Should the Thunder Move Up in the NBA Draft?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the early stages of their rebuild, though they’ve seen a turning of the corner. They’re still early enough along the rebuild that they’ve got flexibility.

In the next draft alone, the Thunder hold the rights to four different first round picks. On top of the first round pick and two second round picks the Thunder have, they will have theoretically taken seven new players by the time the second round hits next season.

All things considered, the Thunder packaging picks and moving around picks to hold future assets may be in their best interest. This both helps the Thunder buy time or select a player at a higher overall draft pick in this draft.

Weighing the value of each of the picks is impossible. The picks for next season aren’t yet known what value they’ll bring. They could be late first round picks, or one of the picks could turn into a top five pick.

If the Thunder can package a couple of their 2024 first round picks along with pick No. 12 in this draft for a much better pick this year, and can bring in a player Sam Presti really wants, making a move wouldn’t be harmful, assuming one of the two future picks don’t become incredible picks next season.

As time passes, the 2024 first round picks will lose their value and the Thunder could look bad for not having traded them when their value was higher. The Boston Celtics got a warchest of draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets a decade ago and they could have capitalized on much more talent than they did with those picks.

The Thunder are going to have tough decisions to make with this stash of picks, and either direction they end up going could go south and backfire on them.

In terms of who the Thunder could trade up for, Gradey Dick is a name to look out for. Currently, he’s mocked and on pace to get drafted before the Thunder are on the clock, but he’d be a good trade target for the Thunder since they won’t have to go all in for a top five pick. However, the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets are two teams to look to trade up for, as both own top four picks and might be open to hearing trade offers.

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