Why California's Jaylon Tyson Could be a Good Fit for OKC Thunder in the NBA Draft

The Oklahoma City Thunder will be in a unique position when the NBA Draft rolls around later this month.

After finishing with 57 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, OKC currently owns a lottery selection in the 2024 draft and will have the chance to add a player who can make an instant impact.

While there are a handful of prospects in the class who seem to be popular mock draft candidates for the Thunder, like French wing Tidjane Salaun, there are other players in the group who also have traits that would allow them to thrive in Oklahoma City.

California guard Jaylon Tyson, a third-year junior from Plano, TX, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has great production and solid intangibles that would seemingly make him a good fit with Mark Daigneault's squad.

In his lone season with the Golden Bears, Tyson averaged 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 46.5% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. Measuring at 6-foot-5 and a half inch without shoes and weighing 218 pounds at the NBA Combine, Tyson has good positional size as a guard or wing and has the versatility to play within Daigneault's system.

Coming out of high school, Tyson was a 4-star prospect, rated the No. 36 overall prospect in the 2021 recruiting class.

Prior to his time at Cal, Tyson spent his freshman season at Texas and his sophomore year at Texas Tech. In 2023 with the Red Raiders, the talented guard averaged 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 48.3% from the field and 40.2% from 3-point range.

While Tyson's 3-point percentage did fall during his final year in college, the former Longhorn and Red Raider was playing in a bad offense without many other offensive players who could draw defenders attention from the Golden Bears' lead guard.

Additionally, Thunder shooting coach Chip Engelland has done solid work improving the 3-point shot of multiple players on Oklahoma City's roster and could help Tyson, who has already shown signs of strong perimeter shooting ability, become more consistent from deep.

While Tyson is commonly being selected in the back end of the first round in many mock drafts, OKC General Manager Sam Presti has shown in the past that he is willing to draft a player prior to their expected range if he believes in that prospect's skill set.

The Thunder could also trade back in the draft to pick up more assets and still select Tyson if Presti is set on the 2024 All Pac-12 honoree.

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