Christian Braun, Kennedy Chandler impress in vertical at NBA Combine

The 2022 NBA Draft Combine is underway in Chicago, Illinois from May 18-20 as the nation’s top basketball prospects are performing a number of drills, tests, and workouts to strut their stuff in front of NBA scouts and decision makers. Two players were turning heads on Wednesday were former Tennessee Volunteer guard Kennedy Chandler and former Kansas small forward Christian Braun.

Chandler posted a max vertical leap of 41.5 inches on Wednesday. He also impressed in the lane agility drill–posting a 10.73 in that one–good enough for fifth place currently. The freshman All-American also posted a shuttle run of 2.89 seconds–good enough for second place currently.

Braun was a close second in the max vertical leap drill, posting an impressive 40-inch vertical leap. In the standing vertical leap drill, Braun also tied for second–posting a leap of 33.5 inches. Both of the max vertical leap numbers for Chandler and Braun were the highest in that respective category thus far at the NBA Draft Combine.

If you want to check out the other stats from various drills at this year’s combine–you can find them on the NBA’s Draft Combine page here.

The latest NBA Mock Draft by Gary Parrish of CBS Sports has Chandler being selected in the first round at the 22nd overall selection by the Memphis Grizzlies. His mock draft has Christian Braun being selected just a few picks later in the first round at the 25th overall selection–by the San Antonio Spurs.

Braun was a critical ingredient to the Jayawks’ run to the national crown this season. Not to mention–he played big in his team’s biggest game of the season this year-the NCAA Championship Game against the North Carolina Tarheels–pouring in 12 points and corralling 12 rebounds. He also nailed a number of clutch three pointers throughout the rest of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Braun helped to put the Villanova game out of reach with just under three minutes left, drilling an off-balance three as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put Kansas up for good, 75-59. He also poured in 12 points against the Miami Hurricanes in the Elite Eight, connecting on 50 percent of his shots from three-point range.

The Kansas native is another shining example of the excellent coaching in the Jayhawks’ program. Braun’s stats improved in nearly every stat category during his three years under Bill Self’s staff in Lawrence. Last season, the 6-foot-7, 218-pound small forward averaged 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game, while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from beyond-the-arc. Braun earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors on Dec. 6, 2021 after he exploded for a career-high 31 points against the St. John’s Red Storm.

It will be exciting to see where both prospects end up being selected in the 2022 NBA Draft. This year’s draft will be held on Thursday, June 23.