As the lone snub from this list that didn’t get a true shot in the NBA that really should’ve was the 5-foot-11 former Texas point guard A.J. Abrams. Since he left the Longhorns basketball program in 2009, Abrams tried his hand overseas, mostly in Italy and Greece. He went undrafted after trying to take his talents to the next level in 2009, but nothing came of it domestically.
There was a true rise to prominence, though, after Abrams had a scoring breakthrough alongside KD in 2006-07. Abrams was a Wooden Award finalist during the 2008-09 season. He would also be an All-Big 12 Tournament Team honoree in 2008 and 2009 and he received general All-Big 12 honors in both years.
During that solid 2006-07 season with the Longhorns and KD, Abrams played in 35 games (and started in all of them). He averaged 15.5 points per game, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.3 steals, while shooting 39.7 percent from the field, 42.3 percent from beyond the arc, and a sparkling 92.4 percent from the charity stripe.
Abrams was one of the better three-point shooters and general volume scoring guards for the Longhorns in the mid-to-late 2000’s. He shot 39.9 percent from beyond the arc in his career with Texas. He also registered a 55.7 true shooting percentage and more than 15 win shares in his Texas hoops career.
Abrams was the third-leading scorer behind Durant and fellow NBA-caliber guard D.J. Augustin during the 2006-07 season.