Cason Wallace's Versatility Stood Out to OKC Thunder Front Office
The Oklahoma City Thunder are ahead of schedule in a massive rebuild. Thanks in large part to All-NBA selection, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder finished one win away from advancing from the play-in to the NBA Playoffs.
Typically, teams in this position are searching for one specific need to fill to complete the roster. Instead of drafting a specialist, OKC general manager Sam Presti opted to trade up two spots to select a jack-of-all-trades, Cason Wallace.
“We’re always looking for the best player for the Thunder,” Presti said. “Cason is a two-way guy who’s got great attributes physically. He’s got great length, and is physical in general. We just feel like he complements the group that we have.”
“Cason is a two-way player, smart, tough, resilient. A great human being that comes from a great family,” said Acie Law, Billy Gillispie’s former Texas A&M pupil that now serves as the Thunder’s Director of Identification and Intelligence.
Cason Wallace scored 11.7 points per game in the former McDonald’s All-American’s only season in Lexington. Kentucky’s primary point guard for the second half of the season, he ranked second in the SEC in assists (4.7) and steals (2.0) per game. Wallace was exceptional with, or without, the ball in his hands on both ends of the court.
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“This guy has high level basketball intelligence defensively off the ball,” said Presti. “His ability to read situations, rotate, anticipate things, break plays up.
“To me the one thing about him that I really respect and I appreciate is all the hard things about playing basketball, things that a lot of people just don’t want to do or have to push themselves to do, he does naturally. And I don’t know for sure where that comes from, but he’s got a lot of just natural instincts that really just kind of serve the values of the game.”
Acie Law added, “He’s an unselfish player, he plays to win. He doesn’t play for himself. Those are things that we value.”
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