Why Wichita State's Landry Shamet is seeing his 2018 NBA draft stock soar

The draft stock of Wichita State's Landry Shamet is on the rise three weeks before the NBA draft in New York City.

After participating in the NBA draft combine last week in Chicago, the Kansas City native left a positive impression from his pro-day workout in Los Angeles on Wednesday in front of a host of NBA executives and scouts. In addition to elite shooting, Shamet has surprised some with his athleticism and ability to play off-ball.

As a result, Shamet, a 6-foot-5 combo guard, is becoming an increasingly popular player projected in the middle-to-late first round of mock drafts. NBADraft.net has Shamet going as high as No. 16 to Phoenix, while ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and SB Nation have him at No. 23 to Indiana with NBC Sports projecting Shamet going No. 28 to Golden State.

"I think I've been helping myself with my workouts," Shamet told the Eagle in a phone interview. "I've received a lot of good feedback from teams that like me and see something in me. As far as mock drafts go, those guys aren't the ones making the picks. We're getting info right from the source and what we've been hearing is pretty consistent."

What's next for Shamet is completing in-house workouts for NBA teams interested in further evaluating him.

Earlier this week, Shamet worked out for the Golden State Warriors, who could target him at pick No. 28. Then Shamet worked out Thursday for the Los Angeles Lakers, who own picks No. 25 and No. 47. Afterward, Shamet snapped a picture with former Lakers great Magic Johnson, who also is currently the team's president of basketball operations.

"It kind of started at the combine when you're in interviews and you're sitting across from people you've seen on TV," Shamet said. "Magic Johnson is asking you why you think he should draft you. Having Larry Bird sitting courtside watching you workout. You almost have to pinch yourself a couple of times early on, but now it's just basketball. I'm still having fun with all of it and taking it all in."

On Friday, Shamet will workout for the Phoenix Suns, who could target Shamet at picks No. 16 or No. 31. Next up for Shamet would be workouts for the Atlanta Hawks (No. 19, No. 30 and No. 33) on Monday and the Orlando Magic (No. 35 and No. 41) on Tuesday.

Most teams have only seen the tape from WSU on Shamet where he is forced to orchestrate the offense, something he won't always have to do in the NBA. In fact, Shamet actually feels just as comfortable off-ball, running through screens, cutting into empty space and being a threat without the ball.

So far the biggest obstacle is overcoming the notion that he is a below-average athlete, which in turn has teams worried about his ability to defend. But Shamet is helping dispel that notion with workouts like his pro day on Wednesday, when he showed explosion that wasn't on his tape at WSU. A 39 1/2-inch vertical jump at the combine also helps.

"I know I'm a better athlete than I'm getting credit for and I want to show that," Shamet said. "Just showing I can finish around the rim and dunking the ball, showing I can get up and finish just like everybody else in the NBA. They know I can shoot it, but now I want to show them some of things maybe I didn't do as much at Wichita State."

Shamet led WSU in scoring (14.9) and assists (5.2) as a sophomore. He made 44 percent of his three-pointers and even more of his spot-up looks (54 percent) and catch-and-shoot (52 percent) looks. Shamet also led the American Athletic Conference in true shooting percentage (65.5).

Since officially declaring for the draft and signing with Catalyst Sports in April, Shamet has been working out and training at Sports Academy HQ, a 96,000-square-foot facility in Thousand Oaks, California.

Ahead of the June 21 draft in New York City, Shamet feels like his training situation has made him an even better basketball player.

"Just being around that competitive environment is healthy," Shamet said. "It's good to have guys around you doing the same thing with the same goals and everyone is on the same page. I've learned so much, not just on the court but off of it too. There's a lot of information to gain and when basketball is the only thing on your mind and the only thing you're focused on, then you're going to get better and there's a lot of progress to be made."

This story was originally published June 1, 2018 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Why Wichita State's Landry Shamet is seeing his 2018 NBA draft stock soar."