2022 NBA Draft prospect Christian Braun could be steal for Cavs

Earlier on Thursday afternoon, the 2022 Men’s NCAA Tournament tipped off, not including the First Four games, that is. The field seems to be pretty wide-open this year, with there being so much uncertainty and a ton of upsets in college basketball regular season play this go-round.

No matter what eventually shakes out, the NCAA Tournament, even with it not being a be-all, end-all, is often a good setting for prospect evaluation. Of course, good tourney performances don’t mean a player is going to be dynamite at the NBA level, but it’s something scouts have to consider.

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the 2022 NBA Draft in mind in this sense, it’s not certain yet if they’ll end up securing a postseason berth, and if they ultimately do, they wouldn’t be set to have a first-round pick in this summer’s draft. Cleveland is sixth in the Eastern Conference for now, but the East has such a logjam, and it’s unclear if they’ll be able to land a Top-6 seed, or if the Cavaliers would have to make the postseason via the play-in.

If the Cavs do make the playoffs, they’d be set to have just two second-round picks; barring a potential trade, they would not have a first-round selection.

Just with that possible scenario, for now, the likes of Bryce McGowens, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Alondes Williams and JD Davison are some potential prospects to consider for the Cavaliers in the early second round. They have the San Antonio’s second-rounder there, and Cleveland has the Miami Heat’s via the Indiana Pacers also, to come in the last handful of picks in the draft, likely.

That said, relating to the Spurs’ second, a player to watch in the tourney here is definitely Christian Braun of Kansas, who is set to play alongside his squad against 16-seed Texas Southern on Thursday night at 9:57 EST. That should be an easy W.

Braun could be a steal for the Cavs, if he were to be available in the second round, feasibly.

There’s seemingly some variance as to where Braun could be selected, but with him being a junior, I could maybe see him falling to Cleveland, or maybe they could potentially move up in the second to land him with other future picks or their other second involved.

With the possibility in mind, let’s take a look at Braun’s skill set that could translate.