Nate Oats weighs in on 3 Alabama players who entered 2020 NBA Draft
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Alabama has had 3 players declare for the 2020 NBA Draft thus far — Kira Lewis Jr., John Petty and Herb Jones.
Those were 3 key players for the Crimson Tide this past season, so coach Nate Oats is likely hoping at least 2 of them return to school.
On Wednesday, he spoke at length about the 3 players, saying he thinks Jones will come back, Lewis will likely go pro and Petty is a wildcard (via 247Sports):
“Herb was hurt all year. It’s hard to get an eval on Herb,” Oats said. “Defensively, I think he can play in the league for 15 years. He’s got to his offense up to par to play in the league. I think that will be pretty much the feedback we get, and I think that he kind of knows that, too.
“Kira, it seems like, it’s not inevitable he’s first round, but he’s probably in enough from the feedback I’m getting. Him and his family are going to have to make a decision. Now, he’s still young, too. He’s only 18 years old, so that’s a different deal. I think him and his parents are going to have to decide what they want to do. But if he was going to be in the big league all year, it probably would make sense. If you’re going to be up and down or more in the G League, I think you’re better off staying in college than playing in the G League.
“But that’s the feedback they’ve got to try to figure out. Whoever drafts him, are they going to leave him with the big team, or are they going to try to assign him to the G League? I think that’s what they’ve got to figure out. So, they’ve got to get an agent that really knows what’s going on to help them sort through that whole process.
“Petty’s the intriguing one where he had a really good year compared to what he’d had his first two years. He’s that guy that they’re looking for in the league right now. He’s got length, he can shoot and he showed he can guard this year. He’s still got to put weight on and do different stuff. I think they’ve got him projected anywhere in the second round to not drafted.
“Well, if he’s not going to get drafted — I think there were 76 underclassmen last year who left their name in the draft that didn’t get drafted. He doesn’t need to be one of those this year. If he’s not going to get a guaranteed contract, I think him and his mother are smart enough to where he should come back. It’s just can you get the proper feedback, and it’s harder without being able to work out. But you can still get the feedback from teams.”
The draft isn’t until June, but the deadline for making a final decision will come before that. We’ll see what this trio of Alabama stars ultimately decides.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
