Former Kansas Jayhawks guard Christian Braun works out for NBA’s Indiana Pacers
Former University of Kansas men’s basketball player Christian Braun joined several other 2022 NBA Draft hopefuls in a workout with the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Braun, a 6-foot-7 guard who on May 24 finalized plans to keep his name in the draft rather than return for a fourth season at KU, ran through drills with Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas, Northern Iowa’s A.J. Green, Belmont’s Grayson Murphy, Purdue’s Sasha Stafanovic and Arizona’s Dalen Terry.
“It went well. It was a good workout. It was competitive, up and down a lot. (I) shot it well,” Braun said after the workout in an interview shown on the Pacers’ Twitter account.
Braun, who is considered a late first-round, early-second round pick, thus far has worked out for the Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers. That’s in addition to playing in a pair of 5-on-5 games at the recent NBA Combine in Chicago.
“My athleticism and show I can knock down shots. I think that’s important to me,” Braun, who averaged 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for KU’s 2021-22 national-title team, said when asked what he needs to show NBA officials in workouts leading up to the June 23 draft in Brooklyn, New York.
“I think they’ve seen everything else throughout the run (to NCAA title). I think it’s important for me to hit shots and play to my athleticism,” he added.
The Pacers own the sixth overall pick as well as the first and last picks in the second round.
Decision day for Wilson, McCullar
Meanwhile, Wednesday is the day KU forward Jalen Wilson and former Texas Tech guard Kevin McCullar are expected to announce if they will continue their college careers at KU in 2022-23 or remain in the draft.
College players who have declared for the NBA Draft have until 11 p.m., Central time, Wednesday to remove their names from the draft pool if they wish to continue their college careers.
Wilson, a 6-8 redshirt junior-to-be from Denton, Texas, according to Yahoo Sports has in recent weeks met with officials from the San Antonio Spurs, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Wilson worked out for the Bucks on Tuesday in Milwaukee.
Wilson’s name is not showing up in the two-round mock drafts despite the fact he played well at the NBA’s G league Elite camp and NBA Combine. He hit 7 of 11 threes in two games at Elite Camp, scoring a game-high 18 points in one of the two 5-on-5 games. At the Combine he was 1 of 7 from three in two games, averaging just under 10 points and 6.0 rebounds a game.
McCullar, a 6-6 guard, who redshirted one year at Texas Tech then played the last three seasons, announced on May 19 that he’d be transferring to KU if he exited the draft.
He played in one game at the G League Elite Camp, but was not invited to attend the Combine.
McCullar has worked out for the Utah Jazz, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets according to Stockrisers.com. McCullar also has worked out for Boston according to his own Twitter post.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 8:53 PM.
