For the Washington Wizards, getting Kelly Oubre Jr out of Kansas through a trade involving the 15th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft could end up being one of the biggest steals of the night. Oubre is a talented wing player who has a high ceiling and can contribute right away to the Wizards next season coming off the bench.
The thing is, Oubre almost wasn’t a member of the Wizards. As a surprise to some, the talented Jayhawk slipped past the top 10 picks and was sitting right there for teams like the Indiana Pacers, Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder to select but nothing happened. Teams were moving, players were getting selected but Oubre sat still in the green room.
As he sat, there was a team working behind the scenes trying to bring him in. The Boston Celtics were looking to trade up from their 16th pick after their initial deal with the Charlotte Hornets to move up into the ninth spot failed and their prize wing player, Justise Winslow, went to the Heat.
Their backup plan? Kelly Oubre Jr.
Following from Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.
After a sometimes rocky freshman year at Kansas, Oubre was the 15th pick in this year’s NBA draft, taken by the Wizards after they were able to work out a deal with the Hawks. Oubre was high on the board of several lottery teams, including the Hornets at No. 9 and Heat at No. 10, but when he slipped into the teens, there was a clamor from teams to move up and grab him.
Boston likely would have taken him at No. 16, a source said, and once the Celtics failed to get Charlotte’s pick, they tried to move up for Oubre. Several other teams had interest, and a source told Sporting News that the Rockets (with the 18th pick) were trying to move up, too. But it wasn’t until Oubre’s agent, Nima Namakian, got a text message from Wizards vice president Tommy Sheppard on draft night, telling him that the Hawks had agreed to a deal, that Oubre finally knew how his situation would pan out.
Oubre ending up in Washington will be a great thing for the Wizards going forward. Beyond anything else, he’s a great wing player who can develop to be even better than another high pick the Wizards selected recently, Otto Porter. Eventually, one of these two guys has to go but it’s a good problem for Washington to have. There’s a ton of value at the three position in the nation’s capitol and if all goes according to the Wizards plans, one of those guys will be a backup to Kevin Durant.
The Celtics ended up settling with their picks and made interesting selections in Terry Rozier, who went way too high with the 16th pick and R.J. Hunter, who went way too low with the 28th pick. Both of those players are projects and seemingly are just trade assets for the C’s as they push forward to try to be a contender once again.
