Oklahoma ended its NBA Draft drought this week when Jeremiah Fears was picked seventh overall by the New Orleans Pelicans.
Fears became the first Sooners selected in the NBA Draft since 2018, when consensus All-American Trae Young went fifth overall to the Atlanta Hawks. Since then, Austin Reaves is the only other player to go from Oklahoma to the NBA, and that was in 2021 when he went undrafted but caught on with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent. In all, Fears snapped a string of six consecutive NBA Drafts without an Oklahoma player hearing his name called.
While the Sooners don't have another potential lottery pick on their roster — at least not at this point in the calendar — for the upcoming season, that doesn't mean OU will begin another long wait before it produces another NBA player. After the NBA Draft wrapped up its second round Thursday night, ESPN on Friday released its initial mock draft for 2026, which included potential candidates for the No. 1 pick, the top returning prospects to watch this year, a way-too-early top-10 mock draft — as well as a big board for the 2026 class, identifying the top-60 draft-eligible players ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Among the players on ESPN's early big board for the 2026 class was one newcomer on Oklahoma's roster. It wasn't Notre Dame transfer Tae Davis, who tested the draft waters this offseason, but rather forward Derrion Reid, the former five-star prospect who transferred to OU from Alabama. Reid -- who has three years of eligibility remaining -- checked in at No. 42 on ESPN's big board, making him a potential second-round prospect ahead of his sophomore season in Norman.
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The 6-foot-8, 220-pounder can certainly improve his stock with a breakout first season with the Sooners; after all, there was talk of him being a fringe lottery pick ahead of his freshman season with the Tide. But to do climb the big board, Reid will need to deliver on his five-star potential on Porter Moser's new-look roster.
(Photo: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images, USA TODAY Sports)
Reid, who was rated as a top-10 prospect in the 2024 class per the 247Sports Composite rankings, averaged just six points and 2.8 rebounds per game as a freshman at Alabama while making just three starts across 24 appearances and logging 14 minutes per game. That was due to a combination of Alabama's impressive depth across the roster and a nagging hamstring injury that caused Reid to miss 13 games, mostly in SEC play.
When healthy, Reid's talent has been evident. He scored in double figures six times as a freshman, including a career-high 12 points (on 6-of-10 shooting) against Creighton last December. That was a week and a half after an 11-point, seven-rebound performance against North Carolina. He also had 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, with three rebounds, in an SEC-opening win against Oklahoma on Jan. 4.
He has the potential to be a two-way star for Oklahoma this season, with the ability to guard one-through-four defensively as well as get downhill and attack defenders off the dribble offensively. He shot 45% from the field as a freshman but was remarkably efficient on two-point attempts, shooting 54.8% inside the 3-point arc, according to KenPom. He was even better at the rim, shooting 60% from close proximity, per T-Rank. Reid stands to improve as a 3-point shooter, as he connected on just 26.3% of his 38 attempts as a freshman—though he has shown a better shooting touch both in high school and on the EYBL circuit prior to his college career.
"We're so happy to have Derrion as a member of our program," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said in a release May 1 upon Reid's signing. "He's a high-level player we've been following for years and who we recruited in high school. He's long, athletic and skilled, and because of those traits is extremely versatile. He can play above the rim, he can score from outside, he can defend multiple positions and he's a highly effective rebounder.
"He has firsthand experience in the SEC, which is invaluable, and he's just going to keep getting better and better. He's going to help us tremendously."
And if he does, Reid could hear his name called in the NBA Draft next summer -- if he chooses to declare early.