2023 Lakers draft prospect profile: Kevin Obanor
After a disastrous 2021-22 season and a dismal start to this season, the Los Angeles Lakers drastically turned things around in February and became a very good team thanks to several trades.
They had the second-best regular season record in the NBA after the All-Star break, and they got all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by the Denver Nuggets.
While Los Angeles appears to be close to being a truly championship-caliber team, it does have a few needs, including improved frontcourt depth.
On Tuesday, it worked out a forward named Kevin Obanor from Texas Tech University who could have some potential.
Obanor is a decent-sized forward who can score
Obanor, who is 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, played both forward positions in college, but he projects to be more of a power forward in the NBA. He played his first three seasons of college ball at Oral Roberts University, then he transferred to Texas Tech, where he spent the last two years.
He is a capable scorer, both inside and on the perimeter. Although he shot just 33.1 percent from 3-point range this past season, he was at 46.3 percent as recently as the 2020-21 season, and he has good volume in that department, as he has averaged 3.6 attempts a game over his NCAA career.
Overall, Obanor finished his college career with an average of 13.7 points per game while hitting 50.1 percent of his shots. He is effective scoring with the ball and on the catch after being off the ball.
He also grabbed 7.0 rebounds per game over his five college seasons, and with an accuracy of 82.0 percent on 3.7 free throw attempts per game, he can produce points from the charity stripe.
Obanor is expected to be either a late second-round draft pick or an undrafted rookie, and a lot of it is because he lacks elite athleticism and isn’t outstanding in any one facet of the game.
