Which NBA Team Would Best Fit Amari Allen if He Stays in the Draft? Just a Minute

Amari Allen is officially one week away from making the biggest decision of his basketball career.

May 27 at 11:59 p.m. ET is the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA Draft. The forward said at the NBA Combine last week that he'd need a promise to be picked in the first round by an organization, otherwise he'd return to Alabama.

Allen's name has appeared in the first round of mock drafts since before the NCAA Tournament tipped off. He was at one point in the range of a lottery pick, but his numbers went down towards the end of the season, and he's mostly been considered a late first-round to an early-second round pick over the last couple of months.

In terms of the mock drafts that were released after the NBA Combine, NBC Sports (No. 23 to the Atlanta Hawks), Bleacher Report (No. 26 to the Denver Nuggets) and CBS Sports (No. 29 to the Cleveland Cavaliers) each have Allen being picked in the first round. Meanwhile, ESPN has him going just outside of Day 1 at No. 32 to the Memphis Grizzlies and the same is said for Yahoo Sports, which has Allen being picked 34th by the Sacramento Kings.

While each of these teams could benefit from Allen's versatility, head coach Nate Oats pointed out during the regular season that perhaps Allen's best fit resides with an organization currently playing in the Western Conference Finals.

"The NBA is looking for those big guards that are multidimensional, they're very tough," Oats said. "You kind of go look at OKC [Thunder], they're the defending world champs, and you look at who they put on the floor, everyone plays both sides of the ball. That leads to [the other team] trying to copy who's winning, and that team just won it and was on a record pace at the beginning of the year.

"Everybody they put on the floor plays both sides of the ball, competes, shares the ball, ultra-competitive high character guys. Amari's ultra-competitive, high character, shares the ball on offense, makes great decisions, rebounds, defends, he's kind of what the league's looking for. So we knew he was pretty good. I don't know that anybody projected he would be quite this good, but just the fact he competes on every play makes him a pretty good player.

"These NBA guys are supposed to be drafting people that impact winning... The NBA is going a lot more towards having everybody on the team be all about winning. Amari’s all about winning, people in the NBA are interested in that. He’s got real good size, skill and athleticism."

One potential flaw in the Thunder being the ultimate fit for Allen is their current draft picks. Oklahoma City holds the No. 12 and No. 17 spots, both of which are probably a bit too early to select him.

However, trading back is a very common practice in drafts, and since he already has the 12th pick, don't be surprised if OKC general manager Sam Presti makes a move with the 17th. This draft class has been praised for how deep it is, but waiting for Allen later in the first round could be worth it.

The Thunder have some of the best depth in the league, as it finished the regular season eighth in bench points per game (41.8). That said, a lot of the bench talent comes from guards Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace and Jared McCain. The Thunder could use some help at either forward spot, which Allen can provide.

On top of it all, Allen actually attended Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in Oklahoma City on Monday, via his Instagram story.

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