The Atlanta Hawks were waiting to go on the clock in the 2025 NBA Draft when they got an extended mention. It was during the No. 7 overall pick, where the New Orleans Pelicans selected Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears.
Fears is the first Oklahoma Player drafted since Young was made the No. 5 overall pick of the 2018 draft.
He is fourth OU player selected in the last 30 years.
Former Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin and Golden State Warriors 2-guard Buddy Hield are the others. Young has been a big supporter of Fears long before the pre-draft process began.
“Y’all gonna know my young killa name!” Young posted on X in December 2024. “JEREMIAH FEARS!!!
ESPN’s Malika Andrews called Fears “swaggy.” He profiles similarly to Young in some ways.
“Fears is a dynamic guard with a twitchy attacking style and a knack for coming through as a clutch shooter,” Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor wrote on June 12. “He was one of college basketball’s youngest freshmen, and it showed with his shaky decision-making as a shooter and passer. But he has a feel for shot creation and a handle that lets him get anywhere on the floor, so he may only need time to emerge as a star.”
Jeremiah Fears lands with ‘cursed’ franchise
Fears also has ties to another Hawks (rising) star following his being drafted to New Orleans, Dyson Daniels. That could prove problematic for the incoming rookie, Fears, as he begins his NBA journey.
“That organization's cursed,” Daniels told Fischer in an interview published on December 13. “Every year there's something new. I’m happy I’m not there anymore.”
“The curse, man. I had like four or five ankle injuries down there as well. There's something down in that water down there or something. They got hamstrings. They got knees. They got concussions and stuff as well. They get everything down there. I don’t know what it is. Playing hard I guess?”
Daniels lauded the additional opportunity he received after joining the Hawks.
That “curse” also saw former Hawks star Dejounte Murray suffer two significant injuries, first breaking his hand early in the season, and then tore his Achilles to end his first campaign in the bayou early.
The hope for the Pelicans, Fears, and Young, for that matter, is that his “young killa’ is able to overcome what has been an ongoing issue for the Pelicans.
He will get to play with new point guard Jordan Poole and former No. 1 pick Zion Williamson.
Fears also joins a backcourt that includes former first-round pick and 2024 national champion Jordan Hawkings in the Pelicans’ backcourt with a pair of intriguing wings in Herb Jones and Trey Murphy.
If they could just keep them all healthy.