40.9% in his sophomore season.
Hawkins is a strong shooter when coming off of screens and when spotting up, that skill should immediately transfer to the NBA. The expectation should not be that he will create his own shots, at least not immediately. That is a skill that he can develop while playing on the same team as players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Luguentz Dort. Those three should be able do enough scoring while opening up scoring opportunities for Hawkins as well.
As far as the defensive side goes, Hawkins will need to gain weight, but he played under one of the better defensive coaches in college basketball in Dan Hurley and held his own in the Big East conference, which is not easy. Once he builds up a body that is made for the NBA by adding some weight, Hawkins should be able to hold his own, as he did in college.
The fit is there for the Thunder, and the possibility of Hawkins being available for Oklahoma City in the NBA Draft is very possible. UConn's last lottery pick, James Bouknight, was highly-touted because of his athleticism and potential. Hawkins should be viewed as a safer prospect that should be a contributor to a team early on in his career.
One interesting component to all of this is with Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault. He is well-connected to the UConn basketball program. He is known for being a former assistant for the Florida Gators, but Daigneault was a student manager for the UConn men's basketball program under Jim Calhoun from 2003-2007. Although Calhoun is no longer the coach at UConn, he is still around the program, and has a good relationship with current head coach Dan Hurley. Daigneault should be able to get all of the information he needs on Hawkins, and seeing how excited Hurley was when Hawkins announced that he would be entering the NBA Draft on ESPN, it would be a surprise if he does not give him rave reviews to NBA teams throughout the draft process.
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