Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 options for pick No. 53 in 2018 NBA Draft

1. Malik Newman, SG — Kansas

If the Thunder were looking for a player that could put points up for them, that would be Malik Newman. Newman averaged 25 points per game in his senior year in high school and 29.2 points per game in his junior year.

He was a five-star player coming out of high school and was the No. 10 overall prospect in a class that had Ben Simmons (No. 1), Brandon Ingram (No. 3) and Jaylen Brown (No. 4).

He did not have a good freshman season at Mississippi State, averaging 11.3 points with 2.2 assists per game, and transferred to Kansas where his late run in the tournament led him to declare for the draft.

At Kansas he averaged 14.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He can play off the dribble, pull up in transition, has the moves to get to the hole from anywhere and can light it up on any given night.

The problem is that in the NBA it is hard to make your way when you’re a microwave type player. What makes him a good prospect for the Thunder is that they need a microwave scorer to come off the bench.

In the years of Kevin Durant and Westbrook, they had a sixth man to complement both.

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Players like James Harden, Kevin Martin, Reggie Jackson and Dion Waiters were all sixth men during that period. The Thunder will need a sixth man like those group of players to help get points off their bench, and Newman could be that guy if he’s still available at No. 53.