NBA Draft Expert Details Thomas Sorber's High Ceiling

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a crowded rotation entering this season but still need to focus on developing youngsters throughout the 82 game regular season. Especially with this talented rookie class coming to Bricktown.

NBA Draft Expert for Locked on NBA Draft with No Ceilings, Tyler Metcalf, joined Locked on Thunder to discuss Oklahoma City's rookie class. From Nikola Topic, Brooks Barnhizer to Thomas Sorber the duo examined their long-term and short-term fit in Bricktown.

Metcalf remains high on Sorber, the No. 15 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, who the NBA Draft expert had as the second-best center in the class, closely trailing Duke big man Khaman Maluach, who was selected tenth by the Phoenix Suns.

"We saw the awesome rebounding numbers, we saw really effective and dynamic interior finishing stuff. We saw creative and intriguing passing stuff with him, out of the short roll, out of the post, some box and elbow stuff, he sees the floor well. I buy the shot long-term. I think the mid-range stuff is a little more kind of Day 1 ready, I think he's got really good touch. I would be surprised if he doesn't stretch it out to 3 at least in some respect. Not prolific, he is not going to be Karl Anthony-Towns, I don't think, but I think he is going to be able to hit a trail 3, pick and pop a couple times a game," Metcalf explained.

While the offensive upside is certainly there for Sorber, his frame and jaw-dropping wingspan give him elite defensive potential as the NBA Draft guru explains.

"But the real, real fascination that I had with him was as a rim-protector. Where opponents shot like 48% at the rim, when he was off the court, that jumped to 62-63%. Obviously, part of that was when he was on defense, they just plopped him at the rim and didn't ask him to defend in space a whole lot, but that is something to keep an eye on," the draft expert continued.