NBA Draft Board: Texas’ Kai Jones

In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder own two picks just outside the lottery at No. 16 and No. 18 overall. One of the prospects who could fall in that range is Kai Jones, who most recently played at Texas.

Profile:

One of the most versatile defenders in this entire class, Jones projects to have the potential to lock down multiple positions. A two-year college player, he’s a 20-year-old forward who stands at 6-foot-11.

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Strengths:

From a pure measurement standpoint, Jones is everything you’d want in a modern forward. Not only is he nearly a 7-footer, but he can absolutely jump out of the gym, which will help him both offensively and defensively at the next level.

Jones will have the ability to play both the power forward and center spots in the NBA, making him a plug-and-play big. His ability to stretch the floor is attractive, knocking down 38.2 percent of his threes last season. On both offense and defense, Jones has the chance to be special.

Weaknesses:

One of the things that could hold Jones back early in his NBA career is strength. While he’s a great athlete, he might struggle against some of the big, physical centers at the next level.

We’ve also never seen Jones be a primary contributor at the college level. In both seasons at Texas, he came off the bench, averaging just 19.7 minutes per game. In the range that he will likely go, there should be an expectation that he has the potential to be a starter at some point, but we haven’t seen him play those kind of minutes or that type of role yet.

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