Playing for Sixers Would Be Reunion for L.J. Peak, Jahlil Okafor

L.J. Peak already was quite familiar with one of the Sixers when he came in for a pre-draft workout with the team this week. 
 
Before Peak was a guard for Georgetown, he was teammates with Jahlil Okafor for one year at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago. 
 
"He's a nice guy," Peak said. "I love him. He was my brother."
 
Peak grew up a highly touted basketball player in Gaffney, S.C. He changed schools for his junior year to challenge himself against different talent. 
 
"South Carolina's kind of a football state," Peak said. "I moved to Chicago to get better competition. It was pretty tough. I gained my confidence when I moved to Chicago. I felt comfortable moving away from home, getting ready for the college atmosphere. It worked out for the better."
 
Peak, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound shooting guard, has seen Okafor when the Sixers traveled to Washington D.C. to play the Wizards. Okafor threw his support to Peak back in 2015 during an interview with Sports Illustrated when he was still at Duke. Asked who he would take with the first pick in the draft, Okafor said, "If L.J. Peak from Georgetown was to enter the draft, I'd take him."
 
Last season Peak, 21, averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals as a junior. He shot 48.1 percent from the field. Peak's three-point shooting dropped from 40.9 percent to 32.7 percent, but the cumulative shot totals were not as drastic -- 38-of-93 as a sophomore compared to 33-of-101 as a junior. He considers his strengths to be his defense and ability to get to the basket. 
 
"I'm going in, working hard everyday and represent my school and represent my family," he said. "Hopefully I can stay in the NBA, doing whatever I can to help a team out." 
 
Peak is a projected to go in the late second round or undrafted. The Sixers have four second round picks (Nos. 36, 39, 46 and 50). Peak has over 15 pre-draft workouts scheduled. He has been competing in them with a groin injury he suffered three weeks ago.
 
"I can't keep cancelling workouts, so I've just got to keep going through it," he said. 

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