Rookie Drake Powell Draws OG Anunoby, Herb Jones Comparisons in Brooklyn

At the time he was selected, it seemed evident that Drake Powell would end up as a massive steal for the Brooklyn Nets. Considering the fact that the franchise added the UNC product for the small price of paying Terance Mann's contract—who could be a difference-maker in his own right—there appeared to be no way that Powell wasn't a net positive for the franchise.

A prototypical three-and-D wing, Powell is likely the most NBA-ready of Brooklyn's record-breaking five-man draft class, but who should be considered a fair comparison ahead of his first official action in the Nets' preseason matchup with the Phoenix Suns in Macau, China?

Off the bat, Herb Jones emerges as someone with a close likeness to that of Powell. While the New Orleans Pelicans guard does have a one-inch advantage over Powell, the playstyles/on-court positioning are similar enough. Jones' stats may not be eye-dropping, but his impact is invaluable to New Orleans. There's reason to believe Powell could fill the same role as soon as this season as a Net.

That said, and this is meant as no disrespect to Jones, Powell is more of a freak athlete. He can switch onto anyone one through four, but Powell's bounce exceeds that of Jones, which is why a better immediate comparison may be Isaac Okoro.

A once target of Brooklyn, Okoro's athleticism and defensive capabilities are nearly identical to Powell's—it just took the fifth-overall pick in 2020 to acquire Okoro, hence why everyone is praising the Nets for the value they found late in the first round. While Okoro has never truly panned out, his foundation was quite close to what Powell's is now.

And then, of course, there's the "hopeful" comparison. The guy Brooklyn's fanbase wants Powell to eventually develop into, and it's unlikely there's a better model of this than OG Anunoby from his days with the Toronto Raptors. Obviously, now Anunoby is an integral part of the Nets' cross-town rival's title hopes, but before he arrived in the Big Apple, Anunoby's game was nearly identical to what Powell's is now. If, under the tutelage of Jordi Fernandez, Powell's offensive game can evolve, there's no reason he couldn't end up being just as important to a Nets postseason run as Anunoby has been to the New York Knicks.

There's no guarantee that Brooklyn hit a home run with Powell, but there are a lot of indications that point to the move made to acquire him being a massive development ahead of the franchise's second season rebuilding.