The rumor mill for the NBA Draft is chugging along, players are having private workouts with teams and the mock Draft boards are starting to gain shape, showing some sort of conviction.
A player that is high up on everybody’s board but is rarely talked about is Murray State’s Cameron Payne, who is currently slated to go at no.11 (Indiana Pacers) on our own Draft board. Oklahoma City have been eyeing him up and if he drops to the 14 pick held by the Thunder. ESPN’s Chad Ford is reporting that they might just take him.
As for the Thunder, since late last week there’s been a lot of buzz among rival GMs that the Thunder promised Cameron Payne they’d take him at 14. I don’t know how much of that is smoke, but he is a great fit at 14 and talent wise he may be the best pure point guard in the draft.
The Thunder are in a precarious position. They need to make this pick count because if they lose Kevin Durant a year from now, I don’t want Sam Presti the Thunder GM regretting drafting a player that doesn’t do anything. I’m not saying that Payne won’t do anything, I’m saying that OKC might need to prepare for the potential storm that may or may not come.
