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Sunflower Showdown Podcast: Two Former Kansas State Players Reach NBA
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- Sunflower Showdown Podcast: Two Former Kansas State Players Reach NBA
(Evert Nelson (The Capital-Journal))
Kansas State basketball doesn't see a ton of its players reach the pros.
So it came as a shock to see two former Wildcats transition to the NBA this Draft season. The Detroit Pistons landed center Ugonna Onyenso via trade, while Nate Johnson signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder as a free agent.
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Roundtable Sports writers Jayden Armant and Liam Carson discussed this on the Sunflower Showdown podcast.
"He's a really good player off the bench, but this just kind of shocked me, and I'm pretty sure it shocked a lot of people. Just to see him getting drafted, even if it was in the second round," Armant said.
After hitting career lows at Kansas State in the 2024-25 season, Onyenso averaged 6.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks in a career year at Virginia. He was second in the country in blocks per game.
Armant believes that Detroit needs some help at center after Jalen Duren 's postseason display. The All-Star had a career season, but had one of the biggest postseason dips in league history. It forced the Pistons to rely on players like Duncan Robinson and Daniss Jenkins for production instead of their star big man.
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"Detroit does need depth at the big man position behind Jalen Duren," Armant said. "He had an all-star season, but he dropped off a crazy amount in the playoffs. He went from averaging 19 points to like 10.5, and was one of the weaker parts of the Detroit game plan. Just having the game plan around him, especially in a year where he was demanding a max contract extension, that kind of hurt him. So you'd imagine that they want to get some depth behind him."
Meanwhile, Johnson, the more recent Wildcat, joined the Thunder as a free agent. Johnson averaged 12.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.2 steals in his final collegiate season, rounding out the star trio of him, PJ Haggerty , and Abdi Bashir Jr. His two-way playmaking will fit perfectly into a Thunder team that is pretty much a complete unit from top to bottom.
"That's probably about the best place you can be in the NBA," Armant said. "When you talk about team basketball and an emphasis on defense, Nate Johnson is a great two-way player. He was a bit underwhelming on the offensive end. You would have loved to see him get going a little bit more with Abdi Bashir out and PJ Haggerty needing somebody beside him when David Castillo dipped in production. But still, [Johnson] averaged 2.2 steals; I think he led the nation at some point. He's a good defensive player, and I think he's going to thrive."
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com.
