Former University of Missouri basketball standout Kobe Brown was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of Thursday night’s National Basketball Association draft.
Brown was taken with the 30th and final pick of the first round. He becomes the 48th Missouri player to be taken in the NBA Draft and 16th first-round pick. He was the first Mizzou player taken since the Denver Nuggets selected Michael Porter Jr. with the 14th pick in the 2018 draft. Porter was a starting forward and key player on the Nuggets world championship team this season. Brown spent the evening with friends and family in his hometown of Huntsville, AL.
A versatile 6’8” 250-pound forward, Brown led the Tigers to a tremendous 2023 season under first-year coach Dennis Gates. He averaged 15.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 45 percent from 3-point range.
Brown was a All-Southeastern Conference First Team selection after leading the Tigers to a 25-10 record and fourth-place finish in the conference. Mizzou also earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
It was also a busy draft night for former St. Louis area high school basketball coach Corey Frazier, who once directed the programs at Maplewood-Richmond Heights and John Burroughs. Frazier was also the former head coach of the St. Louis-based Brad Beal Elite summer grassroots program.
Frazier has spent the past two seasons as a coach and skills development trainer for Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league for 16 to 20-year olds based out of Atlanta.
Frazier watched four players that he coached and helped develop drafted in the first round on Thursday night. Former OTE standout players Amen and Ausar Thompson were taken back to back by the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons with the fourth and fifth picks, respectively. The twins became the first set of brothers to be selected in the top five of the draft.
Former Brad Beal Elite stars Brandon Miller and Nick Smith were also selected in the first round by the Charlotte Hornets. Miller was the No. 2 pick overall while Smith was drafted at the No. 27 spot. During the summer of 2021, MIller and Smith led Brad Beal Elite’s 17U team to the championship game of the Nike EYBL Peach Jam. That team was coached by Frazier.
Both standouts spent their year in college in the SEC as Miller played at Alabama while Smith played at Arkansas. They will now be reunited in Charlotte as NBA rookies.
