Ohio State Buckeyes big Kaleb Wesson participated in the 2020 NBA Draft virtual combine process. His results bring interesting comparisons.
Wesson played three years for Ohio State before declaring early entry for the 2020 NBA draft. The prospect reportedly weighed 289 pounds at the end of his sophomore season but has cut that to 252 pounds at the combine.
He also measured at 6’9.25″ without shoes on as well as a 7’3.5″ wingspan and 9’3.5″ standing reach. Full results for the 21-year-old big man can be found below.
We plugged the results into the database at NBAthlete.com, which yielded some interesting comparisons and similarity scores for Wesson.
Based on all of his scores and his measurements, the two most similar big men yielded were Orlando Magic big man Nikola Vucevic (2010) and two-time gold medalist DeMarcus Cousins (2011).
Vucevic and Cousins were both first-round picks and have been NBA All-Stars during their professional careers thus far.
Cousins was a one-and-done prospect, so it is harder to compare the two outside of their combine results, but Vucevic is a particularly interesting comparison for Wesson for on-court production as well.
Vucevic and Wesson both played three seasons in the NCAA before they declared for the NBA draft, which suggests they were at similar points of their development.
Below, we can see the similarities between the two players during their junior years of college.
Note that all statistics above were recorded per 40 minutes, adjusting for total playing time.
Across the board, the numbers were strikingly similar and more often than not Wesson actually has Vucevic beat in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Wesson, on the other hand, turned the ball over more often and also recorded more fouls per game.
The most compelling difference in favor of the Ohio State product is that Wesson average more than triple the output from 3-point range that Vucevic did — while also managing to shoot at a considerably better percentage as well.
These results are particularly interesting because Vucevic was selected at No. 16 overall in the 2011 NBA draft. Vucevic was selected to his first All-Star team in 2019 and signed a four-year, $100 million deal to remain with the Magic.
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