Jeremiah Fears joins Oklahoma basketball royalty after NBA Draft selection

Jeremiah Fears officially reached Oklahoma basketball legend status.

The New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night took Fears, a former OU point guard, with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Fears became just the ninth Sooner drafted in the top 10 in OU men's basketball history and fourth in the last 20 years, joining Blake Griffin, Buddy Hield and Trae Young during that span. Fears was also the first OU player drafted since Young in 2018 and first under Porter Moser.

New Orleans Pelicans take Fears in top-10 of 2025 NBA Draft

Fears spent just one year at OU, but the university made as much of an impact on him as he did it. He wore a crimson Gucci suit to the NBA Draft to represent the Sooners and after he was drafted described how much it meant to reach such a royal status in OU history.

"Man it means the world to me just being able to kind of go out here and show the world what Oklahoma basketball can bring and continue to take steps in the right direction," Fears said during his TV interview with ESPN.

Like Young, Fears also spent just one season with the Sooners before heading to the NBA as a projected lottery pick. Although Fears is now about to start his rookie season in the NBA, he should actually be preparing for his first college season after reclassifying from the 2025 class to 2024 last year to start his OU career a year early. He'll still be just 18 years old when his NBA career starts.

Even as an underaged freshman, though, Fears still led the Sooners with 17.1 points a game last season. He also averaged 4.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 3.4 turnovers in 34 games. Fears drastically cut down on his turnovers late in the season, especially during the postseason, as the Sooners mounted a late run behind Fears to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four seasons under Moser.

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