Will Trae Young be another OU top-10 draft pick this spring?
By Chip Rouse
On Thursday this week, Trae Young’s dream of playing in the NBA will come one very large step closer to becoming reality.
Related Story: Will Trae Young do better than Kyler Murray in draft position?
In what has become a big spring for draft picks out of the University of Oklahoma, the one-and-done Sooner basketball superstar is a very good bet to become the third OU athlete to be drafted in the top 10 of a major professional draft this year.
Most NBA Draft experts have Young going within the first 10 picks in the 2018 NBA Draft, which convenes Thursday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Exactly who will win Young’s services is still up for debate, but it is generally believed that one of the first 10 teams in the draft order will take the Sooners’ career freshman scoring leader off the board.
Reigning Heisman Trophy-winner Baker Mayfield got the 2018 Sooner draft parade started when he became the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, the top pick of the Cleveland Browns.
A week ago, it was Kyler Murray’s turn to become a high draft selection. Murray, who like Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma from another Power Five team with the hope of playing quarterback for the Sooners, also happens to be a very good baseball player. The Oakland Athletics thought he was worthy of the No. 9 overall pick in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft.
The Athletics drafted and signed the dual-sport Oklahoma star with the unusual understanding that he was going to play one more season of college football at OU, where he is expected to be he starter at quarterback this fall replacing Mayfield.
Now it is Young’s turn to take that big step as a former Sooner superstar moving up to the next level.
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
Young will not be the highest NBA Draft pick out of OU. That currently belongs to Blake Griffin, who was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2009 draft. Six previous Sooner basketball stars since 1970 have been drafted No. 6 overall or higher.
The great Wayman Tisdale. whose freshman scoring record Young broke this past season, was taken No, 2 overall in 1985, Garfield Heard was the third overall pick in 1970 and Alvan Adams was a No. 4 pick in the 1975 NBA Draft. Stacey King in 1989 and Buddy Hield in 2016 were both No. 6 overall picks.
The jerseys of four of these former great OU players are hanging from the rafters at Lloyd Noble Center, and Young’s No. 11 jersey may join them at some time in the future.
Trae Young may not be the highest draft selection ever taken from Oklahoma in the NBA Draft, but he will for sure be the highest drafted Sooner player who played just one season, as a freshman, in an OU uniform.
Young not only led the Sooners in scoring and assists this past season, but also led all of Division I college basketball in those two categories. He was the talk of college basketball over the first half of the 2017-18 season..
Last week, Dan Wolken of USA Today wrote this about Young’s sensational freshman season and his NBA prospects:
"“Here’s all we really know: His good moments in college are better than anyone else’s in the (NBA Draft) lottery. His bad moments are probably scarier for NBA teams than anyone else’s.“Young argues what he went through at Oklahoma — including the sudden fame he gained in a short period of time — gives him a leg up on other prospects who didn’t have near the amount of pressure on them. Like everything else in the draft, whether you interpret that as a reason or an excuse for his late-season struggle is totally in the eye of the beholder.”"
Another thing we know is that Young’s superlative basketball skills — excellent shooter and passer — translate very well for success in the NBA. On Thursday night we will find out which NBA team will get the benefit of those combination skills.