Every draft prospect in every sport draws comparisons to former and current pros, but this one for former Oklahoma point guard Jeremiah Fears actually made a lot of sense.
FanSided NBA Draft experts Christopher Kline and Lucas Johnson recently revealed their first mock draft since the lottery on "The Sixer Sense" podcast, and Johnson predicted Fears to go No. 6 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Washington Wizards because of Fears' similarities to John Wall.
NBA Draft expert compares Jeremiah Fears to John Wall
The Wizards had a crushing night during the NBA Draft Lottery. Depite having the second-best odds to land the top overall pick after an 18-win season, the Wizards dropped outside of the top 5 to No. 6. Kline wrote that it's a deep class so it shouldn't be detrimental to the Wizards, but they still need a big-time talent to help turn things around.
Johnson mentioned multiple options for the Wizards to take, but he ultimately decided Fears was the best option because of their history with a point guard like Wall, who played in Washington for 10 years after being the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.
"Something feels right about watching high-octane guards in DC," Kline wrote. "The John Wall era, while ultimately a bit disappointing, was a defining period of Wizards basketball. If Washington has a chance to line up the next John Wall — a twitchy, dynamic downhill creator with a blistering first step and a genuine flare for the dramatic — why wouldn't it?"
Fears has consistently been a top-10 pick in recent mock drafts, including No. 5 overall to the Utah Jazz by multiple outlets right after the lottery. Scouts love Fears' upside at only 18 years old after reclassifying from the 2026 class to 2025 last summer and starting his college career a year early. He led the Sooners with 17.1 points a game in his lone season at OU.
"This is an optimal outcome for the Wizards," Kline wrote. "Fears was an absolute beast at Oklahoma, and Washington is a rebuilding team still in search of that totemic, franchise-defining talent. While Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly and Bub Carrington are all solid building blocks, Fears is a capital-D Dude. He has that 'it' factor, and if he hits at the next level, Fears has a chance to be the foundation upon which the next generation of Wizards basketball is built."
The 2025 NBA Draft starts on Wednesday, June 25.
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